“One is silver, the other is gold. A circle is round, it has no end. That’s how long I’ll be your friend.”

It’s my favorite time of year! The Girl Scout Cookies are here! How can you resist a box of Carmel Delights, Thin Mints, or Peanut Butter Patties? I cannot and I will not lie. We have already gone through two boxes since Saturday and I’m planning on hunting down some scouts this weekend for more!

I was a Girl Scout for years and I firmly believe in their mission to build girls of courage, confidence and character who in turn will make the world a better place. There are six levels of membership and they are based upon age. Usually at the end of a school year, if you were chosen to advance, you would do so then. I went from Brownie to Junior to Cadette and then lastly Senior. I started to late to be a Daisy and should have become an ambassador and furthered my membership within my troop…I regret not doing so.

Every summer I went to Girl Scout camp, excitedly and willingly! Camp Nokewa was an all day camp in North Kingstown, RI and I caught the bus and helped hang the flag in the morning before the Pledge of Allegiance. I just Googled the camp and learned that it closed in 2006 and the land, that sits on beautiful Carr Pond, was sold to the Department of Environmental Management. Boo! It was such a great place and I have fond memories of swimming in the pond and earning a Blue swim cap which meant I could swim out to the furthest buoy. We had to tread water for five minutes in super deep water too. Piece of cake.

The second camp I went to was Camp Hoffman in West Kingston, RI and I stayed for two weeks at a time. I’m sure my parents loved that! My Ma would send me care packages with Sour Patch Kids and send me cards with Golden Retrievers on them. You choose between the different activities for the two week stay and I loved the Theatre program, Tennis camp and Sailing camp. I also was a Polar Bear which means I got up at the crack of dawn and went swimming for 15 minutes. When that got old I joined the Road Runners Club and ran laps at the crack of dawn instead. What fun times! I collected a TON of badges too!

Support your local Girl Scouts during cookie time! All of the revenue earned stays with the local Girl Scout council and the money is used to find girls in hard-to-serve areas and it maintains properties and camps like Hoffman and the now defunct Nokewa. Did you know they know make Gluten and Dairy-free cookies? Everyone wins!

Anyhoo, since I can’t eat cookies as a snack everyday, I made another batch of granola today. I tried something new and blended Almond Butter and Applesauce together for the “sugar” part of this snack. It won’t take you long to make and think of all the money you can save on cereal and store bought granola just by making your own!

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Almond Butter Granola- makes two pounds 

Ingredients:

-1 two pound bag rolled oats (I used Trader Joe’s Gluten-free blend)

-1/2 cup almond butter

-1 cup applesauce

-1/2 cup pecan chips

-2.5 cups chopped walnuts

-1/4 cup chia seeds

-2.5 cups cran-raisens

-1 T each of cinnamon, ginger and apple pie spice

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 300.

2. In a large bowl, combine the oats, spices and nuts.

3. Use a small pan to melt the Almond Butter and Applesauce together.

4. Stir the mixture into the oats.

5. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and bake for 45-60 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes or so.

5. Take the granola out of the oven when it’s browning and stir in the crane-rainsens. Enjoy!

I store mine in Mason jars!

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Have a great weekend everyone! If you’re in the Nickel Cities this weekend, you should head over to Siena Home Boutique in Arroyo Grande. Tomorrow they are hosting the works of two local artists from 11 a.m- 4 p.m. and they’re even offering a complimentary glass of champagne too! If the rain doesn’t stop me, I’ll see you there!