Banana Bread Muffins

Yesterday, I made banana bread muffins at work with the girls. We were watching Cupcake Wars when we decided we needed to make something sweet. Since it was the day before Halloween I tried to make it as healthy a cupcake/muffin as I could. So we used up some very ripe bananas we had in the freezer and whole wheat flour. 

These are the ingredients that we used, except the butter that didn't make it into the picture. It was a quick and easy recipe that my 6-year-old was able to help a lot with.

The first thing we did was mix the milk and lemon juice because we didn't have buttermilk. Then we creamed the butter and sugar.

Next, we added the thawed bananas. We mushed them up mixed them in.

Then, we added the eggs and my helper mixed them in. 

This is the dry ingredients we mixed in, just until they were combined. 

This is what it should look like after the sou milk is mixed in. 

I like to make banana bread into muffins because it makes them portable and I can pack them in lunches or take them to the park for a snack.

Our finished muffins! They are soft and delicious.

Banana Bread Muffins:

3/4 cup butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 overripe bananas

2 eggs

2 cups flour (I used whole wheat)

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup buttermilk (or 1/2 cup milk plus 2 tsp lemon juice)

The first step, if you don't have buttermilk, is to milk the milk and lemon juice to make sour milk. Then, cream the butter and sugar together. Add the bananas and mix. If you prefer, you can mash the bananas first, but I like to just add them in and and mash them that way. Next, add the eggs and stir in. Mix the dry ingredients separately and add to the wet mixture. Once the dry ingredients are just combined add the buttermilk or sour milk. Bake at 325 degrees F for about 20-25 minutes for muffins or 40-45 mins for loaves. This recipe made 20 muffins for me.

Decorating Pumpkins!

Today Peter and I bought and decorated pumpkins!

We went to Trader Joe's to get them because there wasn't a pumpkin patch that was close to my apartment this year :( But we did find sugar pie pumpkins there! So I'm going to make pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving.

We also saw these little guys which I think are so cute! So I picked 2 out to decorate with. 

Peter had to get my pumpkin for me because I couldn't reach it.

These are the ones we came home with. We picked 2 sugar pie pumpkins so that I could use them to make pumpkin pie after Halloween, as well as the mini pumpkins. We weren't planning on carving them because I didn't want the mess and Peter wanted to draw on them.

Our masterpieces! Mine is on the left and Peter's is on the right. Mine is more traditional, whereas Peter's is a cat. 

He also drew all the way around his haha. Another fluffy cat and a chubby squirrel. 

CPK with Friends

On Friday, Peter and I went to CPK with some friends for dinner. We hadn't seen them in over a month!

We drove up to Cerritos to meet Nick, Chelsea, and William.

Our original plan was to go to one of our favorite Thai places, Panvimarn, but the wait was 1 hour and 30 minutes! So we decided to wait only 20 minutes at CPK.

Chelsea and I started off with Caribbean Sunset Sangria and the boys had beers. It was in a really big glass! It had a couple a fresh pineapple slices, along with granny smith apple and blueberries, so I thought I might have a allergic reaction. I don't think I did; at least my throat didn't hurt or swell up. 

Peter and I shared Kung Pao Spaghetti, as usual...

and Asparagus and Spinach with Penne. This dish wasn't as good as usual. It was really plain. 

Shish Kabobs: My Family Recipe

Last night Peter and I cooked dinner together! This is one of my favorite meals and I knew he would love it too.

The first step is too cut up the meats you are using into chunks. They should be about 2-3 inch sized chunks. They need to be about the same size so that they cook evenly. You don't want burned and/or raw pieces.

The next step is to mix up the marinade.

These are the ingredients for the marinade. On the left is ginger and the right garlic.

Peter minced them up for me because he is a super helpful boyfriend and he does the parts that I like the least!

We divided the marinade up between the chicken and beef chunks and put them in air tight containers to marinade for about 5 hours. 

After they were done marinating I put them on skewers with onion and bell peppers that I cut into the same sized pieces. I like the flavor that the onion and bell peppers give, but I don't like to eat them. Peter does so I put extra on his. 

I had some zucchini in the fridge so I grilled them too. I think the chunks I cut were a little too big because they didn't cook all they way through. Next time I would cut them a little thinner.

We put the chicken on the grill first because it takes longer to cook than beef. I like it really well done. I know was over-cooked to some peoples' standards, but that's how I like it! I think the chicken cooked for about 30 minutes and I'm not sure how long the beef took. The zucchini only took a few minutes.

This is Peter's dinner. He really like the grilled veggies and refuses to eat brown rice so he had white rice.

And this is mine! I'm going to go have some leftovers now because writing this made me hungry!

Shish Kabob Marinade Recipe:

6.5 oz soy sauce

1 tsp ground ginger (I used fresh and about the same about of minced ginger as garlic)

1 tsp dry mustard powder

2 tsp sugar

4 Tbsp oil (I used grapeseed because it is a healthy, neutral oil)

4 garlic cloves (I used 6 because I love garlic and always used more than a recipe calls for)

Whisk all of the ingredients together and let beef, chicken, or whatever you want to use marinate for 4-6 hours. Any longer than about 8 will ruin your meat. It soaks in the salt from the soy sauce and will be inedible. 

Les Petites Sweets

Yesterday I was at my parents' house working on making some petite sweets because my mom and I got an order! It's so exciting to be getting jobs doing what we love to do. I stayed the night so that the cat wouldn't get lonely and so that I could work on these. 

The first thing I did was make the crust for Lemon Petites. 

It needs to be par-baked before adding the filling.

While it was baking I made the filling.

Ready for the final trip to the oven.

Next, I made Peanut Butter Chocolate Petites. This is the chocolate part. 

This is the peanut butter part. I love chocolate and peanut butter together!

Ready to bake! My brother says that they melt in your mouth.

This is my kitchen scale. It is a necessity for anyone who like to bake or cook. It measures so much more accurately than spoons or cups and it really saves you time. 

And that's it! For final pictures and more information check out our website. 

Omelette Attempt

Today I made an omelette for breakfast! Sort of. I wasn't so good at flipping it.

I stayed over at my parents' house last night to watch the cat while they went to Vegas (and also bake some treats because my mom and I got an order, but that's another post). So I was looking through the fridge this morning and found these ingredients: eggs, milk, chicken, cheese, and frozen spinach. Perfect for an omelette!

I mixed together the egg, milk, cheese, chicken, and spinach in a measuring cup and seasoned it with salt and pepper. The chicken was leftover from when my brother made himself chicken tacos. He cut it into chunks and cooked it on the stove with salsa. It actually tasted like chicken cacciatore to us, but it was yummy either way. 

Then I put some butter into a saute pan and poured in my mixture. I cooked it over medium low until the bottom was set. Then came the flipping...it didn't work. I ended up with a scramble because the egg stuck to the bottom of the pan so I had to use a spatula. 

So I just let it cook the rest of the way and formed it into an omelette shape. I kind of stayed together and I'm sure the taste wasn't affected so I might try again with anther pan next time or maybe I should have added 2 eggs and not so many toppings. 

Anyway, I enjoyed it. The chicken gave it a really good flavor!

My completed breakfast.

Omelette:

1-2 eggs

splash of milk

some cheese (I used sharp cheddar and didn't measure)

chicken, cut into bite-sized chunks

frozen spinach

salt and pepper

I put my egg and milk into a measuring cup and mixed them up then added all of my other ingredients. I heated up and saute pan, added butter, and cooked the mixture on medium low. This isn't really a recipe but more of a guideline. You can add any ingredients you want, any veggies, cheeses, or meats. You can season as much or as little as you want and cook it to your preferences. If you decide to use frozen spinach like I did I would recommend patting it dry before adding it as my omelette was slightly runny. I just let the water cook out and it didn't really bother me, but it's something to consider.  

Serves 1.

Sunday Brunch

Today for breakfast, we went to Breadcrumbs Ohana Cafe. It is a Hawaiian breakfast place that we usually end up at if we want to go out for breakfast. Breakfast isn't my favorite meal of the day, but I like it here. It was a nice day so we sat outside. 

I had hot green tea and a blueberry muffin. It had crunchy sugar crystals on top! I had eaten a yogurt before we left so I wasn't that hungry.

Peter had the HB special with 2 eggs over medium, hashbrowns, a ham steak, and sourdough toast. He thought it came with bacon because he read the menu wrong haha.

Isn't he so creative with his ketchup? :)