New Born Banana Bread

A few weeks back while I was in Toronto for the birth of my nephew (a.k.a.: The cutest little munchkin on the planet!)  there were some bananas on the counter that clearly no one was going to get to in time so I decided to make a Banana Bread.  I didn't have my regular recipe handy so I made it a little different and actually thought it was so much better!  It's a super simple recipe so I wanted to share with you!  My sister and fam are chocoholics so I did put chocolate chips in theirs but when I make it for Jon and I, I'll skip the chocolate chips and either make it plain or with frozen blueberries.  So yummy for breakfast with the blue berries in it!

Ingredients:

1) 3 ripe or over ripe bananas, smashed
2) 1/3 cup melted butter
3) 1 cup sugar (use 3/4 cup only if using chocolate chips too)
4) 1 egg, beaten
5) 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6) 1 teaspoon baking soda
7) Pinch of salt
8) 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
9) Optional : Blueberries or chocolate chips - 1 cup of either.


Directions:
It's your choice on if to use a mixer or not.  At home I do throw it in my Kitchenaid but in TO I did it by hand and they turn out pretty much the same.  Preheat the oven to 350°F.   Mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl.  Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix.  Fold in blueberries or chocolate chips gently.  Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

Yummo!  Enjoy!

Yummiest Book Ever!

One of my favorite bloggers, Bakerella, is writing a book about something from her blog.  She's actually quite famous and was on Martha Stewart talking about her Cake Pops.  I saw this idea on her blog a few years ago and altered it a bit to make what I call Cake Truffles.  Essentially the same thing, but I don't put mine on sticks, and I use chocolate instead of candy melts.  I always,  Santa always makes sure to have a bunch in all the stockings at Christmas time in the Lockeport Monahan house.  They're a huge hit!  Yum!

Check Out The How To Video 

Just for my honey...

Well, it's that time again... Exam time.  The dreaded exam time.  To make matters worse, Jon has a stats exam this wednesday and it's apparently supposed to be a brutal one.  I was feeling really guilty because I got his hopes up yesterday with the promises of a black forest cake (his FAVORITE) only to realize that we didn't have whipping cream, or cherry filling...  He was pretty bummed out.  To make it up to him, I whipped it up tonite... even after having to work late, and a pretty stressful day at work.  What can I say... my boy is worth it!  :)  Nice little treat to suprise him when he's back from the library tonite.

YUM!

 

The Finished Product

  

Mmm... Chocolate batter....

  

Ready to go in the oven... (You can tell it was a long day because I used disposable pans... Haha!  No chance I was hauling out my regular pans and doing dishes...)  

 

There is nothing more heavenly than fresh homemade real whip cream....  

 

Mmmm... my heart melts with this... Jon won't eat the cake unless it's got the real stuff on it!  :) 

Delish!! 

Stocking Stuffer Yummies!!

So this year, since it will be our first Christmas as husband and wife I really want to go over the top and add all the special touches to the holidays. I was looking for some fun and unique ideas for stocking stuffers! We like to try to keep stocking stuffers cheap, but sentimental and thoughtful. I ofcourse will be making my signature peanut butter homemade fudge, and I may possibly try my hand at some mocha almond biscotti again. (I burnt my last batch, and it was less mocha and more mush-a-mush.) A good friend of mine also recommended this blog to me, http://bakerella.blogspot.com/2008/12/its-beginning-to-look-lot-like.html. I plan on making these raindeer cake pops, and cannot wait to see how they turn out!! I am also going to try the recipe for red velvet cake balls covered in Chocolate!! I am sure this will be a huge hit for the inlaws, and I'll have to save a few for the family back home! :)