Joy the Baker

It’s just an ordinary day, except for the fact that I made milk!  Not the yummy stuff that comes from the cow, but Almond Milk with a touch of honey.  It might just give Old Bessie a run for her money.

Let me tell you a little about me.  I’m part Irish, part African American, and A Little Bit of Hippie.  Today we’re only going to discuss the Hippie in me.  My parents raised me on, what seemed at the time to be, the gnarliest health food on the planet.  I remember sitting down to dinners of Tofu Potato Baker (which I did eventually come to love- thank you ketchup), loads of barely-steamed-mostly-raw brocolli, whole wheat fig bars and fresh squeezed carrot juice.  Granted, I love all that stuff now, but what I would have given for some Chips Ahoy and Kentucky Fried Chicken when I was 5.

I make my family’s dinner habits sound like abuse, don’t I?  That’s probably not fair.  In their choices, my parents instilled in me, what I call, A Little Bit Of Hippie.

As a person with A Little Bit of Hippie in her I am prone to do things like enjoy vegan food on Friday night and throw back a medium rare filet on Saturday night.  I also might ride my bike to work, but only twice a week.  It’s also the Little Bit of Hippie in me that lead me down the granola bar path and inspired me to make these Banana Blackberry Smoothies with Homemade Almond Milk.

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It all started out so beautiful and promising- with diced dried fruit, wholesome nuts and old-fashioned oats. I was my day away from the bakery, and I thought I’d use my kitchen to experiment with homemade granola bars. I seem to have trouble eating normally, standing on my feet all day, working in front of a mixing bowl. I notice that I’ll turn occasional bites of dough into a meal. To help solve my intake dilemma, I thought I’d make granola bars to have on hand when hunger strikes but break time does not.I had the greatest of intentions, and the stickiest of results. Read more »