Homemade Granola, Tuna Pasta Salad and Lemon Cake

It is a productive day for me! I made half a batch of Granola, as recommended by the kind people on Cookinglight forum in the morning. They are so easy to make, and yet so tasty! I must have eaten more than one cup after they came out from the oven. They are simply addictive as snack! It reminds me of the expensive breakfast I used to have with my ex-colleagues at Coffee Bean, where they served yogurt parfait. It is basically milk + yogurt + granola. I have known the staff so well that I managed to fish out the brand of everything they used to make the parfait. It was definitely more economically to make it myself at home. Eventhough the price of the granola they used was still quite expensive....

This granola recipe I used came from here. It is an oil-less recipe. You won't know that it's low fat from its taste. Since OCT doesn't eat granola, so I only make half a batch. (still I think it can last me for more than 10 breakfasts) And I added slivered almond, raisin, and chocolate covered cranberries to my basic granola. Yum~~

OCT is helping his colleague to move house tonight, so I am eating dinner alone. I decided to try another pasta salad because of the hot weather. Judging from the ingredients list,which has all my favorite ingredients; I believe it will turn out well. And sure it does! This is another Rachel Ray's recipe that will be made over and over again! The best part is: it doesn't use mayo or Italian dressing. Which means it's low fat. The pesto and lemon juice used gives the salad a refreshing taste that belongs to summer.

For dessert, I make the famous Ina Garten's Lemon Cake. I never have a more lemon-y cake than this, in a good way of course. There was only a second of hesitation, as to whether I should try another lemon cake recipe, but Ina prevailed. So far, I have not tried any Ina Garten's recipe that I don't like!