Halloween Recap

Well this is going to be a very brief post because I'm a bad blogger and I took virtually no pictures on Halloween.  But, I do want to share what I came up with for a costume because it was AWESOME.  

Yall know how I feel about them royals by now, so this should be no surprise.  Here was my Halloween inspiration:

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And, I might add that I came up with this all on my own wayyyy before the Today Show cast did the same thing, m'kay? 

Anyway, since I didn't have a costume designer, I made do by myself.  The hat was really the key thing- the rest of my outfit were pieces I already owned.  For the top- I ordered something I knew I could wear again.

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I found the hat online and ordered it. Don't ask me what she's doing in that picture though because I have no clue. 

For the rest of the outfit, I wore a khaki skirt I already owned and some boots because it snowed here the day I went out!  As a bonus, we celebrated Halloween at my work, so I got to wear the outfit twice!  Really though, people either got the reference from the hat or they didn't, so the rest of the outfit just had to "go" instead of replicate. I would say that most women got the reference right off the bat.  And it was a big hit with them!  One man asked me if I was a cartoon character and I made another mad with my "snobbish" references to fascinators.  Men!  Who needs em?!  (Don't answer that. No really, don't.) 

Anywho, I could care less if anyone else liked my costume because it was SO MUCH FLIPPIN FUN to wear!  I am usually that person who doesn't do anything on Halloween because I can't think of a costume that I like.  And to me, you need to have fun wearing it! What's the point if you don't? Mission accomplished on that front for me this year.

I also made these pumpkin pecan spice cupcakes for work on Monday.  (That is not my picture, by the way- click through for the source!)

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I must say, they were delish! I even made them twice because I forgot to add the oil to the first batch.  Genius!  But even the defunct set tasted good! 

Delicious Banana Bread Recipe

This recipe for banana bread is guaranteed to knock your socks off!  It is seriously SO GOOD.

Here's what you'll need:

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 eggs

1 1/4 cups vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained

2 cups mashed ripe bananas (I used 2 bananas)

1 cup walnuts (optional)

First, you'll need to mash up the bananas. 

 In a large bowl, combine the four, sugar, salt, baking soda and cinnamon.  Set aside.

In another bowl, beat the eggs, oil and vanilla; add pineapple and bananas (and walnuts if you choose to add them). 

Stir into the dry ingredients just until moistened.

 Pour into two well greased loaf pans.  I just used the sizes that I had. 

 Bake at 350 for 55-65 minutes.  The pan on the left took 55 minutes because it is wider. The pan on the right took 65 minutes. 

Let cool in pan for 10-15 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to finish cooling.

 Cut into slices and enjoy! This bread travelled really well for me just wrapped in plastic wrap and then aluminum foil.  It got great reviews! 

Sweet Tooth

Looking for a couple of recipes to satisfy your sweet tooth? You've come to the right place. 

The first recipe I have for you is for Bakerella's "Brookies."

Brownie + Cookie = Good

Ingredients:

 2 3/4 cup all purpose flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup butter, softened

1 lb. light brown sugar (Oh my and thank you!)

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

11.5 ounce package milk chocolate chips

1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

(I used half a package of chocolate chips and a couple of handfuls of m&m's.)

Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Set aside.

 Stir brown sugar into softened (not melted) butter in another large bowl until butter disappears. You can use the back of your spoon to help incorporate the two together.

Add eggs one at a time to butter mixture and stir well after each egg.

Add vanilla, chocolate chips and nuts. Mix well.

 Add dry flour mixture and stir until well combined.

 Coat a 13 X 9 pan with non-stick spray and spread batter evenly into dish.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until top is golden brown. Make sure you don’t over bake.

(Mine actually took 40 minutes.)

Yum!

The second recipe is for "Cake Cookies."

 Ingredients:

 1 pkg Duncan Hines® Moist Deluxe® Devil's Food Cake Mix

2 large eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 °F. Grease baking sheets.

Combine cake mix, eggs and oil in large bowl. Stir until thoroughly blended. Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts. (Mixture will be stiff.) Shape dough into 36 (1 1/4-inch) balls. Place 2-inches apart on prepared baking sheets.

Bake at 350 °F for 10 to 11 minutes. (Cookies will look moist.) Do not overbake. Cool 2 minutes on baking sheets. Remove to cooling racks. Cool completely. Store in airtight container.

Enjoy! And make sure you give some of both of these away! (I recommend bringing them to group project meetings.)

Two Recipes

Here are two great recipes for you to try out.  I highly recommend them both.  The muffins are sooo tasty! They are even better to me than those really unhealthy muffins you can buy from stores or bakeries. You really cannot even tell that they are predominantly made with whole wheat flour.   The dressing is also fantastic. I used it the other night to marinate chicken and the chicken turned out really well.  Hope you enjoy these if you try them! 

Healthy Banana-Blueberry Muffins 

Recipe from Martha Stewart

1 cup whole-wheat flour (spooned and leveled)

3/4 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)

1/4 cup wheat germ

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup packed light-brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 ripe bananas (about 1 pound)

1/3 cup reduced-fat (2 percent) milk 

[I used skim milk since that is what I keep in my house.]

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup frozen blueberries 

[I used about 1 1/2 cups of fresh blueberries, since that's what I had on hand.]

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners. In a bowl, whisk together flours, wheat germ, baking soda, and salt.

In a large bowl, beat butter and sugars with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. In another bowl, mash bananas with a fork (you should have 3/4 cup); stir in milk and vanilla.

With mixer on low, alternately add flour mixture and banana mixture to butter mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture; mix just until combined. Fold in frozen blueberries.

Divide batter among muffin cups. 

[As you can see, I got fancy and added some chopped walnuts to the tops of the muffins. Highly recommend this if you like walnuts!]

Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, 25 to 28 minutes, rotating pan halfway through. Let cool in pan 10 minutes; transfer muffins to a rack to cool 10 minutes more.

Immediately devour and plot to make again.

Read more at Marthastewart.com: Healthy Banana-Blueberry Muffins - Martha Stewart Recipes

Creamy Cilantro Tomatillo Dressing

from Gina's Skinny Taste

1/2 cup lowfat buttermilk

1/4 cup light mayonnaise

1/4 cup fat free Greek yogurt

1 small jalapeno, seeds removed, leave them in if you want it spicy

1/4 cup of fresh cilantro

1 tomatillo, husks removed, chopped

1 clove garlic

1 scallion

juice of 1/2 lime

1/2 tsp dried parsley flakes

1/8 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper

1/4 tsp salt

Gina's recipe directions are to throw everything in a blender until combined.  I gave everything a rough chop and threw it in my food processor.

Makes 1-3/4 cups.

Yum! Enjoy.

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

This is another great recipe from Skinny Taste.

Go here for the original page with the recipe.

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole-wheat flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa, preferably Dutch-process

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/4 cup canola oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (1 3/4 ounces)

2 cups grated zucchini (1 medium)

Baking spray

Preheat oven to 325°F. Spray two 8 1/2-by-4 1/2-inch loaf pans with cooking spray.

Whisk all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.

Whisk eggs, sugar, applesauce, oil, vanilla and melted chocolate in another large bowl until blended. Add the dry ingredients and stir with a rubber spatula until just combined. 

Fold in zucchini and walnuts. Pour the batter into the prepared pans.

Bake the loaves 55 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes. Invert onto rack and cool completely.

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This recipe makes 16 slices of bread- 2 loaves of 8 slices, each.  If you are into Weight Watchers, this bread is 4 points per slice.
One thing I really like about this bread is that the recipe makes 2 loaves.  Since I am just one person, this gave me a great opportunity to give a loaf away to a friend!  And also, it makes your house smell ah-mazing! 


UPDATE:  from experience, I think this bread tastes much better once it has cooled completely.  Slightly warm, the taste was a bit off to me. 

Cupcakes

I will be bringing these sweet treats to a project group meeting tonight. 

After a failed attempt at making a pastry bag using a ziploc (the ziploc busted... it did not end well) I decided to jazz these up with some sprinkles.  I think they will be well received, don't you?

Hope you are having a great Sunday!