banana bread bars with brown butter frosting

So, earlier this week I stocked up on bananas for smoothies. I am back on my spinach-smoothie-a-day diet. I tried this in the spring, and I felt so great! Seriously. I usually just blend a small handful of frozen spinach and OJ or soy milk with about a cup of frozen berries or maybe some frozen peaches and pineapple, and of course, a banana (to mask the spinach). I like to use frozen fruit because A) it lasts much longer than fresh fruit, and B) I don't have to add ice to the smoothie, and I prefer my smoothies icy cold. Anyway, back to the bananas. As usual, I bought more than I could use and I am now left with 4 overripe bananas. And when life gives you 4 overripe bananas, make Banana Bread Bars with Brown Butter Frosting!


It has been a long week, and I am feeling lazy, so I am only posting the link to this recipe:

Banana Bread Bars with Brown Butter Frosting - Life's Simple Measures

This is an awesome recipe. Perfection. The banana bread / brown butter frosting combo is ahhhh melt-in-your-mouth amazing. This takes a classic breakfast bread to a new level. Enjoy!

best chocolate chip cookies

In case you were wondering, I did survive the 4th! I have just been a bit overwhelmed by summer school. 3 more weeks, just 3 more weeks, I keep telling myself. I was hoping to try out a new recipe, but with little time and little $$, I stuck with chocolate chip cookies - sweet 'n' simple. I usually use the recipe on the back of the Hershey's Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips bag, but this time I ventured out and chose a recipe online. You guessed it! allrecipes.com They were ooey-gooey and highly addictive.

Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

via allrecipes.com

1 cup butter (2 sticks), sofented

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar 

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons hot water

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate chips)

1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream together butter and sugars in a large bowl until smooth. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Then stir in vanilla. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with salt. Stir in flour, chocolate chips, and nuts. Drop large spoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes or until edges are nicely browned.

"actually delicious turkey burgers"

I have always wanted to try a turkey burger, and what better day than Independence Day?!

I stumbled upon this recipe while perusing allrecipes.com. "Actually Delicious Turkey Burgers". 4.5 out of 5 stars. 1,210 reviews. Why not give it a try, right?

Here it is:

Actually Delicious Turkey Burgers

via allrecipes.com

Makes about 12 patties.

3 pounds ground turkey (I used 85% lean)
1/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs (I used Italian)
1/4 cup finely diced onion
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

*I did add slightly less than 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese, because I had some on hand, and a little cheese never hurt a burger - in fact, I might top mine with pepper jack!

In a large bowl, mix all ingredients together. And form patties - about 12 (I froze about half of the patties for future meals).

The recipe says to cook on medium heat in a skillet, but I will be* cooking mine on a grill.

*Note the "will be", I haven't actually cooked the patties yet, but they are prepared and waiting for the 4th of July barbecuing festivities to begin! Verdict on the finished products to come.

I will be topping mine with pepper jack, lettuce, tomato, onion, and possibly avocado..

Cannot wait!

stars & stripes cupcakes

1) I ended not making any of the desserts I mentioned in my previous post, and.. 2) I cheated. I used a box mix. I had good intentions, it was a "box mix + ..." recipe. One of the +'s was 1 cup sour cream.. that I forgot to pick up while I was at the grocery store, and at 10:30 pm, I was not going back.. so, Duncan Hines Signature French Vanilla it is! Sorry, White Wedding Cupcakes. Next time.

I can say that the frosting was homemade!

Classic Vanilla Buttercream Frosting (with an Irish twist!) 

via Savory Sweet Life

OK, using Irish Cream in cupcakes made to celebrate AMERICAN Independence is well not so patriotic, but oh so delicious!

The original ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened (ideal texture should be like ice cream)

3-4 cups of confectioner's sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon vanilla*

Up to 4 tablespoons milk or heavy cream*

*In place of the vanilla and milk or heavy cream, I used about a tablespoon heavy cream + 2 tablespoons Irish Cream (I prefer Michael's Celtic Irish Cream)

**Note: I actually split the frosting into three separate bowls - 1/2 cup of butter (1 stick) per bowl, and adjusted the recipe accordingly - rather than making one large batch, so that I could make red, white, and blue frosting - which ended up being more like pink, cream, and blue..

First, beat butter for a few minutes with mixer. Add 3 cups of powdered sugar, and mix on lowest speed, until the sugar has been incorporated into the butter. With the mixer set on medium speed salt and heavy cream + Irish Cream and beat for 3 minutes. If your frosting needs a more stiff consistency, add remaining sugar. If your frosting needs to be thinned out, add an additional tablespoon of either heavy cream or Irish cream, depending on how "boozy" you'd like your frosting.

I decided to make "Stars & Stripes" cupcakes. For the stripes, I used a rose tip to pipe three red wavy stripes. Then I used a small star tip to pipe the white stripes second, filling in the spaces left behind (I would have used another rose tip, but I only have one). For the stars, I used a larger star tip to make stars in rows, covering the entire cupcake. I topped each "star" cupcake with tiny pearl-like sprinkles.

I am alive! Although, I have not had much time to blog (or had any reason to), because A) summer school has become my life - and as a student, I suppose school should be my life, for the most part; and B) I have been having awful, awful luck with my baking lately. This weekend, I thought I would make chocolate cupcakes with amaretto frosting (I splurged at Spec's :) ). I decided to use Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake recipe for the cupcakes and an amaretto buttercream recipe I found on a blog. Usually, I can trust Hershey's. Their chocolate chip cookie recipe (on the back of the semi-sweet chip bag), ah! Seriously yummy, simple, classic cookies. But oh no, no no, now I have lost faith in good ol' Hershey's. I am not sure what went wrong, but my cupcakes turned out to literally be cups of cake. Sinkhole cupcakes. No good. So, I decided ok, ok I will attempt vanilla cupcakes. They came out looking like cupcakes, but they were dry. So dry, so disappointing!! The frosting, however, was fantastic. Consistency maybe not quite stiff enough to pipe with (an easy fix), but the flavor was great. LOVE amaretto.

Also, I did successfully make Cajun Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo. It was unbelievably delicious, and so rich! The recipe can be found here: http://comfortablydomestic.com/2011/03/05/cajun-chicken-alfredo/ . Prepare to be amazed! 

The 4th is coming up (as in tomorrow!). So, to celebrate Independence Day, I will be making possibly a cobbler, carrot cake (not exactly fitting for the season, but I have been craving it, and I am determined to make my carrot-despising boyfriend try it; carrot cake could pass as "Italian Cream Cake", right? ;) ), or I might make root beer float cookies (thank you, Pinterest), because they combine two of my favorites: root beer float + cookie = it has to be good!

*fingers crossed* that whatever I end up making will be fabulous! Or at least edible. Yeah, I'll shoot for edible. Edible and attractive.