Happy Foods - Volume One

Delicious food items on my favorites list these days?



1. I enjoy from-scratch baking. Clearly. When it comes to pumpkin, however, I will opt for the Libby's canned version almost every time over the arduous (and really, not all that much cheaper) process of boiling and processing a pumpkin in my kitchen. The long way is a novelty, sure, but I prefer (even taste-wise) the canned stuff.

From September through November, pumpkin is a very popular flavor at my house. Pumpkin bread, pumpkin bars, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin granola, and the best pumpkin cream cheese muffins in the history of mankind (recipe to come soon!)...they're all favorites!






2. If you haven't tried Pretzel M&Ms yet, we need to talk. I thought it was impossible for any M&M to replace the peanut butter version in my life, but the sweet-and-salty combination that these deliver is enough to make me seriously question my loyalty. I'm not one to randomly pick up candy in the grocery check-out line, but I've slipped enough of these little blue packages into my cart lately that Noah actually pointed at them today and said, "Look! Mommy's M&Ms!" *ahem*






3. Local people - are you familiar with the homemade potato chips at Martin's? If so, why did no one tell me about these before recently? And if not, allow me the honor of introducing you. Mark and I love these, and have made them a bring-them-out-after-the-kids-are-in-bed snack. Not because they're expensive (this small but generously-portioned bag cost me all of $1.28), but because we just wouldn't want to share them. You can find them at the deli counter, and they're available in several flavors, including Buffalo Wing (one of our favorites). Try them soon. You're welcome.