Apple??? Crisp and Vanilla Ice Cream

Have you ever wondered what to do with one of these---

I know, you're thinking, "Katrina, that is NOT an apple.  I thought we were going to get some apple crisp here?"  Oh, you just wait.  You've seen those giant overgrown zucchini before.  You probably already know that the much smaller ones are better for using in your savory dishes like stir fry and such.  No one ever seems to want the great big ones.  Well, you probably know those are the ones that are best used in baking things, like zucchini bread and muffins and the like.  You can make this with those overgrown zucchini---

 

I looks like apple crisp and tastes like apple crisp, but it's really ZUCCHINI crisp and guess what--no one would ever know those aren't apples.  Yep, trust me.  You just can't tell.  Pretty cool.  Quite the sneaky way to get a veggie into your loved ones who won't eat veggies!   I first got this idea from Allrecipes (look up zucchini cobbler) years ago.  I made this for a group of ladies from church and they thought it was apple crisp.  They were VERY surprised when I told them later that it was zucchini.  Many didn't believe me.

Katrina's Zucchini Crisp

1 large zucchini (about 1  1/2-2 lbs.), peeled, seeded and sliced

6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1  1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg (a little more or less to you liking)

1 teaspoon lemon zest (optional, I used it and kinda liked it, but it was quite lemony)

Crumb topping:

3/4 cup light golden brown sugar, packed

3/4 cup all purpose flour

3/4 cup old fashioned oats

1/8 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, (can be pretty cold from the fridge), cubed

1/3 cup walnuts, chopped

In a large saucepan, combine the zucchini and lemon juice.  Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally for about 20 minutes.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Spray an 8x8 inch baking dish lightly with cooking spray.  Set aside.  

While the zucchini is cooking, make the crumb topping.  Combine the flour, brown sugar, oats, nuts and salt.  Cut in butter--works best using your hands.  Keep combining by rubbing it all together until you have a crumbly texture.  Set aside.  (The crumb topping can be made ahead and chilled or frozen for later use.)   

Remove the zucchini from the heat and stir in sugar and spices (and zest).  Pour the zucchini mixture into the baking dish.  Top with the crumb mixture.  Bake for 25-30 minutes until topping is golden brown.

 

 

This looks good, huh!

 

Well, not quite as good as the one with ice cream on top!   Oh yeah!

I took notes from a bunch of different ice cream recipes and came up with this one--it's a pretty good vanilla ice cream.  I think it tastes like French Vanilla.

Katrina's French Vanilla Ice Cream

1 can (fat free) sweetened condensed milk

1 can (fat free) evaporated milk

1  1/2 cups whole milk

3 eggs

1/4 cup sugar (may not have been necessary with the sweetened milk)

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Warm the condensed milk, evaporated milk and whole milk in a saucepan at medium heat.  In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs.  Whisk in sugar.  When the milk is almost scalded, slowing stir about a cup of the hot milk into the beaten eggs and whisk vigorously.  Pour the rest of the milk into the eggs while whisking.  Pour the custard mixture back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat until it reaches 175 degrees and/or thickens.  Stir constantly with a wooden spoon.    (Don't go over 180 degrees.)  Have an ice bath ready in a large bowl.  Pour the custard back into the bowl that had the eggs, first using a strainer to strain any egg bits from the custard and set that in the ice bath.  (This is my favorite way to "hurry up" the chilling process!)  Stir it often.  When the custard is cold, either churn it in your ice cream maker according to manufacture's instructions (about 25 min.), or chill the custard in the refrigerator.  Up to one day later you can then churn the custard into ice cream.  Serve as soft serve or freeze for an additional 2 hours.

   

Not only does this make for a great dessert, but it also works as a pretty good breakfast as well!

He wasn't tired enough for a nap in HIS bed, but it only took minutes after he climbed in OUR bed and he was snoozing away.  I'd have to say--our bed is much more comfortable than his (not that I've slept in a crib recently.) ha

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Covered Pretzel Balls and Peanut Butter Jumbo Whole Grain Krispies Treats---to Celebrate!

I'm entering this in The Great Peanut Butter Exhibition # 7--Celebration!  You can find out all about it on The Peanut Butter Boy's Blog.  Happy 25th Birthday, Nick! (August 2)

Remember the Chocolate Covered Pretzel Balls I made recently and added to a great peanut buttery cookie?  Well, I saved some of the pretzel balls.  I couldn't get out of my mind the idea to make peanut butter AND chocolate covered pretzels.  Here's what I did.

The peanut butter doesn't "show" as much as I'd have wanted, but you can taste it!  Try to just eat one!  I dare you!  Wait, we're celebrating here--eat as many as you'd like!

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Covered Pretzel Balls, by Katrina

6 tablespoons peanut butter

1/4 cup granulated sugar

6 tablespoons corn syrup

4 1/2 ounces pretzel balls (really any pretzel will work--have you seen the Pepperidge Farm Pretzel Fish--those would be really cute and fun)

6 ounces chocolate, melted (I used milk chocolate chips--I just think milk chocolate and peanut butter go together the best, but you could use any chocolate you'd like)

Cook peanut butter, sugar and corn syrup over med-low heat just until it comes to a boil.  Stir and do not let it burn.  Remove from heat and stir in pretzels coating each with the peanut butter mixture.  Lay out the pretzels on a wax paper lined baking sheet.  It doesn't take long, but as soon as they are cool enough to handle, separate each pretzel and roll it in your hands to evenly coat the pretzel with the peanut butter.  Let cool completely.  You could set them in the freezer for 10 minutes if you'd like to speed things up.

Melt chocolate either in a microwave safe bowl or in a double boiler over low heat.  Dump the peanut butter pretzels into the bowl of melted chocolate and stir to coat each.  Spoon each ball onto the wax paper lined baking sheet and let set.  (Freezer again for fast hardening.)

   

 

Dig in!

I also just couldn't resist trying some of these chopped up slightly in some GREAT vanilla ice cream I made!  I REALLY liked the crunchy, salty taste of the pretzels in ice cream.  I also swirled in some hot fudge and peanut butter after the ice cream had it's turn in the ice cream maker.

But that's not all.  While I whipped these up, I also made some quick Jumbo Rice Krispies Treats--with peanut butter and chocolate mind you!  These WERE good!  Even days later, I thought they were still good with a perfect chewy-crunch.

 

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Jumbo Whole Grain Rice Krispies Treats

6 tablespoons peanut butter

1/4 cup granulated sugar

6 tablespoons corn syrup

3 ounces Jumbo Whole Grain Rice Krispies Cereal (regular ones would work)

6 ounces chocolate, melted (I actually used 1 1/2 ounces of peanut butter chips because I had an open bag, you could use any combination of chocolate or chips you'd like)  I also used semi sweet chocolate for these.

1 tablespoon shortening

1/4 cup peanuts, chopped (optional)

Line an 8x8 inch pan with foil.  Spray lightly with cooking spray.  Set aside.  Add peanut butter, sugar and corn syrup to a medium sized sauce pan.  Melt together over med-low heat and bring to a boil.  Remove from heat.  Add cereal and stir to combine.  Spread evenly in pan, pressing down.  Melt chocolate and shortening in microwave safe dish using 20-30 second intervals and stirring in between.  When melted, pour the chocolate over the peanut butter Krispies cereal and spread evenly.   Sprinkle chopped peanuts over the top.  Let set.  Remove from pan using foil edges and cut into desired size squares.

  

Just for kicks, I added some of the peanut butter pretzels to one corner square of these before adding the chocolate on top.  They were good, but the height was a little too big to bite into all that crunch. 

   

Party on!

TWD--Vanilla Ice Cream and THE MALL

Our perfectly chosen recipe for today from Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home to Yours was picked by Lynne at Cafe Lynny Lu.  She chose Dorie's Vanilla Ice Cream.  I really don't have a whole lot to say about it, because it was simple and perfect as vanilla ice cream goes.  I followed the recipe exactly (shocker!) and used vanilla extract instead of vanilla bean. 

I had some cherries and wanted to try making a "healthier" cherry pie.  I did so, then topped  a piece with some of the vanilla ice cream.  The pie wasn't very good, but the ice cream was GREAT!

Still, it felt like something was missing.

There, that's better.  I couldn't resist when I saw that it looked like a smiley face on the ice cream.

  

But I couldn't just make plain ol' vanilla ice cream (although, it is one of my favorite flavors!)  So I added some of these---to most of it.

 

Now we're talkin'.

I wanted to make this a couple more times before this post, with different yummy things added in, but we made a quick, last-minute trip out of town this past weekend, so I wasn't able to.  It's okay--I REALLY need to not eat so much of this stuff (and all I've done is clean out the ice cream maker.  I actually haven't eaten any more of it, and the Oreo kind is still in the freezer.  What?  Oh, it calls my name, but isn't nice to my gut. ;)  The boys have eaten a little of it, but since we went out of town we haven't had the chance to finish it off.  I'm happy to have this great vanilla ice cream recipe now in my arsenal.  Check out the recipe on Lynne's blog (link above).  Go see what the other TWDers have done with this.  I KNOW there's going to be some amazing, yummy versions of this out there!  Thanks for stopping by.

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We took a weekend trip to Minneapolis.  It was a 7-8-9 hour car drive.  We left Friday and drove all day.  We grabbed a quick dinner and by the time we got settled in our hotel it was nearing 11 p.m.  before everyone was in bed.  Saturday we went and checked out the farmer's market (no one was really thrilled except me).  But the boys did find some cool welded metal sculptures of a guy playing the drums and one playing the guitar that they ended up getting.  Taylor was saving his pick for Legoland at the Mall of America.  After the farmer's market, we made our way to the Mall.  The boys had a blast.  How cool is it that there is an amusement park INSIDE the mall!  I had not been on a roller coaster for YEARS.  Taylor was not thrilled with the idea of going on any of the rides, so Kevin and I took turns with Scott and Parker, then Taylor and Sam.  There was plenty for everyone to do.  S & P had a BLAST going on rides.  I thought it was pretty fun, too.  But even more than that was seeing them so happy and excited and loving it.  A couple of the rides were actually pretty "scary", but still fun.  We had gotten the two of them unlimited passes to ride all day as many times as they wanted and just bought a certain amount for Kevin and I.  It worked out great.  Here's a few photos from the day.

Legos!

The Water Log Ride

Flyin'

Parker wanted to ride the carousel.  Goofus.

Parker's horse was really buckin'.  ;)

Who knew one of this little 50 cent rides would be so fun?!

Big Truck' Ridin'

Daddy wanted to ride, too.

Okay, maybe it was so Sam could go.

Ghost Blasters

Waiting in line for my turn with the boys on the log.  I just couldn't wait to get wet. (read-sarcasm.)  It was fun!  I loved screaming like I was scared to death and making the boys think I was more scared than I really was.  Builds the excitement for them, you know.  The big roller coasters were awesome, but it's pretty hard to get pictures while zooming around on them.

After a fun day, we found a really yummy pizza place for dinner (not at the mall), called Broadway Pizza.  Then everyone tuckered out back at the hotel after driving each other nuts for a bit in the hotel room.

That evening out of nowhere, Taylor discovered that he had his first loose tooth.  It was REALLY loose, having not been loose at all until then.  The boys have all been a little slow for losing teeth so far.  Scott was in 2nd grade before losing his front teeth.  Parker still has his (about to go in to 2nd grade) and has only lost his two bottom teeth with a third one loose.  It's hereditary.  I didn't loose my two top front teeth until 3rd grade.  You can see in my 4th grade picture my new teeth still coming in.  Taylor worked on that tooth all night.

And in the car on the drive home Sunday.

Sam thought he needed a paper towel to work on his tooth, too.

Parker was trying like crazy to get his tooth out before Taylor.  Taylor's was a lot more loose though.  And just like that, Taylor pulled out the tooth.  Kind of surprised himself.  So now one of the boys has a first tooth out before starting kindergarten (he's almost 6).  And by this time, he wouldn't let me take a picture with the missing tooth.  That's my Taylor!

Hiding behind Froggy.

Not gonna smile.

Gotcha, T.  We can see it!  He's pretty proud of this accomplishment--even moreso that he got his out before Parker could get his out.  It was a great, quick trip and a lot of car time.  I'm glad we got to go.  But I'm thinking next time we want to take the boys to an amusement park, we should just go to the one an hour away in Kansas City! ; )  (Minnesota was really pretty with gorgeous weather!)  And to think, this next weekend I'm going to take the boys to Indiana (about 8-9 hours) without Kevin.  I'll write you later about "what was I thinking?" 

Cute Pictures!--This ones for you Mom and Dad!

Do you recall the days way back when...you'd hear it from afar (a few blocks away) and you'd run in the house to your mother and ask her to, "please, please, please" let you get something from the ice cream man?  "Come on mom, he's coming and please, it's only 50 cents.  Please can I get a popsicle/fudgsicle/ice cream cone/anything from the ice cream man?"  You could hear him getting closer and closer as your mom gave in and searched through her purse for all the change she could find, scrounging for any nickel or penny available.  You would run out to the curb with all your mom's change and get in line with all the other kids as you tried to decide what to get. 

I'll never forget the time we were all (my family) at the city park waiting for it to get dark enough for 4th of July fireworks (I was in my teens).  An ice cream truck was making its way around, so my dad sprung for us all to get something.  I got a fudgsicle.  We all tore into our icy treats and the first lick I took, my tongue was stuck BAD to that thing.  I began screaming as only a person could scream (think the kid in A Christmas Story with his triple dared tongue stuck to the icy pole!).  Anyway, in a rush to help me get my tongue freed, my dad did what only could be done.  He rushed to a near by irrigation creek, filled an old used paper cup he'd found with dirty, mucky creek water and poured some on my tongue and all over the fudgsicle.  It instantly came free from my scraped and bleeding tongue.  Whew!  Saved!  After some gagging and spitting and wiping my tongue I recouped.   I was a little bummed to have a dirty fudgsicle, I really can't recall for sure, but I think I ate it anyway.  What in the world is all this about you wonder?

Oh, so for the first time ever a few days ago the ice cream man came down our cul de sac.  The boys were out playing and Parker came running in the door, begging me to--get this--let him get HIS $20 from his bank so he could buy everyone (Scott and Taylor) something from the ice cream man.  "Aaaa, yes, Son, you can buy everyone something (I didn't have to scrounge through my purse for change!).  He raced downstairs, got his money and bounded out the door, just in time, and the three of them stood looking at the choices plastered on the ice cream truck (i.e. big, old, ugly white van), while I watched from the door.  The nice man waved at me.  Parker and Scott both picked the same, biggest rainbow popsicle I've ever seen.  And Taylor picked a Batman shaped creamy type popsicle.  And for three popsicles, it cost Parker $6.00!  (They aren't 50 cents anymore, people!)  Anyway, I snapped this cute picture.  (Sam was napping.)  It's a good thing Parker paid for this one, I don't think I had $6 change in my purse!

Blue lips and teeth Boy.

Hmmm, what are they watching on tv?  It looks so important and serious.

 

Something must be so captivating and exciting that they just can't tear themselves away.  What could it be as I remind you that Scott is 11!  Parker almost 8 and Taylor just about 6.  Yes, that's it--it's Blue's Clues!  I'd turned it on for Sam and while Sam wasn't even watching it, these three couldn't even take their eyes off it long enough for me to get them to look over for a picture.  They couldn't even hear me talking to them.  This ought to be a good one to tease them with as they grow up! ;)  bwah ahhh, ahhh, ahhh!

Then there's this guy---

What is he doing?  I was working in the kitchen and turned around to see this.  Sam got all the shoes from the shoe rack by the door (always neatly in place when everyone comes in and removes their shoes and puts them away nicely---ppbbttt, hello-major sarcasm!)  Anyway, Sam was picking up EVERYTHING he could find on the floor and placing it nicely on the coffee table.  He even lifted that big, new box of diapers.  He was attempting to lift the wagon when I caught what he was doing.  He smiled at me and said, "picur, picur."  He wanted me to take a picture of his creation.  Could he be any cuter?  Sigh.

Sure looked nice and clean over at the doorway!  Thanks, Sam!

I think we (Kevin and I) finally got two really important things we wanted as a trait in one of our kids.  Sam LOVES to sing.  Oh, he doesn't sing words, just lots of loud, sing-song sounds.  Kevin is a singer and has always been hoping one of the boys would be a singer.  So far, the three older boys seem to have my side of the family in that area.  As a joke (and because we CAN'T sing, in my family, we always sing the "Happy Birthday" song as loud as we all can all in one note--completely monotone--while the birthday person is waiting to blow out their candles.  It's a fun joke, but really, a great excuse because we just can't sing.  ANYWAY, Sam loves to sing.  We were on our way to the store the other day and saw his little neighbor friend, Sean out playing as we were driving off.  All the way to the store, he mumbled a lovely song, "Sean is poopy," over and over and over.  Have no idea where that came from.  In church, during the songs, he BELTS out the songs--no real words--almost audible over the organ music.  It's too cute and funny.  So there, Kevin, looks like you may have got your singer.

And on that note, looks like I've got the one thing I've wanted in one of our kids---

  

 

That's right--he's a beater-batter-dough lickin' boy!  Woohoo.  None of the other boys have liked licking the beaters or eating dough.  Sam, I almost have to worry about--he'll lick or taste things when it's just butter and sugar or bread dough, he's not particular.  Ahhh, my kind of guy!  Train them up in the way they should go.... ;)  (Kevin HATES even the idea of licking batters or doughs off spoons and such.  Crazy, crazy, I tell ya.)

Another time, I turned around from what I was doing and Sam said, "Mom, picur, picur."  He thought his stacking was so cool that he wanted me to take a picture of it!  Nothing is safely left on the counter with this guy.

Nothing.

Today I left this---

on the counter after using a bit of it.  Light corn syrup.  Looks like water to me.  It looked like water to Sam, too.  He found it.  And decided to dump it down the sink.  It was probably 3/4 full.  Glop, glop, glop, down the sink it went.  Then he filled it full of water from the fridge dispenser.    While he was dumping it he dripped some of the sticky substance down part of his arm.  I did not know he did any of this until he came in to the living room to me saying, "iky, iky".  I had no idea what he was saying or why.  But he was getting more and more mad and grabbing his arm.  After going back in the kitchen with him, he showed me the corn syrup bottle, now full of water--which I did not realize at first.  I thought he just got it down from the counter and was handing it to me.  Then I realized it wasn't as full as I'd remember.  I sloshed it around a bit and realized it was water.  Sigh.  He dumped the whole thing down the sink.  (I am grateful at least that it went in the sink and not all over the floor!)  I cleaned him up and we moved on with our day.  Maybe he was just trying to tell me something about the  wonderful nutritional value of corn syrup.  I don't know, but from now on, I'm going to buy the dark kind.  And really, how can anyone be mad at this face---

You can't see it, but I took this picture today because Sam was wearing a headband of mine.  Silly boy!  It was just one of those little plastic flimsy ones and I never wear them--they give me a headache.  He brought it to me a short time later and said, "broke".  Yep, he broke it.  Sigh.  Gotta love my guys!

TWD--Blanc-Manger, My Way (Think Chocolate!)

Our recipe this week was chosen by Susan from Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy (if the name of the blog alone doesn't send you over, just trust me on her yummy food and photos!).  From our groups baking book, Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home To Yours, Susan chose Raspberry Blanc-Manger.  (No, it's not like the thing Jesus was laid in the stable  after he was born!)  Blanc-Manger is pronounced "blah-mahn-jhay" and it must be pronounced with a strong French accent. ;)

Dorie was right when she told us that this dessert and recipe is so simple it's "positively foolproof".  It was easy, I just wasn't sure anyone in our household would like it, including me--since the main ingredient is whipped heavy cream.  So I set out to change things up a bit to what I thought would get eaten here.  And so, you can get the raspberry recipe for this on Susan's blog.  I followed the directions completely, EXCEPT instead of ground almonds, I used ground hazelnuts.  I also used 4 1/2 teaspoons of Torani Chocolate Flavoring Syrup and 1 1/2 teaspoons Torani Hazelnut Flavoring Syrup instead of the 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract the recipe suggests.  I didn't use raspberries at all.  I also put these into three 3-inch round cake pans and an 8x5 inch bread pan instead of the suggested 8 inch round cake pan.  Why?  I felt like it. 

Everything went very smoothly--literally, ha!  Tonight we got the dessert out and I did the simple little trick of setting the pan(s) in a sink of hot water (not too deep).  They came right out.  Then I had the delicious idea of drizzling Nutella on the top.  (BE CAREFUL--if you stick the Nutella jar in the microwave just to soften it up a bit--it could start to blow because of the remnants of foil lining from the safety seal that was on the jar.  I'm just saying--that COULD happen after only like 4 seconds in the microwave.  Or so I've been told. ;)

Here's what my Blanc-Manger came to be.

I was worried it would be a bit too much like gelled whipped cream (with good flavor though) and well, I was kind of right.  Everyone dug in.

I think the boys had more fun just destroying the thing than really eating it.  Never you mind, I still had two more 3 inch ones and the 8x5 one. 

I thought it really looked nice and yummy!

I wanted to see what it was like with a little fruit and the other day after buying a big bag of cherries and getting a nice cherry pitter, I decided to make jam when I realized the boys weren't eating the cherries as fast as I'd thought they would.  The jam was so simple and I think it's really good.  (Kevin won't even try it, he thinks he only likes Smucker's raspberry preserves.)

All I did was plop some jam on the third 3 inch Nutella-manger.  Not very pretty, but I actually thought it tasted really good with the jam.

Katrina's Totally Made Up Really Good Cherry Jam

1 lb. sweet cherries, pitted and chopped

zest of 1 lemon

juice of 1 lemon (at first I thought it was too much, but I really like the lemon in it!)

1/2 cup agave nectar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 30 minutes.  It will thicken up beautifully.  Makes about 12 oz.

Yes, that is a washed Smucker's raspberry preserves jar!  The Cherry Jam is good stuff.  You can definitely taste the lemon and I really like it.

Okay, back to the Blanc-Manger.  Well, what are we going to do with it since no one really liked it.  I really thought it was way to whipped creamy.  And while I was trying to make the big one pretty for a picture, my Nutella piping bag exploded on it.

I finished the "drizzle" job and then had a little light bulb moment.  ICE CREAM!  I scraped all of it into a bowl, added 1/2 cup half and half and poured it into the ice cream maker and it churned away.  THIS is some darn good Nutella Hazelnut Ice Cream, People! 

Fresh out of the ice cream maker.

After freezing for a few hours.

All I know is I will make Nutella ice cream again sometime (but I'd go a lot lighter on the ground hazelnuts--like maybe even just save some just  for sprinkling on top.  However, the Nutella flavor is awesome!

Puh-leeese go buy Dorie's book or I supposed you could get her Raspberry Blanc-Manger recipe on Susan's blog today.  Ooh, go check out what all the other TWD groupies have done with this on the Tuesday's With Dorie blog. 

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And just for something fun--check out these carrots I got at the farmer's market this week!

 

I said to the vendor--"Boy, these carrots are really showing some love."  hehe  The boys got a kick out of them.

Lessons Learned With Banana Bundt Cake

I recently saw a great looking bundt cake over at Amanda's delicious blog, Amanda's Cookin'.  It's banana.  I love everything banana.  So I decided to make this.  I was asked to make something for a church meeting (one that I was not able to attend last night), but I never turn down an opportunity to make treats, so last week I did a trial run on this banana bundt cake--I wanted to see if I could make it a little bit healthier.  So I changed a few things--I used half coconut oil and half canola oil for the shortening and I used half agave nectar for some of the sugar.  I also used half whole wheat flour in the recipe.  And finally, I used half light sour cream and half fat free vanilla yogurt.  So basically, I changed a lot of things in the recipe.

Amanda's bundt, which she got from some other bloggers, also had a browned butter glaze.  Besides using fat free milk, I did that recipe exactly as written.  For some reason the glaze was hardening up while I was pouring it over the cake.  In hindsight, I should have added more milk to thin it out some more.  But for some reason, none of us really cared for the taste of the browned butter glaze--it was too butterscotchy.  Anyway, the glaze pretty much fell off the cake after it dried out a bit.  AND, sadly, the cake was rather dry and just not cuttin' it for me.  (I'm really glad I didn't make it the day of the meeting and send it that way!)

  

I mean, it looked okay inside.  It was just off a little. 

Not being one to waste things, the next morning I took what was left and sliced it up.  Then I whipped up three eggs and some condensed milk I had leftover.  Ooh, what was I doing?  Hmmm.  Ideas? 

How about banana bread French toast!

We had lots of fresh fruit and sprinkled on some powdered sugar and syrup.

This made a good healthy breakfast!

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That didn't stop me from making this yummy looking banana bundt cake for the meeting.  But this time, I pretty much made it as it was written.

Bananas and Cream Bundt Cake with Brown Butter Glaze—from Taste of Home (and Amanda’s Cookin’ and Bunny’s Warm Oven and 3 B’s-Baseball, Baking & Books, but adapted by Katrina ;)

1/3 cup shortening  (I used 3 tablespoons coconut oil and 3 tablespoons canola oil)

1-1/4 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1-1/4 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 medium)

2 cups all-purpose flour

1-1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream (I used Daisy light sour cream--I always do.)

3/4 cup chopped walnuts (I left out the nuts in case of allergies, but you know me and nuts--love them!)

In a large bowl, cream the shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Add bananas and mix well. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to the creamed mixture alternately with sour cream, stirring just until combined. Stir in walnuts. Pour into a greased and floured 10-in. fluted tube pan. Bake at 350° for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

Place  piece of waxed paper under the cake before adding the icing.

I made my own icing.  It's good! 

Katrina's Cream Cheese Icing

6 ounces light (1/3 less fat) cream cheese, softened (I nuked it for 10-15 seconds and it was perfect for stirring with a spoon-you could use a food processor or mixer, too)

1 cup powdered sugar

2 1/2 tablespoons 2% milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

pinch salt

Combine all ingredients together and beat well until smooth.  Add enough milk until consistency is how you want it.  Drizzle over cake.

I really wanted to cut in to it and take pictures, but since it was going away....

And that night when I got home from the cooking demo class I went to (more awesome yummy dishes (pasta!) by Paige--Le Cordon Bleu in London trained--I go to all her classes!)--when I got home part of the uneaten banana bundt cake had returned because they didn't eat it all at the meeting.  It was a little mushed by being covered, but I still took a few pictures.

This was moist and delicious! (That darned whole wheat flour!  I still might try whole wheat pastry flour next time and just use a little less!)  Thanks for posting this yummy cake, Amanda! 

 

TWD-Rewind--Chunky Peanut Butter & Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters (With Chocolate Covered Pretzel Balls)

SO sorry to Denise of Chez Us for not joining in on her pick this week for Dorie's Brioche Plum Tart.  I'll bet it's really good and can't wait to see all the creations out there in TWD Land.  Brioche is some tasty bread and someday I'll make this recipe.  I just wasn't able to spend the time on it this past week.  But to stick with things, I did whip up a quick past cookie (with my own little twist) that I missed before joining TWD.

What a great cookie.  Seriously, how can you go wrong with peanut butter and chocolate and some good wholesome oats?!  Well, I recently found some fun looking pretzels that I thought would be fun to add to a cookie.  They are pretzel balls.  Have you seen these?

 

That's cool, but I thought chocolate covered pretzel balls would be even better!

What'd I tell ya?  Better, huh.

 

Now we're talkin'.  I used 4 1/2 ounces of pretzel balls and 4 ounces of melted Ghiradelli 60% bittersweet chocolate. 

Voila!

These are good with that added crunch and saltiness from the pretzels.

Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters (With Chocolate Covered Pretzel Balls), adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home to Yours, by Katrina

3 cups old-fashioned oats (I ground them up)

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (I omitted this)

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (I omitted this)

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup chunky peanut butter (smooth is okay)

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

9 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped or chips (I used milk chocolate chips!!--peanut butter goes best with milk chocolate in my opinion)

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted

4 1/2 ounces pretzel balls (you could also used broken up pretzels of any shape)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.  (Do not do this until you've chilled the dough.)

Whisk together the oats, flour, baking soda, (spices), and salt

In bowl of electric mixer, beat butter and peanut butter until smooth and creamy.  Add both sugars and beat until well combined.  Scrape down sides of bowl.  Beat in eggs one at a time, then beat in vanilla.  With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients mixing only until combined.  Stir in the chips and pretzels.   Chill the dough for 2 hours (or for up to 1 day).

Drop rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto the baking sheets.  Bake for 11-13 minutes.  Cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet, then move to cooling racks with metal spatula to cool completely (or for as long as you can stand it). ;)

You know you want one.

Just look at that peanut buttery, oaty, chocolaty, pretzel-ly salty goodness! ;)

Now go look at all those Brioche Plum Tarts!  Link to TWD Land above and the recipe on Denise's blog.

Picture time---Pretty darn talented, eh!

Okay, he may have had a little help.  This is his "new thing", whenever I get the camera out and say, "Go stand by it so I can take your picture."

Now he just wants to have the camera and take pictures.  (He hasn't a clue what he's doing with my camera, but he sure thinks he does.   He can be a stubborn little bugger!  We never did get a good picture of him standing by this awesome Lego tower.

Hello--Cutest Kid Ever Alert, Some Awards and Whole Wheat Bread!

There are no words.

But I must tell you the story.  Taylor found a pom pom on the floor yesterday and that led to he and Sam making crowns.  We got them made and since they had a lot of glue (kids use a lot of glue!), we set them aside to dry.  Later, I taped the ends together and Sam was pretty excited about his crown.  He ran in to Taylor's room to show him and this is how he looked when I went in the room.  Yes, it's upside down.  Dang cute!  He wouldn't even let me show him the right way, he was happy with it just the way it was!

This cuteness even makes up for the fact that last night after I was almost done with the dishes, Sam scooted a chair up to the sink and wanted to play in the water.  I let him.  I finished the last of the by-hand dishes and told him to leave the water running just how I had it and be careful.  I went in the living room (just off the kitchen, but you can't see the sink from where I was.)  I checked on Sam every few minutes.  He was filling a couple cups up back and forth and having a good time.  He always makes a little of a wet mess, but was doing okay.  Well, Kevin came upstairs moments later, entered the kitchen and saw Sam squirting the entire kitchen with the sink hose!  Not only that, but water was gushing on to the floor from the counter in quite the flood!  I'm not sure how he did it in the amount of time since I'd last checked on him, but it took about 10 towels to clean up!  Sigh.  Like I said, it's a good thing he's so stinkin' cute or he'd have been in trou-ble!

(Taylor wouldn't let me take his picture with his crown on.)  Also, it seems in all the pictures of Sam lately, he's just wearing a onesie shirt or just a diaper.  I've been just putting these shirts on him because his newest thing is to take his pants off.  He was even doing it after I'd tuck him in bed at night.  I always go check on him before I go to bed and his jammie pants were always on the floor.  With the snapping onesies, he can't take anything off!

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I wanted to send a shout out and THANKS to a few blogger friends who have given me awards recently.

I got this Kreativ Blogger award from Carla at Chocolate Moosey.  Thanks a bunch, Carla, that's awesome!   And I also got the same award from Peach at The Peach Kitchen.  She is a cute gal in the Philippines with a fun blog in which she showcases places to eat there, interesting food and yummy recipes.  Thanks for thinking of me for this award!

 

I'm supposed to now tell you a bunch of boring stuff about myself (7 things to be exact) and pass this award on.  So I'm passing it on to all the blogs I've got listed as favorite links on my blog.  You all rock!  Yada, yada, yada, there's not much for me to say about myself.

1-I don't like (make that hate) onions.  My mom always said that when I grow up I'd learn to like them.  Almost 40, still hate them.  Sorry, Mom.  I suppose it could just be that I've never grown up. ; )

2-I love chocolate.  There.  That's about it about me.  jk  But that's all you're getting today! ; )

And then, I hate to admit it, but clear back in March (she said muffled under her breath), I so kindly received this award from Melody at Cheat Day Cafe.  I feel like such a heel having never acknowledged this on my blog.  I really am grateful when people think of me and send me these awards.  So, Thanks, Melody! 

"These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated."

And just how horrible of me is it that after receiving the "FRIENDS" award from Melody, I blew it!  Anyway, thanks and sorry.  Again, I pass this one on to ALL my friends!  Ya'll know who you are and can accept this award and pass it on if you'd like! ; )

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Last week Maria at Two Peas and Their Pod (How awesome is she?!) posted a recipe for some Honey Whole Wheat Bread.  I'm a sucker for good homemade bread, especially when I saw that the mixer does all the kneading and it only had one rise time.  I had to try this one.     This bread turned out great.  It made two big, beautiful loaves.  I wrapped one up and put it in one of the boxes of recycle stuff I had for our recycle guy who comes every other week on Tuesday's.  But I forgot this past week, so after emailing him, he said I could put my stuff out on Friday and he'd come pick it up.  This guy does a lot for our environment, for our own laziness and he doesn't get paid much to do what he does.  He recycles just about everything, too.  It's only $12 a month.  I think that's pretty good and beats loading up all our "trash" and taking it to a recycle center.  That's the only way they do it here in own town.  I kind of wish it was required here (it was in Tucson where we lived before).  It kind of drives me nuts when I go jogging in the mornings and see SO much garbage to be thrown out that could be recycled.  Okay, off the high horse.  I'm not  the greatest at it, nor have I always been this way.

Sheesh, where was I?  Oh, the bread!  It's great, simple and 100% whole wheat.

I only made one minor change to Maria's shared recipe.

Honey Whole Wheat Bread, Stouts' recipe, adapted every so slightly from Maria at Two Peas and their Pod

3 cups whole wheat flour
1 T vital wheat gluten (find it at Whole Foods, Bob's Red Mill, King Arthur, etc.)
2 packets of yeast (I used rapid rise)
2 1/2 cups warm water
In a large mixing bowl (preferably a KitchenAid), add the 3 cups flour, wheat gluten, and yeast. Stir. Add in warm water and stir until combined. Let sit for 10 minutes.
1/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup honey
1 1/2 T lemon juice  (I used distilled vinegar, as I was out of lemon juice or lemons)

1 T salt
3 1/2-4 cups whole wheat flour

Mix the oil, honey, lemon juice, and salt in a small bowl. Add to flour mixture after the 10 minutes. Mix until combined. Add in the additional flour and mix. Now knead the dough for ten minutes with the dough hook. When it is done divide the dough into two loaves. Make sure they are even. Shape them into loaf form. Place the dough into 2 loaf pans that have been sprayed with cooking spray. Cover with a clean towel and let rise for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. After the loaves have risen, bake them for 30 minutes.  (I only baked mine for 25 minutes, they should be a golden brown.)  I also basted my dough with an egg white wash before baking it.

Look at that!  Can't wait to make this again!

Great recipe, Maria!  Thanks for sharing.

The Cuteness of My Boys and More Summer Treats--Lemon-Up Floats and Lower Fat Banana Ice Cream

Would ya look at this--I've said it once before, even quite recently, but seriously, could there be more blue eyes and an angelic face on a kid?  (Yes, he needs a haircut big time!)

And then there's this guy, who thinks he can ride a bike, but can't even reach the pedals.  It doesn't matter, he's cuter than pie.

And a really rare occurrence--all four of them together.

Of course, it's because they are all enjoying a treat together before bedtime, which seems to be an every-night thing around here. 

You remember the pink lemonade sherbert I told you about recently?

A little recipe recap for you--

Katrina's Refreshing Pink Lemonade Sherbert

1  1/2 cups half and half

1 cup whole milk

1/2 cup agave nectar (or sugar)

1 can pink lemonade concentrate

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

pinch of salt

3 drops of red food color (optional for darker pink color--I did use it_

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and whisk to mix thoroughly.  Process in ice cream maker following manufacture's instructions.  Put the thickened mixture in a air tight container and freezer at least two hours.  Or enjoy it immediately in glasses with straws!  It was like a really yummy, thick, tasty Slurpee.  Be careful, this is the brain freezing kind of stuff! ;)

We had some leftover, so I scooped it into cups for the boys and topped it off with some 7-Up for  delicious

LEMON-UP FLOATS (I came up with that name and thinks it's pretty darn cool!)  The boys love Root Beer Floats, and they really liked these.  (It helps that they don't get pop much, so they think it's pretty awesome when they do.) 

Sam wasn't up for trying for one more group picture.

And one more quick summer treat.  I looked at a lot of recipes, but ended up coming up with my own

Lower Fat Banana Ice Cream, by Katrina

2 cups half and half

8 ounces fat free sweetened condensed milk

2 bananas, mashed

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whisk all ingredients together in a large bowl.  Add to ice cream maker and churn according to manufacture's instructions.  Freeze for about 2 hours.  Mmmm.  This is great with some chopped nuts on top, or a little chocolate, or some chocolate chips and peanuts, or.....lots of things!

TWD--Tribute-to-Katharine-Hepburn Brownies

This week's Tuesday's With Dorie recipe was chosen by this really cool girl, Lisa, who is not even a TWD blogger.  What?  Lisa recently won a contest for coming up with a new logo for Tuesday's With Dorie.  Check it out.

Lisa has a really funny blog called Surviving Oz.  She is an American living in Australia and she loves us TWD bloggers.  Since she won, she got to pick this week's recipe and you've got to 1--go check out her blog and 2-see her posting about these brownies (and GET the recipe!).  She never bakes from scratch and her brownies look de-lish and her write up is a great read! 

THIS might be my favorite TWD recipe yet.  Why?  The biggest reason is because it is SO simple to make.  But heck, they are also brownies and they are delicious--no matter how you slice it! ;)  I have no idea if Dorie hit it just right with making these brownies just like Katharine Hepburn's, but I do know that Dorie has come up with a great brownie and if the key was what Katharine always said--"don't put too much flour in your brownies", then this is it.  I'm not ashamed to say that I made these brownies four different times over the last week. 

We like them!  I'm excited and happy that "we", as in all of my family, like these.  No cake, no frosting to fret about and I've shared them with some friends and neighbors all of whom raved about what a good brownie they are.    Somebody stop me!  jk

So here's the deal.  The first time I made them, I added the nuts, walnuts that is, and semi sweet chocolate chips.  (Note--all four times that I made these I left out the cinnamon and the coffee--don't care for either one in my brownies!)  I have to say, the nutty ones are my favorite.  I just really think a brownie with nuts is much better than one without!

Pure brownie perfection.

We had to do something fun with the brownies.  So they became the base for Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Fro Yo Sundaes.  (The same concoction I made the Andes Mint Fro Yo from on a previous post.)

 

Good! 

The chocolate chip cookie dough is from The Perfect Scoop.  You can get the recipe here, among other places, I'm sure.

Next, a few days later, I made the brownies sans nuts because one of my sons thinks he doesn't like nuts in brownies. ;)  He loves them like this---

Just extra chocolate.  Yum.  (But missing nuts!)  Um, these still got eaten right up!

These got a dousing of the peanut butter ice cream I recently posted about with some hot fudge on top. 

(Yes, we've been eating a lot of ice cream 'round here lately!)

Next up I went for the classic peanut butter/chocolate combo.  Whipped up the brownies--did I mention how easy they are?  Melt butter in pot on stove, while it's melting, add cocoa (I never sifted it, I'm lazy).  Let sit three minutes.  Whisk in eggs, then sugar, vanilla and that little bit of flour and salt.  That's it.  Add mix-ins.  Put in 8x8 pan (I always lined it with foil and lightly sprayed it with cooking spray--once baked and slightly cooled, cool to room temperature and chill in fridge for the best, easiest cutting.)  My 8x8 pan is a darker metal, so every time I baked these, I baked them at 300 degrees instead of 325 degrees.  I baked them for 25 minutes at which point they passed the toothpick test and looked done.  They were perfect every time.

With these peanut butter ones, I chopped up 8 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and added them to the batter.

If you're the peanut butter/chocolate fan, you'll love these like this!  The kids ate them up and the neighbors loved them. 

And just because three times just wasn't enough for these, I made them again yesterday.  You know the drill, melt butter, add cocoa, eggs, sugar, vanilla, flour and salt.  Then add 3/4 cup of these--(still cleaning out the baking cupboard here).  I have been known to love the Junior Mints and York Peppermint Patties in my lifetime.  And they were terrific in the these brownies.  And just to be different, I baked them in an 8 inch round cake pan.

I added a Hershey's Kisses Mint Truffle to the top of each brownie wedge as well.

If you like the minty brownies--you'll want to whip these up. 

Puhleeeaassseee, go see other versions of these brownies by visiting the Tuesday's With Dorie blog and checking out the list of other baking bloggers.  I can't wait to see the other's brownies!

By the way, he's feeling much better, but his eyes don't look so good! ;)

Happy Independence Day--I Scream, You Scream...

I'm SO grateful for the USA and what a wonderful country it is!  Celebrate and be safe and give thanks for ALL you have.

On that note, I'm not really sure what we'll end up doing--Sam has looked like this since he woke up from his nap Friday afternoon.  (I'm writing this late Friday night.)

That yogurt container is his barf bowl.  Yep, not sure why or what's up, but Sam woke up from his nap with a pretty high fever and has been barfing for hours.  Mah poor bebe!  I may be staying home with him while Dad and the boys go watch the fireworks.   We'll see.

BUT--I Scream, you scream, nothing is more yummy and soothing than ice cream!  Ahhh.  I've been making some good ones!

A refreshing Andes Mints Frozen Yogurt

I actually made most of this concoction (minus the mints) into another kind that I'll tell you about next week, but it was too much to all fit in the ice cream maker at once, so with about 1 1/2 cups of the yummy white liquid, I churned it until it was nicely thickened, then stirred in some Andes Mint pieces--just another thing that needed cleaning out of my storage.

Vanilla Fro Yo (Any add-ins welcome), by Katrina

1 cup fat free half and half

1 cup whole milk

1  1/2 cups fat free vanilla yogurt

1 cup whipping cream

2/3 cup sugar

Mix all these very contradicting ingredients (fat free and full fat--well, it made for some middle-of-the-road good stuff!) in a large bowl with a wire whisk.  Pour into ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacture's instructions.  Stir in add-ins.   Transfer ice cream to an air tight container and freeze for at least two hours.

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Yesterday I also made some refreshing Pink Lemonade Ice Cream.  No, these are not all getting eaten as quickly as you might think, but the freezer is becoming well stocked!  I got this recipe (which I adapted a bunch) from yet another great blog, Finding Inspiration in Food (although, many recipes for lemonade ice cream can be found all over the internet.)  This is like a perfect lemon sherbet (How many of you out there pronounce it SHERBERT?  I do.  Kevin thinks me silly that I do, but it's always been sherbert and always will be, I'll even just ignore that the Windows Live Writer thinks that is not a correct spelling and has underlined it so rudely in red.  Well, take this computer.  I'm not changing it.  Okay, I feel better now.)

Katrina's Refreshing Pink Lemonade Sherbert

1  1/2 cups half and half

1 cup whole milk

1/2 cup agave nectar

1 can pink lemonade concentrate

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

pinch of salt

3 drops of red food color (optional for darker pink color--I did use it_

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and whisk to mix thoroughly.  Process in ice cream maker following manufacture's instructions.  Put the thickened mixture in a air tight container and freezer at least two hours.  Or enjoy it immediately in glasses with straws!  It was like a really yummy, thick, tasty Slurpee.  Be careful, this is the brain freezing kind of stuff! ;)

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And finally FOR NOW, last but certainly not least, today I made Peanut Butter Ice Cream with Chocolate Covered Peanuts.  YUM!  I found this recipe at Erin's blog, Dinner and Dessert.  She used a recipe from David Lebovitz' book that I really need to get, The Perfect Scoop, but she added a little something that really kicked it up a notch!

Peanut Butter Ice Cream, adapted with additions by Erin at Dinner and Dessert
Source: The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz (My ever-so-slight changes, suggestions and adjustments are in red.--Katrina)

¾ cup smooth peanut butter

¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

2 2/3 cups half-and-half

Pinch of salt

1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate Covered Peanuts (recipe follows)

Puree the peanut butter, sugar, half-and-half, salt, and vanilla in a blender or food processor (This will leak out all over the place in a food processor--just trust me and use the blender!  It may even work to just whisk it well with a wire whisk or the whisk attachment of your mixer.) until smooth.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator (I did not chill it, everything was already cold!), then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.  After churning, stir in Chocolate Covered Peanuts.

Chocolate-Covered Peanuts

4 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup roasted, unsalted peanuts (My peanuts were dry roasted, unsalted and I only used about 3/4 cup)

Put the pieces of chocolate in an absolutely dry heat proof bowl. Set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water to melt the chocolate, stirring until smooth. In the meantime, stretch a piece of plastic wrap over a dinner plate.  (I just melted it in a microwave safe dish, stirring every 20-30 seconds and I lined the plate with waxed paper and after spreading this chocolate peanut mixture on the plate, I stuck it in the freezer while the ice cream churned.)

Once the chocolate is melted, remove it from the heat and stir in the peanuts, coating them with the chocolate. Spread the mixture on the plastic-lined plate and chill.

De-licious!

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And since we're celebrating the Good Ol' USA, I made these---

These were really fun to make!  They are made with my favorite sugar cookie recipe.  Then the cool tie-dye, swirled icing idea I got from Holly's delightful blog, Phe.mom.enon.  We made Royal Icing (recipe on Holly's blog, but it's just your basic powdered sugar, meringue powder, water and some flavoring, like vanilla and I added a splash of almond extract.  After whipping up the icing, I made some of the icing red with, duh, red food coloring and some blue.  Then put some white icing on a paper plate, and drizzle in some red and blue and carefully swirled the three colors using a toothpick.  (I added more water to the icing than the recipe suggested until I got the slightly runny consistency I was looking for.)  Taylor and Sam helped and thought this was pretty cool.  I even thought it was pretty fun and super festive for the Fourth of July! 

We did some just blue and white and some red and white. 

  

Then we went to town with a mixture of all three colors. 

These were really fun, thanks for sharing, Holly!

These pictures were taken this morning (Friday) before Sam's nap.  He then woke up sick.  :(

Taylor looks so intent on his work.  He thought it was cool to keep swirling until it turned a lovely shade of purple!

1--I love Taylor's blue eyes.   2--How cute is Sam over on the side there with the icing on his nose!

While I was photographing the plateful of cookies, Taylor thought he should be in one.  I like his blue lips.

Stars and Stripes Forever! ; )