I’ve been wanting to make masala chai for a while, because it is delicious and because I wanted an excuse to use star anise. But I never had any star anise on hand.

Until today! Well actually last week, but then we didn’t have any peppercorns or ginger. Today all of the ingredients came together in the kitchen, on the stovetop.

I used this recipe as a jumping off point for a chai “base” that can be heated with milk at a moment’s notice, like every afternoon when I’m feeling 4 o’clock sleepy. This is the kind of thing where you can really do whatever. I didn’t use vanilla or nutmeg, and, most significantly, I used six bags of tea (Irish Breakfast) instead of just four. I think it could even be stronger…

Continuing on my quest for good toddler snacks, I also made some oat bars this afternoon. I used this recipe and while she explicitly states that they’re “NOT crunchy like a granola bar. They are chewy like thick muffin”, I was still a little disappointed. They are good–I made them with sliced almonds, pecans, dried apricots, shredded coconut, a little ground flax seed, and soy milk instead of milk. I didn’t really measure anything, except the oats and the milk. Again, it’s one of those recipes that has a lot of flexibility.

Next time (and this is definitely a recipe I’m going to try again) I want to add pumpkin seeds instead of pecans (really I just used pecans this time because I didn’t have any pumpkin seeds and found a few pecans in the freezer) and use a flax egg instead of a real egg. I’m also thinking about adding a little oil? Or more oatmeal or just less liquid. Maybe some almond or peanut butter…I want something chewy like a candy bar, not like a muffin.