a while back, i had a little catering biz.  just for my hard-working friends who couldn’t get away at lunch.  i delivered 3 healthy meals, 2 snacks and a dessert to their place of work every tuesday, and they spent the rest of the week eating healthy, homemade food, feeling treated and nourished.  and i had a BLAST.

i called the little business PIXY’S KITCHEN.  i made healthy soups, salads with homemade dressing, popcorn drizzled with coconut oil and cinnamon, and little cakes made with pumpkin puree and applesauce.  it was a lot of work, but i was realizing a dream i had.  it was worth all the work.

then i  moved into a smaller apartment, with a very small kitchen, and then got married and moved into an even-tinier kitchen ~ which was only open for business to feed my 6’4″ hub with a hollow leg.  i quit the biz, and went into the business of marriage.  waaa waaa waaaaa.  oh yeah, and a private studio, a college adjunct position, and a performance career.  not exactly sitting around eating bon-bons, but still missing my food biz.

long story short:  i have ALL these leftover take-out boxes from the biz.  i had to buy them in bulk to afford them, and i have about 500 or so left.  probably more than that, actually.  i have 300 chinese takeout style boxes, and a bunch of soup bowls.

which brings me to my project i would like to share with you all.  i’m not trying to sell anything commercially.  i just want to make this amazing granola i’ve stumbled onto, and sell it to my friends.  that’s all.  merely to get rid of the takeout boxes that are taking over our apartment!

i’m also going to make and freeze some really healthy soups, and eat them myself, of course, and sell them to a couple girls at work, if they so choose to partake!

here are my granola flavors:

gluten-free (this is so easy ~ just get gluten-free oats and everything else is the same!)

cherry chocolate almond granola ~ with bits of dark, dark chocolate (maybe more than 70% if i can find it), dried cherries, and sliced almonds, toasted for extra nuttiness.  add a little almond extract to the oat mix too, i think.

tropical ~ (i need a cooler name than this ~ if you have any ideas, send them in!) ~ toasted coconut, dried pineapples and pistachios.  macademia nuts would be heavenly, but i think those might be really high in fat, right?

and lastly:  a nut mix ~ (need a cooler name for this one too.  ooh ~ how about GO NUTTY?  or GET NUTTY?) ~ assorted raw nuts, roasted in that amazing mixture i was writing about last week.

the key is to make these mixes very healthy.  as healthy as possible.  there are plenty of granolas out there that have lots of fat and calories in them.  but this homemade mix has lots of potential to curb your appetite without feeling so guilty after.

hopefully this will help get rid of some of those takeout boxes!  i am really excited about the project too.  i get to use my ginormous baker’s bowl again!

these are the things that make me insanely happy.  i couldn’t care less about jewelry ~ just give me a membership to a restuarant supply store and i’ll lose my mind!!!