Granola bars

This past Sunday, I ran my first half marathon. A year ago, I never could have imagined that I was capable of running 13.1 miles. I would have told you that half marathons are for crazy people, because no sane person would ever run that far by choice. But now...I guess I've become one of those crazy people! I started running last May because I wanted to do cardio exercise more regularly and improve my fitness for health purposes. I slowly built up my mileage over several months and found that I really enjoyed long runs, even in sub-freezing temperatures. I eventually decided to run the Half of Quincy and couldn't have asked for a better experience for my first half marathon. The weather on Sunday was gorgeous, and the first few miles of the race were along the ocean, which I loved. My training paid off and I felt great on race day, although I'll admit that miles 11-13 were very challenging, both mentally and physically. My goals for the race were pretty modest, since I'm a new runner - I wanted to run/jog the whole thing without walking breaks, and I wanted to finish with a smile on my face. I'm proud to report that I accomplished both those things, and I already can't wait to do it again!

While I was training, I made a conscious effort to refuel properly after running. I wasn't trying to lose weight, so I tried to replace the calories I was burning by adding some healthy snacks to my routine. One of my go-to snacks was granola bars. I tend to find that packaged granola bars are often too sweet, too dry, or have some components (like certain nuts or fruits) that I don't care for. So it seemed obvious that I should develop a recipe of my own that is suited to my particular tastes! This granola bar recipe went through a couple iterations - the first version I made had nice flavor but the texture was too soft and the bars didn't hold together well. I made several changes and finally ended up with this version, which I love. The texture is chewy rather than hard, but the components of the bars still have good crunch. They are full of ingredients that you can feel good about, and have really great flavor with just the right amount of sweetness. I'll definitely be keeping a supply of these bars around as I train for my next race!

Pear galette with dried fruit and nuts

Remember when I made this quiche? Well, I ended up with quite a bit of leftover dough, and it seemed like a shame to throw it away, considering all the butter effort and more butter time that went into it - Julia Child's pastry dough should not go wasted! So I rolled the scraps into a ball and stuck it in the freezer, figuring I could use it for something else later. A few days later, I found myself with an excess of fresh pears, and decided to use the pastry dough to make some small pear tarts. I didn't want any fussy shaping or blind baking, so I decided to go with rustic free-form galettes, which don't require a special pan and could easily be made into a customized size based on how much dough I had. I also decided to add honey, dried fruit (cranberries and raisins), and nuts to the pear filling, inspired by a baked apple recipe from Around My French Table that I recently tried. I wasn't thrilled with how the baked apples came out, but I loved the combination of flavors and textures that came from the dried fruit and nuts, and thought they would add a nice dimension to the galettes.

These galettes came out so, so good! The pastry was flaky and crisp, even on the bottom of the galettes, and the fruit/nut filling had a fantastic blend of flavors and textures. I especially liked the way the tart dried cranberries worked with the sweet fruit and honey. I am never going to throw out pastry dough scraps again - in fact, I might make dough just to keep in the freezer for impromptu desserts like these!

How have you been using fall fruit?