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.