baked potatoes.

Bake potatoes for about an hour at 400F.

Split down the middle and sprinkle salt/pepper.

In a bowl, mix one large dollop of sour cream, one large dollop of plain Greek yogurt.

Chop coriander or chives.

Fry bacon in butter. Slice it when cooled.

Top baked potatoes with the creamy mixture. Sprinkle the bacon bits on top.

granola squares.

I am not a huge fan of granola, per se, but I usually have some store-bought bars on hand for those weekday mornings. But when I got this recipe from a colleague I knew I had to try it out given that I had everything in my pantry save the old-fashioned rolled oats. And I found an enormous bag for $4.00 at Big Lots.

I should have baked them a little less than 30 minutes, some of the corners got too hard but on the whole, excellent. It's also a very forgiving recipe so feel free to go a little crazy with your favorite combinations.

Ingredients: 
2 cups rolled oats

½ cup honey
1 beaten egg 

¾ cup brown sugar
½ cup vegetable oil 

1/2 cup wheat germ
2 tsp. vanilla 

¾ tsp. cinnamon
1 cup flour 

1/4 cup sliced almonds
¾ tsp. salt 

1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Note:

I threw in some dried cranberries and shredded coconut flakes for good measure. I figured, why ever not?

Method:

--Mix together oats, brown sugar, wheat germ, cinnamon, flour, salt, almonds, and chocolate chips.

--Make a well in the center and pour in the honey, egg, oil, and vanilla. Mix well.

--Put the mixture into a greased cake pan or baking sheet. Bake for 30-35 minutes in a preheated 350* oven until the bars turn golden at the edges.

--Cool for 5 minutes then cut into bars while still warm. Store in an air-tight container.

nutella ricotta mousse.

I bought some ricotta cheese on sale last week at Trader Joe's and have been trying to find a way to use it all. I found a recipe that made a single serve dessert and I decided to modify it a bit to suit our tastes.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup ricotta
1/2 tbps sugar
1 tbsp (or more) Nutella
1 tbps plain or vanilla yogurt (I only had vanilla yogurt on hand and it tasted great but the vanilla flavor did compete with the Nutella flavor so I'd go with the plain variety next time)

Method:
Combine and pulse all ingredients in a food processor until smooth, thick and creamy. Spoon into a ramekin and sprinkle with some crushed walnuts, or salted sliced almonds. Mr. Sachinky dislikes nuts so I tossed some shredded coconut flakes on his, instead.