Low-fat Maple Banana Granola

Warm, fresh, sweet granola. A few years ago I was on a quest to re-create the perfect granola: brown sugar cinnamon, dried fruit, and gorgeous clusters of oats, homemade from a B &B my husband and I had stayed in while we were in Gig Harbor. Unfortunately, after attempting multiple recipes I'd found online, each batch I made came out worse than the previous- loose and not enough flavor, or dry, or just kind of boring. My husband just made fun of me, and we were left with way to much granola no one wanted to eat.

The batches I made never really achieved those sweet little clusters, the clumps of oats. In my opinion, it's all about the CLUMPS! And then, out of no-where, and with ridiculous ease, along came this recipe...

CCK Recipes

I am a big fan of trying out recipes from other blogs. Besides something that just looks or sounds really delicious, I'm particularly enticed when something seems really unique, really healthy, and, when I'm lazy, really easy. Chocolate Covered Katie's recipes are pretty much always really easy, and often healthy and unique as well. I wanted to share a few variation successes (and ones that have not been so successful).

Above: I made her Healthy Lemon Squares, but altered by splitting the recipe in thirds and making a lime version (with lime juice and lime zest instead of lemon) and a blueberry version (with about 1/2 cup fresh blueberries for about 1/3 of the recipe). My favorite was definitely the blueberry version (or blueberry-lemon, which I've also made in the past!) Another great variation is to do layers: make half lemon and half lime, and when you are spreading it in the pan, put in the lime first, followed by the lemon, for pretty little layer bars with refreshing zest. Finally, one last variation that works well: the crust calls for coconut oil- you can easily cut back on the amount of oil by using banana. Since I was running low on coconut oil and only had about a teaspoon, I added 1/2 of a medium banana, melted, to the dough, and it worked great!

Read on for more CCK recipes (and variations) I've tried!

Vegan Cream Cheese & Fruit Rolls

Warm, gooey breakfast buns, rolled with vegan cream cheese and fruit. Sound good? They were!
These mini cinnabuns turned fruit & cream cheese rolls use half whole wheat flour, and the dough doesn't require rising time, so they are a snap to throw together on a busy weekend morning!

Vegan Pizza!!!!!!!

Yes, I really used that many exclamation points. But it's Friday Night Pizza Time!!

I guess I didn't realize how much I'd missed pizza. I'm not like a pizza freak or anything, but pretty much everyone loves pizza, right? I realized the other day that it's been nearly a year since I've had a slice. I thought it was high time I changed that, and I'd been really wanting to try my hand at using a pizza stone. So all that led to pizza time!

BEST Tofu EVER: Vegan Yum Yum's Pineapple Baked Tofu

Sweet pineapple and rich coconut soaked, perfectly glazed, browned, flavor-coated in every bite tofu. This recipe is for anyone who ever called tofu bland. I DARE them to eat this and then even TRY to say tofu can't be delicious. I double dog dare them.

Honestly, I ate this meal and after my first bite, thought it was the best tofu I'd ever had. Ever seen that Food Network Show, The Best Thing I Ever Ate? Can't you just imagine a "the best tofu I ever ate" episode? No. I guess I can't either. But if those meat-eating Food Network Stars ever did do that episode, this tofu would be on it. Ok, I think I've talked it up enough.

Sweet Orange Tempeh and A Week of Asian Meals

Asian meals are great for summer because they are often light and quick to whip up. These noodle dishes taste great cold as well, so feel free to make the night before, have leftovers for lunch, or bring something more interesting than pasta salad to a picnic!

Chloe's Cinnamon Espresso Chocolate Cookies

These are my new favorite cookies. They are quite decadent, so make 'em to share. In fact, I've made them to share TWICE within the past month, and both times they were a complete hit. Espresso, cinnamon, and chocolate come together in this rich little cookie.

Agar Adventures: Vegan Citrus Jigglers

Veggieosity time! A while back I bought this little bottle of agar- which is a vegan version of gelatin- and have been wanting to try it out in something. The other day I decided, what the heck, let's play in the kitchen. Citrus "jello jigglers" of sorts.... doesn't that sound good?

Vegan Dinner Party: Mango, Avocado, and Black Bean Quinoa Salad

We all know by now how much I love mango, so I will refrain from going on about it yet again. But needless to say, when I saw Kathy Patalsky's recipe for mango quinoa salad, it was pinned in seconds. We recently had a bunch of friends over for dinner, and since I didn't have much time, I whipped up this yummy dish (along with some new cookies) in no time. Uncomplicated, delicious dinner parties can be done! And yes, carnivores, vegans, and vegetarians alike were satistified (and went back for seconds).