made by mike’s one year blogiversary

I’ve been blogging for a good many years. About a year ago, I changed the direction of my blog to focus on food and photography. I re-branded my blog’s identity to made by mike. What you might not know, is how I settled on made by mike. It all goes back to a batch of granola I made in January of 2010.

If you’ve every received treats from me, you know that they don’t typically come on a paper plate or wrapped in a napkin. All of my years of Martha-devotion have taught me that presentation is always key in any gift. So usually there’s a clear plastic bag or crisp white box with an orange ribbon attached.

When I made my first batch of granola to give to friends I designed some inserts to go into the jar caps. I included the name of the granola then added a line, “made by mike.” That’s when it hit me that that should be my blog’s focus and title. It’s too bad that some putz had purchased madebymike.com, and just sits on it and doesn’t use it for anything. But alas, I own madebymikeblog.com….a small victory, I guess.

I hope that you’ve enjoyed this first year of made by mike and are looking forward to the next as much as I am. In honor of my granola inspiration, I’ll be presenting three recipes in the next three days. That’s a preview of the trio below. On top there’s the Coffee, Hazelnut and Banana Granola. The bottom row from left to right has Cherry Almond Vegan Granola (I made this for a local vegan bake sale to benefit Japan relief.) and finally, Pistachio-Apricot Granola.

As a special gift to one of my blog readers, if you’ll take but a moment to comment below on your favorite post from this past year, I’ll pick a random comment and send to you a jar of your choice of made by mike granola. I’ll pick one winner after 5 pm on Friday, April 1, 2011.

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