Dried Strawberries Fail (Plus a Success)

When I saw the caption that read "taste like candy but are healthy and natural," I knew I had to give it a shot. I love strawberry-flavored chewy candy, so I was hoping these would be a hit. The recipe is easy enough - you simply cut strawberries either into halves or quarters depending on the size of the strawberries, line them up on a cookie sheet, and sprinkle with a little bit of salt. Pop them into the oven, heated to 210 degrees, and let them cook for three hours. After I was finished baking cookies for the day, I cooled down the oven, threw the strawberry slices in, and went about my business blogging and running a quick errand. I had a Christmas present I had been putting off, and I finally got it done. Phew! Better late than never, right?

Anyway, I pulled them out of the oven a little after 5:30pm, and gave one a try. The verdict: not good. I couldn't even take a picture of them after they came out of the oven because they looked nothing like the picture (maybe it was the way that I cut them) and they tasted nothing like candy. The good news is that I didn't use up all the strawberries, so I still have some left over to eat the regular (and actually tasty) way.

On a successful note, it is no secret that one of my favorite desserts is rice krispie treats. No, not the packaged kind, but the warm, homemade kind. I wanted to make them a little bit healthier (and dairy-free) so while I was out, I ran by Georgia's Market and purchased some brown rice cereal.

I already had some natural creamy peanut butter and agave nectar, so I combined 3/4 cup of each in a large pot and heated them over medium heat, stirring for 2-3 minutes. Once they were melted, I turned off the heat and added six cups of my brown rice cereal and stirred until I was left with a very sticky mixture.

I sprayed my Perfect Brownie Pan with PAM and spread the mixture into the pan.

The result? Peanut butter-filled goodness. Now, someone come take them away from me before I eat all of them in one sitting!

Dinner

Dinner does come before dessert (most of the time), and my dinner was just as good as my dessert. My dad had a pork loin that he stuck in the crock pot last night, and I added some of my favorite vegetables in today.

The beauty of a crock pot is that no additional work needs to be done after the initial preparation, and you have a delicious meal that typically lasts for days. Can't beat it!

Now I'm ready to snuggle up on the couch and watch It Takes Two The National Championship. Who are you rooting for? I'm rooting for Notre Dame because Alabama is the team that beat us out of our own national championship title just three years ago. That, and Rudy is one of my all-time favorite sports movies.