Spring, New Life, and Banana Muffins, Zucchini Muffins

Depending on where I live, I love different seasons. In the Great North, I LOOOOOVED Winter!! I miss Winter, and even when I lived up north I longed for Winter all year long. Years ago when I lived in California, I loved the Summer -- I mean seriously, 75 degrees most of the time, right on the beach in San Diego? You've gotta be crazy not to appreciate that!! And, in our current state, more than loving Spring, I need Spring. The Winter here is sooooo depressing and the sweet green buds and flowers awaken my heart.

I also love babies. It seems that there are more babies born in spring, which makes the season even more delightful =)  One of my dearest friends just had her second baby. We've been pregnant at the same time with each of our children, first girls, now boys. We both lost pregnancies in between children  born, and both of our boys were HUGE surprises, pretty much a month after loosing our pregnancies. I love identifying with someone's story so closely. I hate that we've both been through these things, but I love that we are able to understand each other, and she's one of two people who really truly understand what I mean when I say I'm still having a hard time accepting that this child's coming soon - at 6 months pregnant!

And so, I was more than happy to cook food for her family when she recently had her son. I made tamales... which they've never had... (I hope I don't ruin them on them!) And banana bread, which turns out to be her favorite! That just makes my heart jump when I make something for someone and it turns out to be something they love so much!!

Hopefully she loved this one... I don't know if it's my pregnancy hormones and taste buds or what, but even though my husband told me it was the very best banana ANYthing I've EVER made, I really didn't like them that much. For me, there was just an odd after-taste. Oh well, if you wanna make them, you be the judge =)

I got this recipe from two separate recipes and mixed them up, changing them up. Here's what I got in the end:

Chocolate Chip Walnut Banana Muffins

1 1/2 cups self-rising flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup Ghirardelli 60% Dark Chocolate Chips

3/4 cup walnuts

1/2 cup Crisco

2/3 cup sugar

3 TBSP mayo

2 *rotten* bananas

2 TBSP fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Makes 12 muffins. Bake 350 degrees, 18-20 minutes. Cool in pan.

And then I actually found myself desperately craving more. Not so much the banana part, I think just the awesome mix of chocolate and walnuts. So today I tried the recipe again, a little different, and replaced the banana with zucchini (convincing myself that it's healthy if it's full of vegetable!) They still left a weird after-taste, but like I said, it might just be me... And here's what came out:

Chocolate Chip Walnut Zucchini Muffins

2 cups self-rising flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
12 oz. Ghirardelli 60% Dark Chocolate Chips
1 1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 cup Crisco
2/3 cup sugar
2 TBSP brown sugar
3 TBSP mayo
3 small zucchinis, shredded
2 TBSP fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoons vanilla extract

Makes 23 muffins. Bake 350 degrees, 18-20 minutes. Cool in pan.

These are FULL of chocolate chips, and I'm actually a little jittery writing this... Oops! The baby's doing a caffeine dance, too =)

Honestly, I want to learn how to make a really fabulous zucchini bread, especially one that's not loaded with sugar!! So, if you have a great recipe, feel free to send it to me =)

Fresas Con Crema, and the Passage of Time

It's amazing, the changes that can take place within a year's time. Since Easter last year we have decided to join a church, to leave a church. To have a baby, then lost the baby. To not have any more children, but got pregnant again. To never leave our wonderful city, and move away the next month. At times it scares me that I don't know my future. Not entirely, at least. I don't know what my life on earth looks like. But I do know that Christ Jesus has risen from the grave and I need not fear the things of this life. He's coming back to take me Home, someday. I hope it's sooner than later, but in the meantime I have children to raise, a husband to love, dreams to pursue, and food to cook =)

This year my husband's family had a big dinner the day before Easter, and my contribution was Fresas Con Crema. A great Mexican classic dessert. Even though I wasn't there for it. I was so exhausted and starting to get a horribly sore throat that I stayed home, eating Fig Newman's and some Fresas Con Crema I saved out for myself. It really was a great combination! ...but that could be pregnancy talking =)

WHAT YOU NEED:

2 pints Strawberries, sliced

1 pint Heavy Whipping Cream

1 (14 oz.) can La Lechera Sweetened Condensed Milk

1 (7.6 oz.) can Nestle Media Crema

1 tsp. Vanilla Extract

HOW TO:

Beat the 3 creams and vanilla together until fluffy and soft and wonderfully enticing.

Add sliced strawberries.

Refrigerate overnight, IF you can wait that long =)

COST:
$9 for about 8 cups = $1.13/serving

The Versatile Chocolate ...Nougat?

Nougat's not really something you would think of making at home... or even ever really think of... The word Nougat makes me think of a 3 Musketeers candy bar, but I never think of it otherwise! And then an experiment in the kitchen produced just that - Nougat.

I am a Chocoholic. My drug of choice is caffeine. I'm not interested in ruining my body with drugs and chemicals, even though I loved Brazilian and Swiss cigarettes during my high school foreign exchange stint, but caffeine? Completely different story! I would trade real food for for chocolate, coffee, and tea if I was asked to choose. It wouldn't be a very long life, but I would die high and happy and jittery =)

So, you can imagine my dismay when I discovered that chocolate, coffee, and tea repulsed me the first 5 months of this pregnancy. I hated them all. Especially chocolate. And then in the past few weeks I started to like it again, little by little. And now I can't get enough. Apparently, my son in my womb feels the same way, and does a great big happy dance every time I feed him anything chocolate =)

A few days ago I was trying to make a chocolate mousse, and it went a bit awry. At first it was fluffy and creamy, but after refrigeration it ended up a bit harder and drier. It was still creamy, it just wasn't a mousse. But this has turned out to be one of the best things I've eaten in a long time, and it goes with everything! After a couple of days in the fridge it got a bit drier and drier, so I decided to heat it up and see what happened -- it turned out to be the best hot fudge sauce ever! My husband stuffed chocolate tamales with my chocolate nougat. And, I have my sneaking suspicions it would be the most glorious filling in a cake or topping on brownies... Hmmm... Now I want to make both just to try it out!!

WHAT YOU NEED:

8 oz Mascarpone

4 oz Cream Cheese

8 oz Heavy Whipping Cream
1/2 cup Powdered Sugar

1 1/2 bags (15 oz) Ghirardelli 60% Dark Chocolate Chips

HOW TO:

Let mascarpone, cream cheese, and heavy whipping cream warm to room temperature, about 20-30 minutes. Beat together in a mixing bowl. Mix in sugar.

Heat chocolate chips in bain-marie until well melted. Pour over cream/cheese mixture, and beat together immediately.

If you aren't going to use it right away, store in an air-tight container. 

IDEAS:

Form into balls or squares directly after making, refrigerate, and cover with melted chocolate to make candies. YUM!

Dip strawberries!!

Heat up later and pour over ice cream, brownies, or both, as a fudge sauce.

Use as a frosting or layer between cakes.

And if you're like me, you probably want to fill your bathtub and roll around in it. 

Leave me a comment and let me know how any of these ideas turn out for you ...except the bathtub one. I was just joking. That you can keep to yourself, thanks =)

Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate Mousse Strawberry Short Cake

Some things make the evening sun feel brighter, the warm glow almost ingest-able. Tonight we had a clear sky and a sunset that melted away a little bit of the depression settling in over me. No, I don't want to live here forever... or even much longer... but I will say that consuming a nearly-perfect-for-the-first-try scrumptious cake with my husband then singing and playing with our daughter before bedtime was a perfect way to end a day. Amazingly, it didn't give me heartburn, even though I ate half of it and no dinner. Pregnancy...

The short cake recipe I got from CupcakeProject.com - it's just her vanilla cupcake recipe.

The Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate Mousse, well I started out with a recipe but said "to heck with it" and just winged it. I would definitely do something different next time, but this was pretty good for the first time =)

Basically I just kept mixing ingredients together til it came to be what I was looking for. It was 8 oz. mascarpone, 4 oz. cream cheese, about a cup to a cup and a half of heavy whipping cream, and 1/4 cup (or so) of Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate powder from our local grocery store. It's what I had on hand. And it turned out delightful!

Cajeta Cheesecake, and Picking Up Right Where You Leave Off

The best type of friends are the ones that you might think you'll never see too much of again, save an occasional email or visit every couple of years, and yet when you re-enter each other's lives you instantly pick back up where you left off. You might not have all the same things in common anymore. You both have children now. Your life directions are taking you down very different paths. You might have the same beliefs you always held, for that is what makes us who we are, but you no longer express them in the same manner you once did, the thing that brought you together as friends in the first place. But your friendship itself is strong enough that you just see your friend, and appreciate them.

We have recently moved from Waukewhat, Midwest, back "home" to Nowheresville, Southeast. We live 45 minutes from all the friends we had left behind three years ago, and are reconnecting, catching up, and appreciating these people more than we did before. I've driven this 45-minute-each-way drive four times this week simply because I'm discovering the aforementioned: I appreciate all these people more than ever before. They get me. They don't mind that I was gone for three years, they are just happy to see me again.

Tonight we were invited to a family's house. They served hamburgers. We took cheesecake. We played a card game. Our daughters played together very well. We left fat and happy, wishing our 45-minute drive was a four-and-a-half-minute drive across town like it used to be. Not only because it was getting way past our daughter's bed time, but because that would mean we could see our friends more often.

On to the cheesecake... Since I'm pregnant and tired and currently hate cooking, and can't stand the SIGHT of an egg, let alone the possibility of smelling it as I crack open it's shell, my husband made the cheesecake tonight. His first time. He was the hands, I was the brains =)  This is super easy, and I dare say you will never go back to putting lemon in your cheesecake batter again! (It's called CHEESEcake for a reason! Who wants lemon FLUFFcake anyway??)

Thanks, Amazon.com, I stole your pic of Cajeta

**I'm going to say right off the bat that this recipe is mine, ALL MINE, and don't you dare repost/make this for profit... Unless I get in on the action! (In that case, feel free to contact me, I could use some extra cash!) That includes small variances like chocolate for white chocolate substitutes, caramel for cajeta, etc, and -especially- baking methods. THANKS!!**

WHAT YOU NEED:

1 graham cracker pie shell

1 8-oz. package cream cheese

1 can sweetened condensed milk*

1/2 bag Ghirardelli white chocolate chips

1 egg + 1 yolk

1 cup sugar

1 overflowing teaspoon vanilla extract (oh please, NOT imitation!!!)

Cajeta -- which is, Mexican caramel made from goat's milk. You can find it at any good tienda. And most the time at a Super Wal-Mart.

HOW TO:

Set cream cheese out on your counter top to warn up to room temperature, about an hour before you're going to bake.

Turn oven on to 350.

Break out the blender. Everything's going in- cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, sugar, white chocolate chips, and vanilla.

Pour batter in graham cracker crust, all the way up to the rim! You'll probably have a tad bit left over. I tend to pour that into a muffin pan or small bread pan, and bake at another time.

Ok, now this is important, and what really makes a GREAT cheesecake!!! Put the pie in the oven, preferably with a baking stone that's already pre-heated with the oven, and don't look back - okay??? You bake the cheesecake at 350 for 12 minutes, and WITHOUT opening the oven door, turn it down to 250 for one hour. After that, take it out of the oven, let cool for one hour, then refrigerate (loosely covered) for at least three hours before scarfing. Oops I mean, serving.

Top with cajeta and you've got yourself one fabulous dessert!

Variation: You can cut the sugar out completely and replace with 1/2 cup cajeta. In that case, a bit of melted white chocolate on top when served is even better than cajeta.

SERVES: 8... or 4 if you're diggin' it =)

COST: $8.50 ($1.06/slice)

*There are very few items you'll ever catch me saying this about, but the cheaper the better with sweetened condensed milk! I really don't like many of Target's Market Pantry items, but this sweetened condensed milk is better than most others I've tried... Even though the best is still Trader Joe's!

Made it? Love it? Hate it or have a suggestion? Leave me a comment =)

Starbucks Via Tribute Blend Brownies

If you know me, you know I'm allergic to several brands of coffee. Primarily Starbucks, but I have come across a few others, too. Actually, I'm allergic to the chemicals they roast their coffee in. Dumb Starbucks! But honestly, I am grateful to them because they employ my husband, and therefore feed and house my family. So, YAY Starbucks =)  But when it comes to their coffee, I literally can't step into a Starbucks coffee shop without my throat itching... And then slowly I feel myself starting to want to gasp for air... And then my throat starts to close up a little... All in the span of 10 minutes. I don't last longer than it takes to run in for one of their amazing chicken sausage breakfast burritodoobers. (LOVE 'em. Just don't know what they're called.)

And all of the aforementioned is beside the point.

Last week I made some of the worst brownies ever. They were just a huge disaster. If you promise your best friend amazing cookies, make her the cookies, people! Don't make her "THE best brownies ANYone has ever eaten EVER", because you are surely doomed. Not only were these brownies (that I waited to the last minute to make) NOT the BEST brownies ever EVER, but they were headed to Florida in only a few hours, and half of them were promised to the young man taking them there. So, I had to make them... And they bombed. I mean, awful.

So, the next day, dejected yet knowing I could do wayyyy better, I went in search of a helpful tutorial on YouTube and there I found a cute albeit excruciatingly long (8 minute) video of a young girl making brownies from scratch. I gave her simple recipe a try, and was so unbelievably WOWED! I will never go back.

The first batch with this new recipe I made with walnuts. It was glorious, and meaty. It felt like eating a really sneaky sweet dinner. (Then ended up being a really sneaky sweet breakfast!)

Then, I tweaked it a bit (and... ran... out... of... eggs...) and made it with a little pizazz that my husband and his co-workers would appreciate. I made this batch with Via. ( Have you tried Via yet? Yep, my neither. Considering that it would probably kill me.) My throat felt horrendous as I baked, but his coworkers loved them.

WHAT YOU NEED:
1/2 bag Ghirardelli 60% Cocoa Chocolate Chips
1 stick unsalted butter
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1 cup sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 egg
1/4 cup Ghirardelli Cocoa Mix
Less than 1 cup AP flour
3 packets Via
1/4 bag Ghirardelli White Chocolate Chips

HOW TO:
Over medium heat, melt butter, salt, and chocolate together. Stir, and don't let it boil. (It's very fast!)
Take off heat. Add Via and stir in very well. Let it set for a minute while you make the following steps.
With a hand mixer beat together sugar, vanilla, and egg in a large mixing bowl.
Add cocoa. Mix with spoon so it doesn't fly everywhere.
Add melted coffee chocolate concoction to the mix.
Add flour. And voila! Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes, and you'll have the best darned mocha brownies EVER! (Unless, of course, you are allergic to Starbucks.)

ENJOY!

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies Full of Comfort

Are you a big fan of oatmeal cookies? I'm still trying to decide. Love the taste, hate the heartburn... Love the goodness of oatmeal, hate the raisins... Until this recipe came into my life! Yes, it changed my very view of oatmeal in a cookie. The chocolate and fiber and goodness of oats for my heart outweighs the stinging of heartburn (OK, I'm weird, YES oatmeal gives me heartburn!) and, nope, no raisins!!

If you were one of those kids whose moms would give you chocolate chip cookies (or cookie bars in our house) and you were sure the world was alright after all, then this recipe really is for you!

You know, I know that there's more to life than what we eat. I know that food doesn't actually make anything better. But there is some moment of bliss and escape with just bunkering down with a cookie in some soft, cozy spot, taking comfort in something that is ...mmmmm!

And then it is also very sweet to share these with others. It's a wonderful communion to bite into a warm melt-in-your-mouth pocket o'joy and look at your husband and he has the same goofy "mmm" look on his face that you do, as if nothing else could be so yummy! I love sharing a [tiny] crumb of chocolate or sweets with my daughter and she says, with SO much gusto, "NUM-NUM!!!!!!!" And then begs for more, with all the manipulating puppy-eyes an 18-month-old can muster.

But my favorite thing about making these cookies is making them. I LOVE baking. I LOVE cooking. I LOVE feeding others! I like to share, but I LOVE to be the artful master behind the delectable morsel.

So I saw an episode of Good Eats a few days ago (I fall asleep watching Alton Brown most nights) where he was making several recipes with Oats. I want to try each of them, they were all pretty creative. So, since I was inspired, and I wanted sugar, I went with the cookie idea first. Now, when I went to The Food Network's website for his recipe, I found that I didn't like how it looked that much after all, so I also found another one on allrecipes.com and combined the two.... Then ran out of oats and added some stuff... And then some cocoa powder.... Plus a little more sugar and salt to balance that out... Then, well, my recipe didn't resemble anyone's! (Which I LOVE!!!!)

By the way, did I mention these are [mostly] GOOD for you!?!?

So here ya go:

WHAT YOU NEED:

1 1/2 cups old fashioned rolled oats

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups wheat bran

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup Ghirardelli 60% cocoa chocolate chips

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
2 eggs

1/4 cup cocoa powder (Penzey's is BEST!!!!)

3 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. sea salt

HOW TO:

You know what, just mix it all together! Well ok, butter, sugar, vanilla, eggs, and salt first. Cocoa powder next. And the rest just dump it in at will. Mix it up really well, and it'll turn out =)  Bake at 350.

I made these REALLY big cookies!!! I suggest you do the same, as well. It'll make your loved ones a little happier =)

"Chopped"

Don't do "Chopped" at home. Bad idea. (And I didn't even have a time limit!)

Today is our five-year anniversary. My husband took off work for a few days so we could just hang out as a family. It's been very sweet. We don't have the money to travel anywhere. We don't have the money to go do a lot of fun things (even if "fun" was cheap, babysitters aren't!) So, even though tonight we did get a babysitter so we could go out to eat and bowling, we tried to find fun things to do as a family otherwise.

And one of them was to see what Mama could come up with for lunch if I had "mystery ingredients" like on Chopped.

Oh my, was this a disaster! Of course, my sweet husband said the food was good....ish... But, I only choked the food down because I was hungry and pretty discouraged, not wanting to cook again. The mystery ingredients were: 

Bacon, Avocado, Nutella, and Pita Chips. YUCK! I did get a pretty bad "basket", you have to admit!

You know, I'm honestly too embarrassed to tell you what I made, but I will tell you about the only part of the dish that not only we liked, but I would actually make again!!

So, while doing Chopped in my kitchen, I looked around. The day before I had made biscuits from scratch, and had a few leftover. I ground those up in the food processor, along with Nutella, a bit of butter, and a pinch of salt. And WOW!!!!!!! I'm not much of a pie person... In fact I usually loathe it. And I've never really made one. But, this Nutella Biscuit Pie Crust inspired me to start experimenting with pies!

I hope you make and enjoy it, too =)

WHAT YOU NEED:

For the Biscuits:

2 cups AP Flour, plus about 1 more

4 tsp. Baking Powder

1 tsp. Sea Salt

1/4 cup Vegetable Shortening

1/4 cup Unsalted Butter

1/2 cup Whole Milk

1/2 cup Half & Half

For the Pie Crust:

5 Leftover Biscuits

2-3 TBSP. Unsalted Butter

1/4 tsp. Sea Salt

3-4 TBSP. Nutella

HOW TO:

For the biscuits, mix 2 cups flour with the baking powder and salt. (For smoother biscuits, sift all ingredients.)

Cut the butter and shortening into the flour.

Add milk and half & half. Mix ONLY until wet. DON'T over-mix!!

Turn out onto a (heavily) floured surface.

Add more flour to the top and work in. Work in the flour, a bit at a time....This might be the most annoying part for me. I'm a real "texture" person, meaning I'm super sensitive to textures, and I hate gooey ones!

Cut biscuits into about 2-1/2 inch circles before baking. I suggest baking them on a pizza stone because they bake perfectly even, with no burning.

Bake at 450, about 12-15 minutes. I had to bake mine 17, but that's because my oven sucks.

Let biscuits cool completely. Better yet, make biscuits the day ahead for another meal, saving out only 5 of them. Wrap those five leftover biscuits up and wait til the next day to make the pie crust.

For pie crust, grind biscuits up in blender. Add butter, salt, and Nutella. Add more or less to your taste.

The dough now should be pretty wet and gooey. That's good!

Smooth down around side of pie pan.

Bake for a few minutes, at about 375, until it starts to bubble up in the middle. Take out at this point, and smooth out dough again. I just put a piece of foil down inside and pressed it down.

Bake for a few more minutes, doing the same thing again if another bubble arises.

Add whatever filling to it that you desire, and bake right away (you don't have to cool the crust first).

ENJOY!!

** If you make this (or any recipe I post) leave me a comment and let me know how it turned out for you! I'm open to feedback and suggestions. Heck, even criticism! =)

Banana Custard-filled Chocolate Cupcakes w/ PB Frosting. Yum.

"You put your left foot in, you put your left foot out, you put your left foot in and you shake it all about!" This cupcake made me want to do the Hokey Pokey! No, seriously! I don't even like the Hokey Pokey. Come to think of it, I don't like banana and peanut butter together either, much less with chocolate (because they would just be tainting my chocolate anyway!) But this, oh THIS was an exception!!!!!!!

I read a certain column in the food section of the newspaper every week because I like to criticize it. (I'll be honest.) But this week it was actually a bit inspiring. Inspiring as in "I can do better" =)  It was a recipe for homemade pudding, both a vanilla and a chocolate version. I decided to make the vanilla into banana, and more like a custard. And, the only logical conclusion was to make that a filling for a delicioso chocolate cupcake!


Homemade Banana Custardy Pudding, adapted from Anna Thomas Bates's Vanilla Pudding

WHAT YOU NEED:
2 Cups Half & Half
2 tsp. Pure Vanilla Extract (Penzey's in BEST!!)
1 Cup Sugar
2 TBSP. Cornstarch (I used Arrowroot Starch and it was runny...)
1/4 tsp. Sea Salt
1 Egg + 1 Yolk (I think next time I'm going to try yet one more Yolk! Yum!)
1 Overly-Ripe Almost-Rotten Banana

HOW TO:
Heat half & half over low heat. Stir a few times - do not let it boil over! In fact, don't let it come to a boil at all. Add vanilla and salt.
In a large bowl, whisk together sugar and cornstarch, then eggs, until smooth.
Ladle about a 1/4 cup of the warm milk mixture into the bowl with sugar mixture. Use a hand-mixer to whisk the mixture as it comes together. You do not want the egg to cook from the hot milk. Repeat 3x.
As it is now tempered, you may add the entire mixture back to the saucepan - slowly, and continuously stirring. (I used the hand-mixer the entire time, even on the heat!)
Increase heat to medium. Continue to stir/mix for a couple of minutes, until blended smooth and actually starts to look thicker like ...a ...pudding. (Trust me, this feels like forever, but it only takes a couple of minutes.)
Let pudding cool in a large metal or glass bowl (you will be storing it in), and chill. To cover, place a large piece of plastic wrap over the pudding, pushing it down on top of the pudding, so that it does not form a film (...cause ewww!) To make it even more air tight, wrap in yet another piece of plastic wrap over the bowl, like you'd normally wrap up a bowl =)

As always, ENJOY!!

Peanut Butter Mocha Cupcakes

My husband got scheduled to work on Mother's Day, but two of his wonderful co-workers split his shift so that he could spend it with me as he promised! SO sweet! So, he asked me to make them cupcakes in return. And I gladly obliged =)

Now, if you've read many of my other posts by now you've probably realized that I have a strong belief in healthy food, and a vibrant passion for making food for others... But, sometimes they conflict... And the bad-for-you-but-oh-so-yummy food wins. This time, cupcakes won!

And, they were winners with everyone at my hubby's work!! But, of course, maybe that's because I used a recipe off the Food Network's website -- winning cupcakes from Cupcake Wars! Which is hilarious because one co-worker actually said that they were worthy of Cupcake Wars! Oh, little does she know =)

(Ok, so here's the link to the Cupcake Wars chocolate cupcakes recipe.)

(And here's the recipe for the frosting.)

But the fun little surprise in the middle was a simple Ganache... Just hollow out the center of the cupcakes when they cool a bit, and inject some creamy amazingness =)

Sunflower Cupcakes

I've never understood the fascination with cupcakes... I mean, they're cute, but I would never stand in line at 3:00 in the morning to buy a cupcake from some cute little brand new boutique. To me, they are pretty much just an avenue (and excuse) to eat a lot of frosting!

And then I started watching Cupcake Wars. I don't know if you're like me or not, but when I get new music or a new movie, that's pretty much all I watch or listen to for... umm, a sickening amount of time. Right now, I'm obsessed with Cupcake Wars! So, you can probably tell that's where this post is coming from! I watch a lot of CW and want so bad to make everything they're making!!!

I'd love to own one of those cute little boutiques that used to make me sick, I want to charge $4 a pop (you do realize it costs them like 80 cents to make the whole batch, right!?!?), and yes, I want to go on Cupcake Wars!!! And I'm not even competitive! I generally feel rotten if I win at a game with friends, because everyone else cares so much and I care so little about winning! But I think if I went on CW I could kick some butt =)

So, I started practicing! Haha! You can totally laugh at that statement, because even if I wanted to start my own cupcake bakery, the show wouldn't be on anymore by that time! But, anyway, here's what I did today - I had fun!

I made a really basic vanilla cupcake. I found the recipe on someone else's blog, and replaced the vanilla bean with dried orange peel and candied ginger.

You can see some orange specks on top in the photo at Left.

The sunflower idea came from an incredibly dorky (yet informative) youtube video I saw from some Canadian named YoYoMax12.

I made a chocolate buttercream, and piped little sunflower seeds......

Then, the petals... which drooped pretty badly! I need to work on consistency apparently!

On the video, she put two different colored frostings in the same piping bag... But my first cupcake was pretty much only yellow, and by the end the colors mixed so much that I just had pinkish-orange petals =(

At Right, you'll see flower #1 -- I was ambitious and made two layers of petals. Then I realized that I might run out of frosting pretty quickly, so I just did one layer on the rest of them =)

And at Bottom........ the finished products!!! The ones at far left were the first ones, then progressing to the right were the latter ones. The last ones were actually really droopy and pitiful! I'm most pleased with the middle cupcakes =)  But honestly, I felt like I did a FANTASTIC job for it being my second time EVER to decorate cupcakes!!!! And, with no one (besides YoYoMax12) to teach me =)

Mmmmm... Choco Banana PB Smooooooothie!

Enter: The Inner Life of a PMSing Dieting Woman, Act I

PMSing Me: "I'm like a freakin' stuffed sausage! This was my PREGO skirt! Now I'm outgrowing it! Argh! I'm going to have to start throwing up after every meal!..."

My Dear Husband: "Talitha, don't say that! You're beautiful."

Me: "I'm FAT!"

Hubby: "You might weigh a little more than you'd like, but you're beautiful."

Me: "You're sweet. But you're either blind or lying to make me feel better..."

Hubby: "Ok, you said you read that people always tend to reward themselves while dieting with food that they miss, but it's better to reward yourself with non-food items, right? ... Well then, if you go this next week without any sugar (desserts), then buy yourself the DrawSomething app that you want!"

Me: "That's a GREAAAAAT idea!!! Yay! 2,000 more words for only 99c! I can do that! I'll gladly do that!!! You're the best husband EVER!!! You are SO thoughtful and sweet!!!!!"

Act II

I've had mysterious headaches for three days and I'm about as grouchy as my 16-month-old... Who's either got a bad case of diaper rash or baby angst, I don't know which (but neither once would excuse trying to bite Mama).

I-Need-Chocolate-Me: "So, if you're going to the store anyway, and you're buying bananas for smoothies anyway, could you some dark chocolate chips for Chocolate-PB-Banana Smoothies? Because YUM!" (Note: Dark Chocolate is allowed)

Husband: "Yeah! Let's make them with Greek Yogurt. Do I need to buy some?"

Me: "No, we have enough." (Inside I'm actually doing the happy dance that I get something sweet)

Act III

The baby is in bed - EARLY! Thank God, too, because she was being a pain in the arse this evening, just as cranky as can be!

We close her door and turn the box fan on high, to cover up the noise of the blender as best as we can. I find two medium bananas - one slight green and one slightly brown, a cup of plain Greek Yogurt, about a quarter-cup dark chocolate chips, four-or-five tablespoons of natural peanut butter, two teaspoons ground golden flax seed, and a little more than a cup of almond-coconut milk to make this a real smooooothie =)

As my husband and I enjoy our perfect 12-ounce cups of chocolate-peanut butter-banana joy, we play a game on our new iPad and enjoy the rare silence coming from the next room. Joy in a cup, joy in silence, joy in each other. Joyful night.

Act IV

It's one in the morning. The baby is silent. The husband is snoozing. The streets are silent. Spiders everywhere are spinning their webs. And I'm still awake from the blasted caffeine in the chocolate! Headache? Worse. There's one aid: creativity. Mine, and others'... I'm gonna go watch some Good Eats. Bless Alton Brown. Maybe there's an episode on smoothies... Bless YouTube!

Birthday Extravaganza Vacation Weekend/Banana Strata

As I've shared in another post in recent times, I have the most wonderful husband I [n]ever could've imagined!!! This past weekend he took off work for several days and gave me time to do whatever I wanted! SO SWEET!!! Short of flying to Tahiti for the weekend, I got to do most everything I wanted =)  I used a gift certificate for a massage, then I got my hair cut and eyebrows waxed (thank-you, btw, to the dear lady who pulled off half my eyelid in the process...!)  I got time to cook & blog. I didn't change but a couple of diapers =)  I didn't get up during the night once!!!!!!!!! And, my husband took me out for a lovely, wonderful time at a near-by Asian restaurant where we enjoyed Sushi and a very interesting Birthday Song with a flaming flower that played music - What a night! During the vacation, I also got to go to coffee with a friend, who donned my doorstep later in the day with a basket full of kitchen gadgets and goodies (what a friend!!), took an art class, and my family went to the local art museum on Free Day =)  Great way to turn 30!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank-you, friends and family for sending me wonderful cards and gifts (especially "30", Debby)! And thank-you, Husband, for making my dreaded 30th the best ...um EVER!!!!!!!

Ok, so we were invited to some friends' house on Sunday night, so I tried to make a recipe I found in our newspaper for a dessert called something like "Boston No-Bake Cake"... The custard part was the hardest, and I really thought it had bombed, but with the help of a couple of bananas, I redeemed it! It turned out fabulously!!! This "Boston No-Bake Cake" is a layered dessert, comprised of graham crackers, a vanilla-y custard, bananas, and chocolate frosting, that needs at least 24 hours in the fridge to become what you really want it to be. I've renamed it "Banana Strata". Think of it as an edible geology lesson ...or a chocolate-ensconced banana pudding lasagna. Either way, read on:

WHAT YOU NEED:

For the Custard:
5 TBSP. unsalted butter + pinch of sea salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 cups half & half
2 tsp. vanilla
3 TBSP. arrowroot starch
3 eggs + 3 egg yolks
2 medium not-ripe-but-not-too-green bananas

For the Frosting:
3 TBSP. unsalted butter + pinch sea salt

1/4 cup Penzey's cocoa powder (or Ghirardelli)

2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup heavy whipping cream

16 oz. Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips

For the Strata:

1 package graham crackers (3 sleeves)

About 1/3 reserved chocolate frosting

1 medium not-ripe-but-not-too-green banana =)

HOW TO:

For the Custard:
Mix room-temperature butter + salt with sugar in sauce pan, then turn heat on to medium (low-ish) and heat until melted.
Add half & half and heat, stirring continually, until a little thicker and a heavenly cream smell! (Do not let it boil, and take it off heat if it starts to smell even a little burnt!)
Add vanilla, take off heat.
Ladle one cup of hot mixture into blender with starch. Blend until smooth. Add back to sauce pan, and put back on heat.
In separate bowl, slightly beat 3 eggs and 3 egg yolks together. Add to cream mixture in sauce pan.
Cook and whisk about 5 minutes, continually scraping sides and bottom of pan.
Put whole mixture in blender, add both bananas, and blend until very smooth.
(At this point you could call is banana pudding and be done!!)

For the Frosting:
Slowly melt butter + pinch of salt over low heat.
Add cocoa powder and vanilla (I think they mix in better at this stage)
Pour in cream. Heat just until everything is mixed well and cream is warm.
Add chocolate chips, and stir continually. Heat until thoroughly melted.
*Note: You need to use this chocolate while it's still melty... So ándale with the Strata already!!

For the Strata:
For each of the first two layers in the strata, place contents of one sleeve of graham crackers in a casserole dish*, cover with custard, and top with a few slices of banana and half of the reserved chocolate frosting. (This amount of frosting isn't much, so know that it doesn't need to cover the layer completely - just zigzag it on.)
For the third final layer, it is the same except you are using the entirety of the chocolate frosting. It looks like an awful lot, but it will settle in =)
*Nonmetallic -- it will be sitting in the fridge for 24 hours, remember!

SERVES: 12

COST: $11-12, so just around $1/each.

Truffles

Any food is only as good as the ingredients you use.... My favorite is Ghirardelli. It's not too expensive, and it's not chalky like Nestle.

WHAT YOU NEED:
12 oz. (1 bag) Ghirardelli 60% Cocoa Chocolate Chips
3 TBSP. unsalted Butter + a little tiny pinch sea salt
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream

1 tsp. vanilla

1/4 cup Ghirardelli Baking Cocoa Powder
4 oz. (1/3 bag) Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

HOW TO:
Place the 60% chocolate chips with room-temperature butter and salt in a mixing bowl.
Add vanilla to cream in a sauce pan. Heat on stove top to slight simmer, over medium heat. (This should only take a minute. Stir constantly. When cream gets too hot, it's done for...)
Pour over chocolate mixture in mixing bowl. Leave for about two minutes! Then, stir to mix well. (If it's cold in your house, or the chocolate chips or butter are cold, then you might have to do like I did and dump the whole mixture back in the pan to melt thoroughly -- that's okay, but take heed to ONLY bring it to the melting point, stirring vigorously!!!)
When melted together thoroughly, cover mixing bowl and leave in fridge for at least one hour.
When chocolate and cream mixture is well-set, use a spoon or ice-cream scoop to scoop out enough to make one-inch balls. Use your hands -- but only your fingertips, and be QUICK!!! The heat from your hands will surely melt anything they touch... Then your kitchen will be pretty grimy, like mine was =)
As you roll each truffle ball, set on a large plastic cutting board or a cookie sheet lined with parchment or foil.
Let these rest in fridge again as you prepare the toppings.
Pour 1/4 cup baking powder in a cereal bowl (or something large enough to just hold about 3-4 truffle balls.
Pour about 1/3 of the bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips into a microwave-safe dish, and melt in microwave on high heat, at 20-30 second intervals -- STIRRING in between!!! (Do not cover the chocolate as it heats in the microwave!)
Pour that into a zip-top bag, squeezing out the air, and sealing it.
Remove truffle balls from fridge.
Roll in cocoa. Place back on cutting board, or whatever they came from =)  Make sure they are close, but not touching.
Cut a small hole in one corner of the zip-top bag, and squeeze semi-sweet swirls on top of each truffle.
Refrigerate to keep... They keep for a couple of weeks in a sealed container!!

I know, I know... Everyone says that Truffles taste best at room temperature, but I just don't like chocolate at any other temperature than straight-from-the-fridge! I always thought my Grandma was SO weird for keeping KitKats and M&Ms in the fridge, and now I see why =)

COST:
About $8 for 25-30 Truffles.
....Let's see here, you divide by... and add the 1... that's... Um, I'll check on my calculator.... between 27-32 cents/each
(Does anyone really care how much good chocolate costs? It's usually worth it!)

Old News

Well, this is old news, but a great way to start off posting! So.... I have to be honest, my food never LOOKS all that appetizing... My sweet husband would disagree, but I need to show you what I mean:

THIS was my first attempt at decorating sugar cookies this past Christmas. When my husband saw them, he said, "Oooh! Is it Santa?!?!" At this point I could've cried. Or sulked. But I laughed! "No! It's not Santa! They're supposed to be trees!!!"

But honestly, no matter what professional cake decorators everywhere are going to think when they view this next concoction, I am very, very proud! For my child's first birthday party in November, I made this Elmo cupcake cake... You may gasp in horror, but it was my SECOND attempt at decorating!!!

My husband and I worked on it until 10:00 PM the night before the party. I had bought several different brands of red icing (whatever was on sale), and boy was that a stupid idea! They are all different shades and textures, some sparkly, some not, so we ended up dumping them all into a zip-top bag and squishing them into one paste, then cutting a hole in the end and inserting an icing decorator's tip... thingy... 

We didn't have enough black icing, so I was happy I had chosen a dark chocolate cake - it all kinda blended together!

And, since there were extra cupcakes I didn't want to waste, and didn't want to stick the candles in Elmo's head, I opted to use the extra cupcakes as candle holders.

Honestly, everyone at the party loved it! The were all super impressed! And, more than anyone else's opinion, my sweet child's face lighting up to see her favorite character was praise and reward enough. I was sad to see it eaten.