Today is my friend and neighbor, Hollie’s, birthday. I baked up a special loaf of peanut buttery banana bread for us to nibble on with our coffee this morning to celebrate.
{banana bread recipe from my best girlfriend, Denise, a million years ago}
Peanut Butter Studded Banana Bread
I decided instead of the normal walnuts or chocolate chips, it needed a little something different…
2 cups flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking soda, sifted in with the flour
1/2 cup butter, softened to room temperature
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt, sifted with dry ingredients
3 bananas, mashed
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup Reese’s peanut butter chips
Preheat oven to 350*.
Cream butter and sugar.
Add in all other ingredients and mix.
Stir in peanut butter chips.
Pour into a greased and floured pan.
Bake for 60-70 minutes.
*****
Warm banana bread with unexpected little pockets of peanut buttery goodness?
Last Friday at dance class, while flipping through the February issue of Disney Family Fun magazine, I came across a recipe for Chinese Peanut-Sesame Noodles.
I wanted to see how it compared to this recipe. {I like the added veggies in this recipe, but both are excellent!}
And what better night to serve it than Chinese New Year…
I added grilled chicken and served with edamame on the side.
It was too spicy for the tikes, but you could certainly omit the chili paste. Also, if you don’t have tahini on hand you could easily substitute with the same amount of peanut butter.
These noodles were quick and easy ~ I had all the ingredients except for the scallions.
We shared a sushi roll while we decided on something else.
Jay got beef kabob (which I was glad because he’s been talking about kabob for awhile) with hummus, pita and some middle eastern take on potato salad with mint which was delish.
The kids got pepperoni pizza, of course.
I finally decided that I wanted some spicy Jambalaya from The Gumbo Pot. The line was long…
We also tried the hushpuppies…
…and the beignets for dessert!
Trying to cool theirs off:
Powdered sugar everywhere.
Yum!
We were successful and got out of there without buying anything other than our lunch.
NOT EASY!
*****
I wanted to fix dinner, of course, but Jay wanted to do Sticky Brown Sugar Glazed Babybacks on the grill. I went to the store and grabbed a slab and a half along with the fixin’s for some Bacon Blue Cheese Potato Salad and Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream. I prepared the dry rub (cayenne, salt & pepper) and made the glaze (brown sugar, beer, cider vinegar, red pepper flakes and mustard powder) and he did the grilling. Thanks, babe!
Bacon Blue Cheese Potato Salad:
Sweet, sticky ribs:
This was our first time doing ribs. I was a little nervous, but they turned out fantastic. Next time Jay said he will not have as many coals going so they can cook “lower and slower” so to speak, but they were outstanding.
The tater salad was a new find, too and it was perfect with the ribs.
We made our second batch of ice cream…
Peanut Butter Cup ~ Jay’s fave!
In the end, it doesn’t matter if you’re indecisive or have the perfect plan in your head.
All that matters is that we spent the day together as a family and reminded ourselves what an honor (most days!) it is to be parents to E & H.
From the moment the Clear Blue Easy stick told me Jay was going to be a daddy, I knew he was going to be a wonderful one.
That was almost 6 years ago!
These two HAVE decided that they have the best daddy in the whole wide world!
I substitute cucumber and carrots for the apple and jicama…I also use red onion in place of the scallions. This time I used about 5 ounces of udon noodles instead of the spaghetti and it gave it more of an Asian flair!
Yummy warm or cold.
You can also make it as sort of a macaroni salad and use whole wheat macaroni. Super easy and portable in the warmer months since there is no mayo. Add chicken, too for a heartier meal!
When I come across a recipe that makes my mouth water, I want to make it yesterday…
I read about these Peanut Butter & Honey Cookies here.
I had all the ingredients except for Mr. Quaker so, while strolling through Target this morning, I picked up some old-fashioned oats and couldn’t wait to get home to try these.
I brought my KitchenAid mixer out of hiding and enlisted the help of one pajama clad 4-year old. Now you know having an almost 5 year old “help” in the kitchen can wear on your patience, but we managed to get everything in the mixing bowl without too many gray hairs popping up!
I had high hopes of posting a pic of these cookies on my cute polka dot cake stand looking all beautiful and stacked nicely, but they did not look nearly as gorgeous as Heather’s! I dropped them too close together on the cookie sheet and they all had one big love fest in the oven! I HATE when that happens because you no longer have beautiful, round cookies, you have some that are square and some that are round on one side and square on the other three sides from cutting them away from their lovers! I am all about aesthetics when I cook, so this was not a good day in the cucina in the eye candy department. Note to self: next time only 9 cookies to a sheet!
But nevertheless, they were delish (square-shaped and all) ~ just like Heather said ~ “crispy on the outside & chewy on the inside”.
Here is a picture of my assistant (pajama day at school today ~ but this is not to say that somedays we don’t stay in our jammies well into the afternoon!):
Here is what you’ll need:
Here’s what they look like while waiting for the oven to come to 350:
…and here’s what they look like when you put too many on the pan too close together:
I tried to focus on the ONE perfect one…..
No matter what shape you make these, they’re “buzzing” (get it? honey) with delight!
Yesterday I kept Elliott home from school. She woke up with a cough. It was cold. It was raining. It was windy.
Pros and Cons of being “stuck” at home on a rainy day with a coughing kid:
~Pros~
Plan Holden’s party
Clean
Organize
Straighten up
Make soup
Fold and put away laundry
Do more laundry
Make the guest bed for Uncle Rodney this weekend
Write thank you notes
Less likely to spend money (unless I shop on-line, which I don’t do much)
Have a Chocolate Peanut Butter milkshake while one kid is napping
~Cons~
Have a Chocolate Peanut Butter milkshake while one kid is napping!
Why did I do that? Why did I pull out the Dreyer’s Slow Churned Rich & Creamy Vanilla Bean Light Ice Cream, lowfat milk, TJ’s Organic Midnight Moo Chocolate Syrup and the jar of peanut butter???
Why did I throw it all in the blender with some crushed ice???
Why did it seem like a good idea at the time???
Because it looked like this:
I don’t need to be eating this…a rice cake maybe? Some water? But not this.
So, I don’t recommend making this. It’s NOT good. Who likes chocolate and peanut butter together? Who likes ice cream? Who likes milkshakes?
Today is a new day! I will put on my NB’s this evening and do a little run…I am going to run AWAY from Milkshake Land!
It’s super quick and easy, but sometimes a bit messy with the powdered sugar. I just get a paper Trader Joe’s bag, dump the powdered sugar in there, add the coated Crispix and shake! Then I spread onto a cookie sheet to dry a bit before bagging it up.
One 12 oz. box of Crispix only makes 5 little snack-size bags (with a little leftover for the cook and her assistant!) The recipe says 9 cups, but I go ahead and use the whole 12 oz. box (about 12 cups) so it isn’t quite so powdered sugary! Also, I melt the peanut butter, chocolate chips, butter and vanilla in a sauce pan over the stove instead of in the microwave. Less chance of burning or heating the chocolate too fast. This will make it seize up and get grainy – Blech! But I’m sure if you follow the directions and decide to use the micro, it’ll be just fine!
Found some cute snowflake bags at Dollar Tree ~ 25 cellophane bags for a buck! Cheap!
Your family, friends, co-workers, neighbors (and anyone else) will LOVE you!
