The accidentally fabulous night

Leave work. Windows down, sunglasses on, jamming to the radio. 

Trader Joe's stop: sparkling pink lemonade, random produce, wine for sangria

Dinner of leftover quinoa with avocado and chicken.

Leave for new connection group.

Google map fail. I was going to try out a new connection group tonight. After driving around trying to find the "1st street/70th ave" exit for 30 minutes, I finally found the house where the Connection Group was supposed to meet. At that point -- I was going to be 30 minutes late. So, I drove away figuring that NEXT week I'll try it and be able to drive right to it. 

Got home. Decided to make homemade granola. See recipe below adapted from this recipe that my friend Hayden posted on my wall when I moved into my new place. During my aisle wandering at Trader Joe's, I started craving granola that doesn't cost $5 for a tiny box. BONUS: my apartment smells amazing!!

While the granola was baking, I made myself a margarita using my brand new margarita set that I decided that I couldn't live without from Pier 1.  Want to join me? Check out the recipes I used below.

GRANOLA - "best home smell ever" (thanks Hayden)

• 4 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup slivered almonds
• 1/2 cup cashews
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1 cup flax seed
• 1 cup shredded sweet coconut
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/8-1/4 cup honey (depends how sweet you want to make it!), I used about 1/8 cup. 
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup dried bing cherries (original recipe suggested raisins. use any dried fruit! get creative.)

Directions

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine the oats, nuts, flax seed, coconut, and brown sugar.

In a separate bowl, combine maple syrup, honey, oil, spices and salt. Combine both mixtures and pour onto 2 sheet pans. Cook for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. After 45 min, increase temperature to 275 - continue baking for 30 minutes still stirring every 15 minutes. Turn off oven, prop open oven door. I left it like that for about 15-20 more minutes so it would get nice and crunchy.

Remove from oven and transfer into a large bowl. Add dried fruit and mix until evenly distributed.  

MARGARITA 
1 oz tequila

1 oz Gran Gala orange liqueur
1 oz sweet and sour mix (or just 1 oz fresh lime juice instead of this for a more tart version)
juice of 1/4 of a lime

Pour Tequila, orange liqueur, and sweet and sour over ice. Add lime juice. Optional: rim glass with lime juice and salt or sugar (I used sugar!). Can be made frozen --blend in blender w/ 3 cups of ice. ENJOY!