World Nutella Day

Who knew there was such a thing as World Nutella Day??!! Who decides on these things? But I happened to have my first taste of Nutella last week on a business trip to Switzerland. Just in time to celebrate the special day! I?ve been reading that Nutella is the trendy ingredient for 2011 and I've seen so many recipes on other blogs. When I saw that little single-serving pouch of Nutella on the breakfast bar at the hotel, I couldn?t resist. I spread it on my breakfast roll for a taste.

Not exactly what I was expecting. I love chocolate, but not usually before 10am. I could see how it would be great for cooking, but I don?t think I want it for breakfast. A little too sweet and chocolatey and not as much of the hazelnut as I had hoped.

So to celebrate World Nutella Day (and avoid the SuperBowl) I decided to select a recipe from someone?s blog and do a little cooking on Sunday. I was only a day late, since the Nutella holiday was actually on Saturday. Not being a football fan and having been out of the kitchen for over a week, a little baking sounded much better than an afternoon in front of the TV.

I selected Spicie Foodie's Nutella Banana Bread. An easy recipe and I had all the ingredients on hand. My loaf came out a little lopsided and my texture was nothing like hers. But it had great flavor and was moist and light. We loved it. The banana somewhat overwhelmed the Nutella flavor, but it had a nice buttery undertone that is not a component of my usual banana bread recipe.

I also wanted to make some homemade granola. I haven?t been happy with my breakfast routine lately and I thought this might improve the start of my day. Again, I have a recipe I?ve used before, but decided to try something new. This time I went to Jason at Ancient Fire Wine for the recipe. I used the second recipe from his post and made a few changes. I deleted the raisins (I don?t like raisins) and added a few extra cranberries. I substituted pecans for walnuts (I don't like walnuts). I also added some cashews since I love cashews and we had a new unopened bag. Does it even sound like the same recipe? I'm not really a picky eater, it's just so simple to customize something like this recipe with your own favorites. The granola is delicious and easy to make. If you go to Jason's website for the recipe, it doesn?t give the baking temperature ? it?s 325 degrees.

And while you?re at Ancient Fire Wine, check out another of Jason?s posts on fundraising for the American Cancer Society and his participation in Relay for Life. Like Jason, I am a cancer survivor and I support his enthusiastic commitment to raising funds for cancer research and maybe you would like to as well.