Banana Bread Cupcakes



Banana Bread Cupcakes with 'Gravy Frosting'


Banana bread has been on my mind  for a few weeks now. It stemmed from having a few really ripe bananas that I didn't want to toss. Unfortunately, I did not share my banana bread making plan with my husband and the bananas were eaten. :( After that I couldn't seem to get banana bread off my mind. So I bought more bananas and had to patiently watch them ripen. With the extra days I had while the bananas ripened, I was able to search for new recipes. I really enjoyed this one. Who wouldn't enjoy banana bread cupcakes with frosting? The frosting is amazing and I am already dreaming up other delicious baked goods to put it on and in.

Banana Bread Cupcakes:


1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup chopped pecans(or walnuts), optional
1 cup mashed ripened bananas

Preheat oven to 350* F. Grease cupcake pan, do not use paper liners. In a stand mixer cream butter and sugar together. Add the eggs and vanilla, mix well. In a separate bowl mix flour, baking soda, and salt together. Add flour mix to butter mixture at medium speed until combined, scrape sides of bowl as needed. Add sour cream, bananas, and nuts just until combined. Fill cupcake pan 2/3 full. I used a jumbo cupcake pan (which makes 6) and 1/2 a cup of batter per cupcake worked perfectly. I had enough batter left to fill an individual bread pan. Bake in preheated oven for 30-35 min. If you are doing normal size cupcakes you may need to reduce the time by 10 minutes, just keep an eye on them.

Gravy Frosting: (sounds weird but SO amazing)

1 cup milk
5 Tbs. all purpose flour
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar

Begin by pouring milk into a saucepan over medium heat. Add flour while constantly stirring to make sure it is well incorporated. Do not leave this unattended. It will need to be constantly stirred while it thickens. This takes about 2-3 minutes. Just keep stirring until it thickens, then remove from heat and pour into a bowl and let cool completely. Once it is completely cool add vanilla and stir well. In a stand mixer cream butter and granulated sugar together. Add the milk mixture and whip for 1-2 minutes or until it resembles whip cream. It will be light, fluffy, and irresistable!

Black & Tan Cupcakes

Black & Tan

About a week ago my neighbor came across some Guinness recipes that had her drooling. She sent them my way with hopes that I would drool too and make them for the neighborhood, it worked. A week later I made them for my husbands birthday and distributed them throughout our cul-de-sac. Using Guinness was a fun twist for me. The cupcakes and frosting turned out incredible and I will absolutely make them again. The frosting is out of this world, there is definitely a Guinness finish to it along with some hints buttery caramel that are quite addicting.


Cupcakes:

1/2 cup butter
1 cup Guinness or other dark stout
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa
1 cup sour cream
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt

Frosting:

1/2 cup butter, softened
3 cups powder sugar
1/4 cup Guinness

Preheat oven to 350* F. In a small saucepan, melt the butter with the Guinness over medium heat. When butter is melted into the Guinness remove from heat and set aside. In a large mixing bowl combined sugar and cocoa, stir well. Slowly add the butter/Guinness mixture to the sugar/cocoa stirring until well incorporated. In a separate bowl mix flour, baking soda, and salt together and set aside. Add sour cream, eggs, and vanilla to the cocoa and Guinness mixture, stir until well combined. Continue stirring while adding the flour mixture. Do not over mix once the flour is added only stir until it is incorporated with the liquid, do not beat. Fill lined baking cups 2/3 full (about 1/4 cup) Bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

For the frosting, beat butter while adding Guinness until combined then add powder sugar until desired consistency is reached. Wait until the cupcakes have cooled completely before frosting. Enjoy!

Starting An Organic Garden

Recently I was bitten by the gardening bug. It all started when my husband bought me a window box planter for herbs that I kept on my kitchen windowsill. After planting basil, rosemary, cilantro, and parsley in my planter box I wanted to try something more. A lot of people I know have had successful tomatoes with a Topsy Turvey so I decided to try it out.

There are many choices when it comes to tomato plants. Usually I prefer cherry or grape tomatoes but my husband prefers a bigger tomato so I chose Roma's, a well flavored medium size tomato that we can both enjoy. Hopefully by next year I will have attempted cherry tomatoes. Our Roma tomatoes are growing nicely, we have several golf ball size green tomatoes that are getting bigger everyday.

Topsey Turvey with Roma Tomatoes

With the success of the window planter and the tomatoes I decided to go all in and start an actual garden. Off to Lowes we went. My husband got the supplies he need for building the frame while I browsed the surprisingly big selection of organic seeds. I am a picky vegetable eater, I bought only what I knew I would eat. We ended up with green beans, white beans, snow peas, cucumber, multi colored carrots, broccoli, multi colored bell peppers, sweet basil, red basil, oregano, and peppermint. Yikes, maybe I am not so picky after all. Since I bought organic seeds I did some comparisons on regular garden soil vs. organic garden soil . Maybe if there was a huge difference in price I may have stuck with regular soil but it was only around a dollar more a bag and I like being able to say the I have a completely organic vegetable garden.

Multi Colored Bell Peppers

My son Logan was very interested in helping. He ended up helping build the frame, level the ground, and he did most of the planting. I made the holes in the ground and he put the seeds in and covered them up. He looks forward to going to the garden every morning and seeing what has come up. He even helps me water too. The first day that our beans sprouted we were so exited, then he turned and asked me "where are the vegetables?", I love my son. 

Snow Peas

When I had the garden idea I thought it would be enjoyable to grow our own vegetables but it ended up being so much more. Logan and I have something that only him and I do. It is mommy and Logan's garden, no daddy or brother allowed. I love the look on his face when something new sprouts and how excited he is that he did it. We have also started going on rock hunts together, we try to find smooth rocks to paint and put in our garden. Some rocks end up being animals or insect while others are markers for our plants. If you have the time and patience I highly recommend starting a garden, it has multiple benefits.

Cucumbers and a giraffe

Broccoli meets Ladybug

Chocolate Ganache Glaze

Chocolate ganache is one of those things that once you have made it, you will try to put it on everything. The first time I made it I was sure that it wouldn't turn out or wouldn't be the same as some fancy bakery, I was wrong. This is one of the easiest recipes that anyone can make and not mess up. Just writing this is making me want to go make a chocolate cake so I can try this as a filling. The possibilities with this are endless, enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 8oz Bittersweet Chocolate bar, Ghirardelli is best 

1 cup heavy cream

2Tbs. Powder Sugar

Finely chop chocolate bar and place in microwave safe bowl. Pour heavy cream over the chocolate then add the powder sugar. Microwave for 30 seconds, then stir. If it is still lumpy microwave for 10-15 seconds at a time until it becomes smooth when you stir it. Do not over heat. Once chocolate is smooth it is ready to be used.

 For the cookies pictured (salted brown butter cookies), i put the ganache in a piping bag to decorate the cookies. However, you can pour the glaze over a cake, drizzle on cupcakes, or dip pretzels. If you refrigerate the glaze until firm and then use an electric mixer to beat until fluffy you will get a completely different ganache which is more like a frosting or a filling. The ganache is amazing both ways. Once you are comfortable with making it you can play around with the ingredients. Lately I have been adding Baileys Irish Cream to mine, replacing a couple Tbs. of the heavy cream for Irish Cream gives the ganache an extra richness that is even more incredible. Plus with all the flavors Baileys offers now the sky is the limit with your gananche.

Antique Door Headboard

Lately I have posted a lot about food which is obviously a passion of mine but I also love projects. A few months ago I was walking through my very favorite hole in the wall antique store/garden, yes it is both. Inside the store they have small antiques but outside they have a variety of plants, ceramic pots, old tables, doors, etc. Most of the doors are just like any other door not decorative or pretty but one caught my eye. It was beautiful and I wanted it. What would I do with it though? Somewhere I remember seeing a door turned into a headboard, this would make an awesome headboard! After very little haggling it was mine for the rock bottom price of $50. Loading a nearly hundred pound door into my highlander with two car seats wasn't the easiest thing in the world and I am sure it looked hilarious but the door and I made it home in one piece. However, my husband was less than thrilled when he saw my amazing find. He did have reason though,  i do bring home a lot of projects. Sometimes they sit for a while or I make him 'help' me with them and by help i mean make him do all the work.  After taking off the hinges and door knob the door sat for a month before I got around to fixing it up.

After a little sanding, some wood putty, and a little more sanding it was almost ready for paint. My husband graciously 'volunteered' to fill in the hole where the door knob had been. He also built a ledge on the side that would be the top to give it a more finished look. It turned out beautiful, even my husband likes it :)

Frito Corn Salad

(picture courtesy of realmomkitchen.com)

This is another great potluck dish, I have brought it to a few events now and everyone raves about it. We have a lot of gatherings in our neighborhood and my friend Becky always shows up with a great dish that everyone loves, this is one of them. For me one of the best parts of this recipe is that you can make it the night before which I actually recommend because it really lets the flavors come together. Just make sure you don't add the Frito's until you are ready to serve.

3 cans corn, drained
1 1/2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
4 green onions, chopped
1/4 red bell pepper, chopped
1/4 orange bell pepper, chopped
1 cup mayonnaise, i use the olive oil mayo but any will do
1 large bag chili cheese Frito's

Mix all ingredients except Frito's. When ready to server crumble Frito's and add to the top of the corn mixture, do not stir them in or they will become soggy.

BBQ Pulled Pork

This is another wonderful summertime dish that is great if you are having a large gathering and feeding a lot of people. I always receive a lot of compliments on this dish and many recipe requests. Most of the time people look at me a little funny when i tell them how I make it but the proof is in the pork, it's delicious, tender, and full of flavor. With this kind of pulled pork it is best served on a roll or bun, I use the Kings Hawaiian sweet rolls.

1 4-5lb pork loin
4 cans of Root Beer
2 bottles of your favorite BBQ sauce, i prefer a tangy sauce
1 large crock pot/slow cooker
Buns
Coleslaw, optional but recommended

Place pork loin in crock pot and pour in root beer, just enough to cover the meat. Turn the crock pot on low and leave it for 6 hours. At 6 hours drain the liquid, shred the pork with a fork in the crock pot. Add the BBQ sauce and stir. Let sit in crock pot on low for 30 min. Then serve on rolls/buns and top them with coleslaw. It is good to have an extra bottle of BBQ sauce on hand for your guests if they want to put it directly on there sandwich.