Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Coffee Date - Spring is in the Air

I knew you were coming over today for coffee, so I went all out. Peppermint mochas with homemade whipped cream. Soo tasty! So how are you? Happy Tuesday, glad you could stop by! Things have been pretty busy around here. A new puppy in the household, Ella, keeps us on our toes. She is absolutely adorable, but right there in that puppy phase...biting, chewing, potty training, getting into trouble. But look at that face!
The first day of Spring brought with it a huge rainstorm. Crazy winds and a solid sheet of water pouring down. What is spring looking like where you are? Love the color starting to emerge with the new flowers! It is hard for me to not buy every type of Easter candy from the store, all those chocolate eggs are calling my name! I will give it another week or so. I love the whopper eggs, the Reese's eggs, and the Cadbury eggs. And they have so many jelly beans now! Starburst, Jolly Rancher, sour patch kids?? Am I too old for an Easter egg hunt?
I want to share this recipe I got from my mom and tried out yesterday. Easy to make and very tasty! You could substitute any flavored jam you have, same with the nuts. I used part cherry and part raspberry jams.
::Crumb-Topped Pecan Cherry Cereal Bars::
{Ingredients}
1 cup all-purpose flour (or you could use whole wheat)
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1 cup puffed rice cereal (regular or brown rice)
1 cup chopped pecans
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 (10-ounce) jar cherry all-fruit spread

{Instructions}
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Butter a 9-inch-square baking pan
2. combine flour, oats, puffed rice, pecans, cinnamon, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl
3. Using an electric mixer, beat butter, oil, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl until well-blended and creamy. Add dry ingredients until dough forms. Reserve 1 1/2 cups of the dough for the topping. Firmly press remaining dough evenly into bottom of pan.
4. Spread fruit spread evenly over dough in pan. Sprinkle reserved dough mixture over the top. Bake 30 minutes or until deep golden. Cool 15 minutes and slice into bars or squares.
So tell me...what is new and exciting (or old and boring) in your life?
I have to get going, I am off to aquatic physical therapy, this will be my third week. I love being in the pool but it really takes it out of my and makes me extra sore. But crossing my fingers it helps in the long run!

Thank you for stopping by, have a wonderful week, and thank you to Amy for hosting Virtual Coffee!

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13 comments:

  1. You know, I am a sucker for whipped cream...and puppy faces! Better put your shoes away until that chewing phase is over, which is about 2 years. Those cereal bars almost look easy enough for me to make. Like you, I'm wondering what else is in store with the weather because spring is so reluctant to come. One day she's there, the next day she has run off to hide. And I don't think you're ever too old for an easter egg hunt, but if we do one together I get all the caramilk eggs, OK?

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  2. That cup of coffee looks so delicous!!! I want one now!

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  3. Those bars look so good! I may just have to make those this week! Your puppy is adorable! Thank you for stopping by my blog. I do post a lot of recipes. I hope you'll stop by again soon!

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  4. That coffee combined with those bars could get me in ALOT of trouble...YUM! I will try that recipe this weekend I'm sure the munchkin will devour it!

    The new pup is ADORABLE...I just want to cuddle her.

    Thanks for checking in on my blog, and I look forward to next week's coffee.

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  5. Chels, I am sorry I have been out of the blogging world for a number of days. It is amazing how much I have to catch up on!! Thank you for inviting me to coffee. Your dish looks amazing and you can bet I will be trying it. I love making homemade whipped cream. I like to think it's better for me because I made it myself :)

    Ella is adorable. Hopefully she isn't eating your shoes. Deanna took me to a place in Oceanside called "I love Pho" and we had huge bowls of Pho together yesterday afternoon while it poured and poured outside. I was sad when the rain stopped. But happy to have just eaten soup. She is on spring break this week, and I am trying to spend at least a couple days with her.

    I have been reading a new book trilogy called Hunger Games. If you havent read them, READ THEM. I plowed right through the first two and am not half way through the last one. I gave them to Deanna yesterday and she is already half way done with the first one.

    XOXO!!

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  6. Well then... coffee + puppies + flowers + a recipe= I just adored this post. I just printed that recipe. I can't wait to try it!

    Thanks for the fresh whipped cream (and coffee!)

    Alita

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  7. Miss Ella is a cutie!
    Thanks for coffee and the cookies I baked are just my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe with pretzel sticks and toffee bits added and I love them with my coffee.

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  9. Hi Chelsea, how are you?!
    I´ve found your blog at Mirys´s blog from Brazil and i´ve just stopped by to take a look. I loved it! Over here, fall has just arrived and i just love this season. I´ll try to make your recipe and i´ll tell you later what happened. Kisses and God bless you!

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  10. hi! your blog is so sweet. i'm glad you stopped by. i had to tell you that every year, on easter, the grown ups organize a kids egg hunt. THEN the older kids RE-hide all the eggs for the grown ups. its pretty darn competitive. the grown up egg hunt has prizes like lottery tickets and dollar bills in the special eggs. it is SO much fun. so the answer is NO you are not too old. thanks for meeting up for coffee!!

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  11. You just made me miss the US soooo much, I want to have an Easter Egg Hunt!!! I need to organize one here, I'm sure I could get the Italians to love it... eventually.... Thanks for coffee!

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  12. That coffee looks amazing! And I have a 4-month-old puppy so I'm right there with you in the nonstop training, biting, chewing, etc. stage! My sympathies! But they are just too cute, aren't they, so we forgive them. :)

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  13. Spring is looking gorgeous in Seattle! I can't believe you had a rain storm and we had sun! :) You just never know what Mother Nature will bring. I love, as always, your pics and your posts! Love ya.

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