Kitchen Meme

I've been doing a lot of baking lately. Bake sales, parties, company. Whatever the occasion I have been digging for a recipe to try or to whip up. Lately my favorite thing to bake is cupcakes. As in just about everything, there are whole blogs devoted to Cupcake Love. On one blog, The Busty Baker (ladolvicita.com) I found this Getting to Know Me Quiz and I knew I'd have to copy it here! David with a chocolate marshmallow cupcake.

Getting to Know Me!

Metal or Non-stick? Metal and I love parchmant paper when making cookies.
Cast iron or Stainless? Stainless.
Cutting board: Wood or Plastic? I have one of each.
Knife: Carbon Steel or Stainless? I don't even know.
Kitchen Aid or Hand Mixer? I love my Kitchen Aid! I've even given her a name, Matilda. Matilda the Mixer.
Cooktop: Gas, Electric, or Induction? Currently I have electric. Now if only I could go back to a smooth top...
Side-by-side, Freezer on top, Fridge on top? A side-by-side that I am constantly struggling to get all of my stuff into.
Apron or Whoops? I'd love to be an apron girl. I really want one. Hey, my birthday is coming...
Mashed Potatoes: By Hand, Ricer, or Mixer? Usually I mash potatoes by hand, but I have been known to use the mixer once in a while.
Sandwich or Wrap? I like a good wrap, but I'm good with a sandwich usually. And I love subs.
PB& _____? Whatever kinda jelly is in the fridge. Usually some strawberry preserves.
Pancakes: Syrup or Applesauce? Syrup! Ever put syrup and brown sugar on your pancakes? My friend Jen taught me that. Pretty indulgent, but I'm worth it!
Cakes: Scratch or Mix? Usually by scratch, but I keep a good stash of mixes. There are lots of cupcake recipes that start with a mix.
Chili: Beans or No Beans? I'm okay either way.
Napkin: Cloth or Paper? Lots of paper, but I'm thinking about buying some white cloth ones and keeping them out in a pretty rectangular basket. Anyone know where I can buy a bunch of them for cheap?
BBQ: Takes the whole weekend to make or Take Out? Take out.
Chicken: White or Dark? WHITE. I'm pretty adamant about not wanting any part of the chicken other than the breast.
Ice Cream: Cone or Dish? Waffle cones or a dish. Bring it on!! Aaron with a chocolate chip cookie cupcake. (Yellow cupcake with a cookie baked in the bottom and chocolate chip buttercream.)

Gone Bananas!

Last Tuesday the boys had Veteran's Day off from school, so Monday afternoon I picked the boys up from school and we headed north. We drove to my sister in law's house and spent time with my nieces and sister-in-law and with my friend and her four kids.
We had a blast. In a little more than 24 hours we played cards, terrorized customers at a Subway (What? You don't want to sit with 10 children?), raced scooters at the park, and went to see Madagascar 2. Phew! I was exhausted, but it was sooo worth it!

While I was there my friend gave me a huge bunch of bananas that were spotted and just waiting to be turned into banana bread. I made a batch of my stand-by banana bread which is a lower fat recipe I doctored from allrecipes.com a few years ago. I also made a batch of marble banana bread, which was based on a recipe from the Cooking Light Holiday Cookbook. Both were yummy and I thought I would share the recipes.

Lower Fat Banana Bread
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
3 bananas, mashed (1 to 1 1/2 cup)
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 2/3 cup four
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
pinch ground ginger
pinch ground cloves

Preheat oven 350. Spray loaf pan with cooking spray.
Beat butter and sugars. Beat in the eggs, milk, bananas, and vanilla. Mix in the flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves.
Bake for about an hour. Cool on rack for 10 minutes and then remove from the pan and allow the loaf to finish cooling on the rack.

Marbled Chocolate Banana Bread

2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 bananas, mashed
1/3 light sour cream
1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 and spray a loaf pan with cooking spray.
Mix flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a bowl. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, beat the butter and sugar with a mixer. Beat in the vanilla and eggs. Add the mashed bananas and the sour cream. Add the dry ingredients.
Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave. (HIGH for 1 minute and then stir.) Combine 1 cup of the batter with the melted chocolate and set aside.
Spoon chocolate batter alternately with the plain batter into the prepared loaf pan. Swirl batters using a knife. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes and then remove from the pan and let cool completely on the rack.

Ace of Cakes

Isn't calling.


Let's backtrack...


A few days ago a friend asked if I would bake a cake for her daughter's third birthday. A cute occasion for a cake! I told my friend that I can bake a cake, but I'm not a cake decorator. She insisted that a simple, chocolate pound cake was what she wanted to serve her guests. Maybe some baking M&M's baked in for decoration.


Okay. I'm your girl. I load up Matilda. (She's my mixer. She lives on my counter so she deserves a name!) All goes well. Lovely recipe, beautiful baking in the oven, fabulous smell in the house. I cool the cake and go to flip her out on the serving tray.


Nothing! Nope. Nada. Not a budge. Twist. Shake. Do the Come-Out-of-the-Pan dance. PLOP! Ugh. The M&M's had sunk to the bottom of the cake (actually the top when you do the whole flip thing) and were sticking to the pan. Badly.


I tried whipping up some glaze to cover the blotched surface of the cake. Bahahahahah-haha.


I was distraught! How could this happen? If I were baking that cake for Nogoodreason it would have been a beauty, but this was quite possiblly the ugliest cake ever.


Then I got the giggles! What else could I do? The cake was a flop. Ace of Cakes isn't calling. The grocery store had a sale on chocolate creme cakes. And Alli is a very cute three year old! (BTW, it tastes absolutely delish!)