Earlier this year I was asked to bake six pies (of the blueberry and apple varieties) for Select Nova Scotia’s winter television commercial campaign to help promote the use of locally grown food and produce within the province. And so began piepalooza at our house. This challenge got me over any residual trepidation I might have had about working with pastry and gave me a newfound respect for the humble, unassuming pie.

Is it awful that for Mother’s Day this year all I wanted was a few hours completely to myself in which to bake delicious morsels and madly snap photographs of my sweet creations? It’s not that I don’t fully enjoy a rollicking day with the family, but (in my view) Mother’s Day should be the one day a year that mamas get to do whatever they want: sleep until the sun is high in the sky, relish in a total lack of distraction… and focus on nurturing yourself, just for one day.

It has been brought to my attention that my children are shamefully hard-done-by: most weekday mornings they must suffer through the burden of torturous breakfasts consisting of cereal, granola, porridge, toast, French toast, eggs, bacon, and occasionally, even English muffins. Oh, the horror! 

Hey folks. Sorry for the unseemly lack of posts; since I last posted I’ve stopped teaching fitness classes and started back to work full time (outside the home) and have been swamped with a daily routine of schlepping my eldest to school with the twins in tow, picking up the hubby each morning after he finishes teaching an early morning anatomy class, catapulting myself to the office, and then racing back home for dinner time, and collapsing after extracting my remaining drops of energy while kicking and punching my way through an hour of my mom’s Turbo Jam DVDs (love it!!).

We’re a few days into 2011, and it’s back to the grindstone. After a season of ultra rich, fatty and sugary foods, and lots of festive cheer, most of us are ready to turn a perennial new leaf of increased activity and healthier foods. As a nod to these well-intentioned resolutions — and an inclination to bake some healthy, tasty, high fiber snacks for my family — I’ve whipped up a batch of these delicious, nut-free granola bars.