breathe.

i can breathe again. my computer is up an running again thanks to the Apple Time Machine and my iosafe. When we went out of town for easter, I disconnected the iosafe and put it some where else for "safekeeping" and in my laziness I hadn't plugged it back in and then it crashed.... of course. so i am missing a few weeks of my life, but it could have been SO MUCH worse. i actually sent the hard drive to a disaster recovery place because I want kate's birthday pictures, but after they told be it would be a minimum of $1,000 for 3 days of pictures, maybe we should just have her birthday again.... i'm sure she wouldn't mind:)

really, if you don't have a back up system to your computer and you care at all about your pictures, run, don't walk and back that baby up. A hard drive can crash anytime, even if it's just a week old on your pretty, fancy, big screened mac. I also just signed up for mozy.com so that everything is stored off site too. I included the link below where i get referral credits... hint hint...

Click the link below to sign up for Mozy so you can start to protect your data! And remember to type in the coupon code SAVE10 in the "promotional code" box at checkout to save 10% on a MozyHome Unlimited annual or biennial subscription!

View >>

In all my worrying i decided i needed to bake something to get my mind off of it. i've had these in my mile high "Something I Want to Make One Day" pile, and got to work. these bad boys are fantastic especially when you use Trader Joes vanilla almond granola inside.... i only ate 10..... last night.

BANANA CRUNCH MUFFINS - Ina Garten

* 3 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 cups sugar
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 pound unsalted butter, melted and cooled
* 2 extra-large eggs
* 3/4 cup whole milk
* 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
* 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 bananas)
* 1 cup medium-diced ripe bananas (1 banana)
* 1 cup small-diced walnuts
* 1 cup granola
* 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
* Dried banana chips, granola, or shredded coconut, optional

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Line 18 large muffin cups with paper liners. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add the melted butter and blend. Combine the eggs, milk, vanilla, and mashed bananas, and add them to the flour-and-butter mixture. Scrape the bowl and blend well. Don't overmix.

Fold the diced bananas, walnuts, granola, and coconut into the batter. Spoon the batter into the paper liners, filling each 1 to the top. Top each muffin with dried banana chips, granola, or coconut, if desired. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the tops are brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool slightly, remove from the pan, and serve.