I’ve been trying to eat healthier while still satisfying my snacky cravings, so I decided to do away with the ranch dip that I generally use with crackers and crudités, and replace it with this creamy and nutritious cannellini bean dip. It is so super simple to throw together that I find myself making it every week. The recipe can be doubled, if like me, you find yourself craving it.Cannellini Bean Dip with Black Olives

 1 large clove garlic

1 15.5-oz. can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

¼ c. extra-virgin olive oil

Juice of half a lemon

10 small pitted black olives

½ t. kosher salt

¼ t. freshly ground black pepper

 Throw all ingredients into a mini food processor and process until smooth. Cover and refrigerate to allow flavors to meld for a minimum of 4 hours.

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Well, I'm pretty much the same. I’m going to dinner tonight and, like Private Benjamin, I never go any place empty-handed, so thought I'd make up some Coconut Almond Granola and take a large jar to the hostess, and two smaller bags to the other couples who will be in attendance. It is so delicious that you can pretty much skip the bananas, milk, yogurt, and spoon, and just dig in!

This is my own personal recipe, a mishmash of a variety of others I've run across over the years. I've found you can pretty much toss in what you like according to what happens to be in your pantry at the time.

Coconut Almond Granola with Four Fruits

4 c. old-fashioned oats

¾ c. sliced almonds

½ c. sweetened flaked coconut
½ c. sunflower, pumpkin, or flax seeds

2/3 c. (packed) brown sugar

1½ t. ground allspice

½ t. kosher salt

1 t. ground cinnamon

1 stick unsalted butter

4 T. honey

½ c. pitted, chopped dates

½ c. dried apricots, quartered

½ c. golden raisins

½ c. raisins, dried cranberries, blueberries, or cherries

Preheat oven to 300°F. Mix first 8 ingredients in large bowl. Melt butter with honey in heavy small saucepan over low heat. Pour over granola mixture and toss well. Spread out mixture on baking sheet. Bake 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add dried fruits; mix to separate any clumps. Continue to bake until granola is golden brown, stirring frequently, about 15 minutes longer. Cool. Do ahead. Can be made 2 weeks ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.

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Bacon Tomato Bites

24 Melissa’s baby heirloom tomatoes
1 lb. bacon, cooked and crumbled
½ c. finely chopped scallions
2 T. grated Parmesan cheese
½ c. Duke’s mayonnaise
Freshly ground black pepper

Remove stems from tomatoes and, using a sharp knife, cut a thin portion of the top off. Carefully hollow out tomatoes using a small spoon, grapefruit spoon, or the small end of a melon baller, as I did, leaving a 1/8-inch thick shell. Invert the tomatoes onto a paper towel-lined plate, and allow to drain while you make the filling.

 In a medium bowl combine bacon, scallions, cheese, and mayonnaise; stir until well blended. Fill tomatoes with bacon mixture, top with freshly ground black pepper, and refrigerate for a number of hours before serving.

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I’ve tried to convince myself over the years that I am not a baker, but occasionally I just get the urge to bake, ergo, at least according to number two son, I am indeed a baker. Today he was coming over to hang out with his old mom. I love that my adult son still likes to come hang out with me. As a consequence, I decided that today would be the perfect day to experiment with a peach coffee cake, because I knew that he would enjoy being my taste tester, and give me an honest opinion.

By the time he arrived, the house was scented with cinnamon and toasted pecans. We could hardly wait to dig in, but I knew, considering the moist filling, that the cake was going to have to cool thoroughly before I could cut into it. I think that was the longest hour of our lives.

  We both absolutely loved it! This is a coffee cake, so the cake itself isn’t as sweet as a dessert cake, making it perfect for breakfast. The peach filling is absolute heaven, as is the streusel topping. This is a must try.Peach Coffee Cake

For cake:

2 c. flour

2 t. aluminum free baking powder

½ t. aluminum free baking soda

1/8 t. salt

½ c. butter, room temperature

1 c. sugar

2 large eggs, room temperature

1 c. sour cream

1 t. vanilla extract

1 21-oz. can peach pie filling

Streusel Topping:

1 c. flour

½ c. firmly packed dark brown sugar

½ c. pecans

6 T. butter, cut into pieces and softened

1 t. cinnamon

¼ t. freshly grated nutmeg

 Make streusel: In a food processor pulse together streusel ingredients until combined well and crumbly; set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch springform pan with Baker’s Joy; set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

 In the work bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes. Turn the mixer to low and beat in eggs one at a time just until incorporated. With the mixer still on low, add sour cream and vanilla, then add flour mixture in 2-3 intervals, beating just to combine.

 Spread half of the batter in the prepared pan. Top with peach pie filling, spreading to within a half a spreading to within a half inch of the side of the pan. Dollop the rest of the batter over the peaches, spreading to cover.

 Bake for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool for 15-20 minutes on a wire rack before removing the springform pan sides.

 Because of the fruit filling, this does not keep. What you don’t eat the first day, slice up and freeze. It freezes beautifully.

 *Be sure to spread the dough to the edges. I dampened my hands in order to do so.

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 It may sound strange, but stuffed celery is always something that I go for when it’s on a snack tray or a part of a buffet. There is something about the cool crispness of the celery combined with the pungency of the cheese that I find wonderfully satisfying. This recipe for Italian cream cheese stuffed celery is not my own, but one I just had to try for the ease if nothing else. It was lacking in freshly ground black pepper, so I added a hefty amount of that, and thought that made it absolutely perfect. With warm days ahead, this refreshing snack will be welcome.

Italian Cream Cheese Stuffed Celery

Slightly adapted from plainchicken.com

6 or 7 stalks of celery, rinsed and dried

 Garnish celery with dried parsley and paprika, if desired. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

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Having tried Levain Bakery’s oatmeal raisin cookies (you can see the results here), I thought it high time that I give their chocolate chip cookies (that they have named Chocolate Chip Crush Cookies for some reason) a try as well. It seems as though there are almost as many recipes for chocolate chip cookies as there are chocolate chips in the bag. Not that I’m complaining, I enjoy making and eating them. These were very good. They’re thick, and I like that in a cookie. It really feels as though you’re sinking your teeth into something substantial. I also liked all of the walnuts, considering they are one of my favorite nuts. When you eat a Levain cookie, you know you’ve eaten a cookie. I find it interesting that they don’t use vanilla in their cookies. The cookies didn’t suffer from it, in fact, they may be onto something here.  Without the vanilla the focus was more on the chocolate and nuts, and isn’t that the way it should be?Levain Bakery’s Chocolate Chip Crush Cookies

 1 c. cold butter cut into small cubes

1 c. brown sugar

½ c. sugar

2 eggs

1½ c. cake flour

1½ c. flour

1 t. cornstarch

¾ t. baking soda

¾ t. salt

2 c. dark chocolate chips

2 c. walnuts, roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 410ºF.

In the work bowl of a stand mixer cream together cold cubed butter, brown sugar, and sugar for 4 minutes or until creamy.

Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each one.

Stir in flours, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt. Mix until just combined. Do not overmix. Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts.

 Separate dough into large balls and place on a parchment or Silpat-lined baking sheet. These are large cookies, so allow only 4-5 per baking sheet; the dough makes 8 extra large cookies.

 Bake for 9-12 minutes or until golden brown on the top. Let them rest for at least 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

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Shortbread Cookie Bites

 1 c. cold unsalted butter

¾ c. powdered sugar

1 t. pure vanilla

1¾ c. flour

3-4 T. chocolate jimmies

 In the work bowl of an electric mixer beat together, butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract until creamy, scraping down the bowl as needed. With the mixer, set on low, add the flour, ¼ cup at a time, mixing until it forms a dough. Add the chocolate jimmies, and beat to combine. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, or a Silpat; set aside.

Form into a ball with your hands, and transfer it to the prepared baking sheet. With a rolling pin (or your hands), roll (or pat) it into a 10” x 12” rectangle that is 3/8” – 1/4” thick. Place in refrigerator and chill for one hour.

 After one hour, remove dough from refrigerator, and preheat oven to 325° F. As oven is preheating, cut the dough into bite-size squares and separate on the baking sheet leaving a half-inch space between each. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes (or longer depending upon the size of your squares) until the bottoms just begin to brown. Allow cookies to cool for 10 minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

 If desired, melt some chocolate chips in the microwave or over boiling water and drizzle on top of the cookies.

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Invariably the buffet would start with a meat tray (remember those?) from a local deli that was always a huge hit. Then there were the meatballs in gravy that were served with those little tiny buns, crab puffs, mini pigs in blankets, mini ravioli, spinach squares, and a green salad to be virtuous. Don't get me started on her phenomenal cookie trays! It was an incredible spread. When I saw this recipe, I thought of those Christmas Eve gatherings, and had to make them. They are really delicious, and the nice thing about them is that they are equally tasty whether they are served hot, warm, room temperature, or even cold directly from the fridge.Spinach and Artichoke Dip Party Squares

 2 packages crescent rolls

 1 (1.4 oz.) envelope Knorr Vegetable Soup & Recipe Mix

½ c. Duke’s mayonnaise

½ c. sour cream

1 10-oz. pkg. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

1 8-oz. can water chestnuts, finely chopped

  1 t. Melissa’s minced garlic

2 c. grated Monterey Jack cheese

½ c. grated Parmesan cheese

Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 357°F.

In a mixing bowl combine soup mix, mayonnaise, and sour cream; set aside for soup mix to soften while you prepare the remaining ingredients.

Unroll crescent rolls and fit into a lightly greased jelly roll pan or rimmed cookie sheet; press seams together to form a crust. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until very light golden brown. 

Add garlic, spinach, artichokes, water chestnuts, and Monterey Jack cheese to soup mixture. Stir well to combine.

Spread soup mixture over partially-baked crust. Sprinkle Parmesan evenly over the top. Grate pepper over all. Bake for an additional 10-12 minutes until heated through.

Cut into squares and serve.