Chunky Monkey Banana Cupcakes

Banana Cake is the BOMB!

So, while suffering from insomnia early one morning I decided to come up with a chocolaty peanut buttery cup cake, I used my MIL's mom's recipe as a base then added/changed somethings.

The very first change I made was to replace the shortening with plain yogurt, I used both Greek and American style yogurts (don't ask me why I did this, I had both kinds and just decided it would be a good idea) and mixed it with the sugar using my Bosch (I LOVE THAT MACHINE!)

The Bosch is amazing! It's so powerful that all I had to do was put the bananas in to the mixer and the machine mashed them for me as they got mixed in, which means no extra bowls or mashers to clean!

Then I added PB2 Chocolate to the sugar and yogurt mixture for the peanut butter taste, but not many added calories. I also replaced the white AP (all purpose) flour with white whole wheat AP flour to make it a little hardier and more filling, these really could be called muffins if it werent for how much sugar is in them.

I also separated the eggs, putting the whites in a separate bowl and whipping them till really frothy and adding the yolks directly to the mixer with the other ingredients. This recipe calls for butter milk but I never have any one hand so I just make my own using 1 1/3 cups whole milk and then add 1 tablespoon vinegar, mix it up then let it set for at least 10 minutes to thicken.

I added the frothy egg whites to the batter for added volume. It ended up making the batter really thin, so I was concerned that the cupcakes wouldn't rise and I would have a Friday fail on my hands.   

Frothy!

Once that was all combined I added chocolate chuncks, sticking with my "Chunky Monkey" theme, but they all sunk to the bottom of the batter, next time I'll use mini chocolate chips in stead.

 I scooped the batter into lined muffin tins that had been sprayed with cooking spray to help them keep from sticking and popped them into a preheated oven for 25 minutes and they came out looking great!  

The next step was to frost them. I decided to cheap out and go lazy with the frosting. My big sister had given me a can of squeeze frosting that her husband use to "whiz" from because she doesn't bake and her hubby wasn't using it I took it home. So I used it on these cupcake, it's was chocolate so it went really well with the banana and peanut butter flavors. 

                                                                              The frosting was alright, it tastes like store bough frosting, very artificial and SUPER sweet, I highly encourage you to make your own using your favorite chocolate frosting, preferably something dark, or maybe even a caramel frosting.  These cupcake are so delisious and moist. The chocolate chunks did sink to the bottom of the cake like I expected, but I don't consider these a failure at all! 

Chunky Monkey Banana Cupcakes 

Makes roughly 30 cup cakes

1. 1/2 cup plain yogurt
2. 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
3. 2 1/2 cups granulated sugar 
4. 1/2 cup brown sugar
5. 4 eggs, separated
6. 2 tsp baking powder
7. 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
8. 4 cups white wheat flour
9. 1 1/3 cups butter milk (whole milk and a tablespoon of vinegar may be substituted)
10. 2 cups ripe bananas (2 large bananas or 3 medium ones)
11. 1 12 oz bag chocolate chunks (I'd use mini chips next time though)

Preheat oven to 375.

Combine in a mixer sugar and both yogurts, then add the egg yolks one at a time and combine well. Add the baking powder and baking soda while the mixer is still running then add the salt. 

Add, a little at a time to the running mixer, the flour then pour in the butter milk. 

Now add your bananas. Slowly mix in the egg whites that you've whipped until foamy with a white whisk, then add in your chocolate. Scoop into lined muffin pan, be sure to spray your liners so the cupcakes don't stick. Turn the oven down to 325 and bake for 25 minutes.

Cool the cupcakes out of the muffin tin on a wire rack until fully cooled then frost with your favorite chocolate frosting.

Enjoy!

I hope you enjoy these cupcakes as much as I do!

What's your favorite cupcake flavor?

Ilsa B.

What Happens When a Mom Has Insomnia...

Do you have insomnia too?

Insomnia is a problem I deal with often, some say it's because I'm creative and very intelligent so my brain just can't switch off others *cough A-Gal cough* says it's because I drink too much caffeine. Well what ever it is, the brain or the caffeine, the fact is that some nights there's just no staying in bed for me tonight. So I present to you (despite the fact that this is a food blog) "What Happens When a Mom Has Insomnia"

When a Mom has Insomnia, she'll probably take weird "atrsy" pictures of her self with a bunch of different filters. Which will lead to a strange blog post.

When a Mom has Insomnia, she'll probably wash and dry a ton a laundry. Which will mean she needs to fold and put away a ton of laundry.

When a Mom has Insomnia, she'll probably want to bake something, but the kitchen will be dirty which means she'll have to clean it, and once she cleans it she wont want to mess it up again, maybe she wont bake anything.

When a Mom has Insomnia, she'll probably abuse TheraFlu in a desperate attempt to get some sleep. And when that doesn't work she'll listen to self help hypnoses mp3s and pray that they're dull enough that they will put her to sleep.

And finally, when a Mom has Insomnia. she'll realize that it's less then three hours until the kids wake up and there's no longer any point in trying to go back to sleep.

I hope you are reading this in a state of well rested bliss, and not reading that at the time I publish it.

But if you are, then you know what it's like to have insomnia.

Have you ever experienced insomnia? 

If so, how did you handle it?

Super Simple & Super Fast Stir Fry Chicken & Veggies with Ramen Noodles.

 So cheap and so easy!

Dinner time can be major chaos in this house, what with 5 kids ages 8 and under plus my self and my Husband. When 5:00pm rolls around it's a safe bet that someones gonna be cryin' (probably me because I have to whip something up) 

Now, I normally meal plan so I don't have to worry about dinner time as much, but lately I just haven't had the motivation to do it. So I run into situations like tonight. I've made this dish for my family in the past so I knew they would like it, and it's so easy and pretty darn healthy (apart from all the sugar in the salad dressing :/ )

Luck truly was in my favor tonight because I had thought a day or two before to bring out some chicken breasts from the freezer so they would defrost and then I could use them in something. This is an American Chinese dish, so it's not very authentic, but it's still really yummy.

 First you cut up the thawed chicken breast in to bite size chunks then toss them in to a zip top bag and add to that the marinade, let that set in the fridge for about 30 minutes or as long as you want. I just had 30 minutes to spare so that's how long I did it for. 

Once the chicken is done marinating brown it in a pan (I used my wok) with some cooking spray or some other kind of oil. Once the chicken is no longer pink toss in the frozen veggies and more salad dressing then let that heat up. 

 Now add in the broken ramen pieces and let it call come to a simmer, turn it down to medium/low and let it reduce for about 10-15 minutes.

The Viola! You're done, and dinner is awesome. We like to eat it with our chopsticks cause it makes us feel fancy :D

Super Simple & Super Fast Chicken and Veggie Stir Fry.

Serves 6 full sized adults or 2 adults and 6 kids.

1. 1 pound of raw boneless skinless chicken breasts
2. 1 cup + 1/2 cup(reserved) of Kraft's Asian Toasted Sesame Salad Dressing
3. 2 tablespoons white whine vinegar
4. 2-3 cup frozen stir fry veggie mix
5. 2 packets of ramen
6. 1 cup hot water.
7. Cooking Spray

Cut up the chicken breast into bite sized pieces then mix in a gallon zip top bag with 1 cup dressing and 2 tablespoons white whine vinegar, seal and shake the bag to coat the chicken then marinate for at least 30 minutes. 

Mean while warm up a wok or a dutch oven style pan over medium/high heat, coat the pan in cooking spray while it is warming up. Once fully heated (toss a drop of water into the pan, if the water "dances" then the pans ready) add in your chicken breasts and brown them. 

Now add in your stir fry vegetables and remaining half cup of dressing then mix give it a good mix to coat the veggies cook for five minutes uncovered.

Once the five minutes is up toss in the ramen and give it another really good mix to coat the ramen, then pour the hot water into the pan and turn the heat down to medium/low and let it simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to coat the noodles and the veggies in the sauce.

Serve hot and enjoy!

You're of course welcome to add Chinese dumplings or some spring rolls as a side, I just didn't have the time for that.

Hope you enjoy it, let me know if you give it a try.

What are your go-too dinners that you always keep on hand?


Ilsa B.
*DISCLAIMER* I am not being paid by Kraft to promote this product, it's just my favorite salad dressing.

Bountiful Basketsand Produce Wash

 Have you tried Bountiful Baskets yet?

 I LOVE bountiful baskets, it's a quick and easy way to keep fresh (organic if you want) fruits and veggies in my home. And when I have fresh fruits and veggies in my home I cook with them.

If you're not familiar with what bountiful baskets is here is a link to the information about how they work.

Basically, you "contribute" money and in return you get a "basket" filled with 50% fruit and 50% vegetables, you pay 10 bucks extra per basket if you want 100% organic. They often have extra things you can buy too, like this last time I did it they had blueberries, blackberries and a 25lb bag of colorful carrots! They almost always have some bread products, their sour dough is really yummy and so is the organic 9 grain bread.

I'm a bit of a bread addict so I always stock up when they offer it. I can eat like four slices in one sitting, I know, so nut Atkins approved!

Once I get home from pick up day I immediately wash my produce in a simple soak.


 All it is is Apple Cider Vinegar and cool water then you let the fruits/veggies soak for around 10 minutes.

I promise, it does not make your produce taste vinegary or weird, all it does is kill any bacteria that may be on the produce.

 Then you dry the produce and store it as you would normally. I froze the majority of my carrots and blueberries. I also froze all the bread I got (10 loaves in total, 5 sour dough and 5 9 grain)

I like to use a salad spinner to dry my berries, it gets the job done quickly and is super easy to use. This one I got from one of our local grocery stores, HEB.

I wish I had taken more pictures of all the stuff I got, but I forgot too. You really should give Bountiful Baskets a try, it's well worth the money to have fresh, healthy food in your house.

Do you do something like BB? 

Or do you got to the farmers markets to hand pick your veggies?

Or are you a supermart kind of person?

Let me know!

Ilsa

*DISCLAIMER*

I am not affiliated with Bountiful Baskets nor do I get paid to promote them. I just honestly like them.

2 Ingredient Coconut Topping.

  I LOVE BROWNIES!

Like, "LOVE" love brownies. As in, I love them so much I should marry them.
Normally, I prefer mine a little under-cooked and slightly gooey, but these babies are fantastic. You can really use any brownie recipe or mix, but I like this one from allrecipes.com, just don't make the frosting. Also, sorry for the layout, I'm having problems with blogger.com :/

Speaking of allrecipes.com, have you been there? It's like the most comprehensive online cook book. Only it's filled with all of "Mom's" and "Grandma's" recipes. I've used it for years, in both professional use and personal. Allrecipes.com also has an amazing search feature where you can enter the ingredients you want, and the ones you want to exclude and it will bring up recipes that match your specifications, how cool is that?! And no, I'm not getting paid to boost them. I just really love that site!

Now, back to the brownies. Make them exactly as directed in the original recipe then top them with my coconut topping and some dark chocolate fudge sauce or ganache.

My kids love them too, so of course they disappear as soon as they're ready. But honestly, who doesn't love a good brownie (don't bother answering that, cause if you say you don't we can't be friends.)

 SO YUM!

Lets do this.

1 Large can sweetened condensed milk.
1 Large bag sweetened coconut flakes.
1 Squeeze bottle dark chocolate fudge sauce (I used Ghirardelli brand).

Combine the coconut and milk in a large bowl, spread over the cooked and cooled brownies. Drizzle with the chocolate sauce and enjoy!


Are you a die hard brownie addict?
What's your favorite brownie recipe?


Ilsa B.

Mini Peanut Butter Brownies FAIL

Well, that was dumb.

This one I'll tell completely though picture captions!

So, it all started with this mess. Remember the amazing PB Cupcakes I posted about a little while back? Well, this goop was the first attempt at the frosting for said cupcakes. I added WAY to much peanut butter and then let it sit on the counter for a couple of hours until it started to ooze oil.

Now, I know that it's still perfectly fine, it's just not pretty which means I can't use it as a frosting for cupcakes. I then decided to use a box of brownie mix and this stuff to make these awesome little bite size treats that I was going to call "Brownie Peanut Butter Cups" I put a large star tip in the corner of a disposable pastry bag and then filled it with the gunk.

 

This is the brand I used, because it was on sale.

I decided that adding a Banana would make the brownies more moist and add a nice flavor.

 

Mashed Banana

I prepared the brownie mix according to the package direction, and added the mashed banana. That was my first mistake, I should have added the banana first then gradually added the other ingredients until it mixed up right.

I filled Tablespoon full batter into the mini wells *feels like I'm missing somethin* Looks good, oven is preheated to 350.

I squeeze the filling into the center of each little cake *still feels like I forgot something* they look awesome! I pop them into the oven and bake for about 15-20 minutes. I take them out and cool them. When they're finally cool enough to eat I try to pop one out.

And then remember what it was I had forgotten. I had forgotten to grease the pan. Me, Ilsa! The gal who's been baking since I was like 6 forgot to freckin grease the pan!

You can imagine how frustrated I was. We managed to pry them out one at a time, they weren't pretty but MAN did they taste every bit as good as I had hoped. Next time I WILL grease the pan!

I hoped you enjoyed this Fail Friday post!

May your tummy's always be full and you kitchen a disaster.

P.S. Any new failures this week?

P.S.S. Don't forget to subscribe or join!

Just because you gotta eat cheap dosen't mean you gotta eat crap.

Chicken Taco Bake with Home Made Tortilla Chips and Salsa(not home made)

Sorry for the bad quality pictures, I'm still learning about food photography and I was in a hurry to get these ones done.

 

Have you visited GroceryBudget101.com? You should! She has the section on 50 dollar menu helps where you can post your zip code and 3 grocery shops that you go to and she'll check the local adds and plan a shopping trip for you. I was picked for San Antonio! Here's the link to my list

This week I'm excited to announce that my grocery budget was 74.84 for over a weeks worth of meals (B,L and D). Of course a HUGE thank you to the gal over at GroceryBudget101.com for really showing me how to use my local store sales to put together a meal list. 

Up until I ran accross her blog's I had been making a menu and THEN making a list and seeing if the adds had what I needed, which 80% of the time they didn't. Once I was at the store the savings addict in me would kick in and I would see all the good prices on food and fill my cart with the sales in addition to what I already needed, that ran my grocery budget up to about $150-$200 per WEEK! And we would still need to buy extras on things like Milk and Eggs as we needed them. Well, that's just too freakin much to be paying on food.

Our goal from here on out is to prepares meals based on what the local stores have on sale, did I mention that GB101.com found a new store for me to shop at that has AMAZING sales? It's called La Fiesta and it's on the corner of Military and Marbach for those who are here in SA.

Here's on of the meals we're having this week.  Enjoy!

Chicken* Taco Bake

Recipe Source: Taste of Home Best Ever Casseroles

• 2 cups coarsely crushed corn chips
• 1 can refried beans
• 2 cups shredded Monterrey Jack cheese, divided
• 2 cups shredded cooked chicken (original recipe called for turkey but, I had just cooked a roast chicken so, I had leftover meat)
• 1 teaspoon taco seasoning
• 1 green onion, sliced
• 1 medium tomato

I didn't have taco seasoning so I used my go-to. 1 tbls Chili Powder and 1 tsp Cumin.

1. Place corn chips in a greased shallow 2 1/2qt backing dish. Place refried beans in a small saucepan; cook and stir over medium heat until heated through. Remove from heat; stir in 1 cup cheese and salsa. Spread over chips.
2. In a large bowl, combine the chicken with the taco seasoning; sprinkle over bean mixture. Top with remaining cheese. Sprinkle with onion. Bake, uncovered at 400 for 20-25 minutes or until cheese is melted. I topped mine with about 2 cups of lettuce and sour cream because I didn't have tomato's.

 

Home Made Corn Tortilla Chips

Recipe Source:  Sandra Lee

• 15 corn tortilla's 
• Canola oil spray
• Salt

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Cut each tortilla into 8 triangular portions. Arrange in a single layer on sheet pans. Spray with canola oil cooking spray to help them crisp up, sprinkle with salt and bake until crisp and lightly browned about 10 minutes. Allow to cool and serve with salsa.

The family review was pretty good, Abby didn't want it at first but once she tried it she was good.

It was pretty cheap to make like less the $2 a serving cheap (although I'm not 100% on that) I hope you enjoy it.

May your Tummy's always be full and your wallets be fuller.

P.S. What are your money saving secrets when it comes to grocery's? How much are you able to save?