Maple Buttercream Frosting

I had two bananas that were black, bruised and mushy.  I found a good muffin recipe and proceeded to make them.  I thought how can I make these more interesting?!?  I found a container of imitation maple flavoring. I have nooooooooo idea why I bought it.  But, it is definitely good stuff.  I put a little bit in the muffin batter and thought perhaps I can make a frosting/filling for the muffins?!?

And viola! It worked!!!!!

I used this nifty little orange juicer thingy (which I'm not sure even works for it's designated purpose) to scoop out the center of the muffin.

It worked perfectly. I then used a frosting/spritzer cookie thing to fill up the space.

Just use your favorite banana muffin recipe and make the frosting like this:

1/2 cup softened butter

1 tsp vanilla 

1 tsp imitation maple flavoring (you might be able to use actual maple syrup)

2 cups confectioners' sugar

1-2 TB milk

Mix the butter and vanilla/maple flavoring, until soft. Gradually beat in the sugar. Use the milk to make it softer for piping.

I could have eaten the entire bowl of frosting all by itself. It was that good!!   If I could have fit my face into the frosting bowl, I would have done it.  It was downright evil good!

I will have to find someone to give the muffins to or I will  EAT-THEM-ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!! And that would be very, verrrrrrry bad!

That's it for today. Till next time...

I Got A Haircut.

I know that is nothing new. Buttttttttttt, when I instructed the stylist on what to do I said, "Two inches with more stacking. Oh! And trim my bangs."  I usually hem and haw about the amount of inches to take off. And the stylist takes note and I usually only lose an inch. I do this about every two months. My hair usually looks "okay." But, my bangs are just starting to get annoying.  Anyway, this time I did no hemming or hawing. And the stylist whacked a LOT of hair.  And it was literal whack-age. She razor blade cut most of it.

I haven't decided if I like it.  I think I do. But, it's short. Shorter than I've had it in a very, veryyyyyyyy long time.  I guess I will have to play with it. What little there is.  Sadly it is now too short to pull back into a pony tail. I guess I will have to start loving barrettes, again.

I wish it looked this cute. Not like Katie H. But, alas it won't happen. My bangs were cut too short.  Thankfully hair grows, so if I can't figure it out, maybe I can grow to love a hat.  It wouldn't be too hard to hide it that way.

Till next time... 

No Bake Sweet & Salty PB Pretzel Bars and A Snow Ball Fight

We were discussing pretzels being in recipes and I then got this insane craving for pretzels and chocolate. I looked through a LOT of my cookbooks, but, didn't find anything that sounded satisfying.  I went to the internet and found a recipe that required no cooking.

http://www.preventionrd.com/2012/10/no-bake-sweet-salty-peanut-butter-pretzel-bars/

No-Bake Sweet & Salty Peanut Butter Pretzel Bars from Very Best Baking
Nonstick cooking spray
2 cups natural creamy peanut butter, divided
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar, divided
4 cups pretzel twists, divided
2 cups (12 oz) semi-sweet chocolate morsels, divided

Directions:
Line a 13 x 9-inch baking pan with parchment I used waxed paper, since I ran out of parchment leaving an overhang on the sides. Lightly spray parchment with nonstick cooking spray.

Beat 1 1/4 cups peanut butter and butter in large mixing bowl until creamy. Gradually beat in 1 cup powdered sugar. Stir in remaining 1 cup powdered sugar, 3 cups pretzel that have been broken into small piece (the smaller the better) and 1/2 cup morsels. Press evenly into prepared baking pan. Smooth top with spatula.

I had two bags of snack Rold Gold pretzels, that no one will eat in their lunch. So viola! The perfect fit for this recipe --- AND the bags work great for pretzel crushing. I used my meat tenderizer hammer thing to smash them to crumbs.

Microwave remaining 1 1/2 cups morsels and 3/4 cup peanut butter in medium in a microwave-safe bowl on high for 1 minute; stir. If necessary, microwave at additional 10- to 15-second intervals, stirring just until morsels are melted. Spread chocolate layer evenly over powdered sugar mixture. Sprinkle with the remaining pretzels that have been broken into pieces, pressing down lightly. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours or until firm. Lift from pan; peel off parchment. Store in covered container in refrigerator.

Yield: 60 pieces  yeah right -- 60 pcs. That is NOT even possible.

The whole 9x13 pan -- no way on this planet are there 60 pcs!!!

MY single piece ---> which must equal 4 to 6 pieces, which isn't even realistic.

Everyone loved these except for C#2. She's a mutant and doesn't like peanut butter.  These are definitely bad news, though. They are soooooooooooooooooooooooooo delicious!

And now onto the snow ball fight. I was up to my armpits in raw chicken and the hubby says, "It sounds like some one's crying!" Geez Louise!!! Of  course, C#1 and C#2 were outside pegging each other with snow balls.  I told the hubby to go check it out (since I was apparently up to my armpits in raw chicken - like I said before...) And in comes C#2 bawling her eyes out and gushing blood out her nose or was that her mouth. I couldn't tell. Rut Roh!  

I grabbed a wad of paper towels and put them up to her nose.  I was slightly alarmed out how fast the towels were turning red.  We all went to the bathroom and grabbed a washcloth (well only one of us grabbed a wash cloth.)  I then pulled the power towels off of her nose and it was still running like we'd hit an artery.  After a couple more minutes of pressure it did finally stop gushing blood.

We had to have a serious talk with C#1 about being so rough.  He is twice C#2's weight AND height. AND he has no sense of going easy...... Sheesh!  

Her nose and mouth were all fine the next morning. No cuts, bruises, or marks. So it all ended A-Okay.  But, I think we are going to hear about this story until the day we die.  C#2 was fascinated at how much blood poured out of her face. *sigh*

That's it for today...  Till next time.

Early Valentine's Day Donuts and Pie

As I was laying in bed, aka being lazy and not wanting to get up, I heard the hubby arrive home from his early morning, snowy jaunt from work.  I usually hide under the covers, because there is usually a request for breakfast.

Anywayyyy, I heard some unusual banging and clanging and bag rustling in the kitchen. I didn't think it was C#1 or C#2, because they like to wait for me to get up and fetch them something.  A few minutes later, the hubby showed up in the room with a ----- DONUT! A powdered sugar "Long John" donut filled to the brim with vanilla butter cream.  That filling is my most favorite in the entire world!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And I ate two. Yes, two. I have NO shame. And they were both incredibly delicious! 

I should also state that he also made coffee!!! Which means I didn't have to make breakfast --- except for the request for bacon. Yes bacon.  Easy peasy!

Here are some of the other lovely donuts that were available. C#1 and C#2 made quick work of the special cherry chocolate frosted ones, so no good picture of those.

On a cooking note. Yesterday I decided to make dessert before I got a request for it at 8:00 pm.  And I made pie.  I actually got brave enough and re-looked at my MIL's crust recipe. She makes the best pie crust. There is no compare. I have tried. Failed. Tried, again. Failed, again and gave up.  Of course, I was using my normal oil crust recipe and it just isn't the same.  Anyway, by some fluke it worked!  

It should be stated I had another motivation for making pie.  The hubby had PS cheesecake parfaits (which I didn't take a picture of -- sorry!) that were delicious. But, there was half a can of pie filling left over.  I HAD to use it!  

I searched the upstairs freezer for frozen berries and found about a half cup of mixed wild and then I found a small-ish unopened bag of frozen raspberries in the downstairs freezer.

I made the crust and then mixed the pie filling, 1/2 cup of frozen berries, the entire frozen bag of raspberries with 1 cup sugar and 1/4 to 1/2 cup flour. I went a little heavy on the flour since the frozen fruit were a teense bit     icicle-y.  I stirred it up and it looked like pink/purple slop.  I might have gone a little overboard with the stirring, but, whatever. It all tastes the same.

I plunked the fruit stuff into the crust and was actually successful in getting a top crust onto the pie without too many mishaps.  I should state I halved the pie crust recipe, but, it's for three, double crusted pies. But, I always need extra. It's just a rule.

I kept my eye on the pie and it all worked. YIPPEE!! I have this super fantastic pie crust shield thing I bought recently and it works wonders, too!!

I got an immediate compliment on my pie, since, everyone knew I had used a different crust recipe and it was amazing.  Of course, you can use whatever crust recipe you want to make this.  I have done the oil crust for this wild berry concoction before.  It definitely is a good use of leftover pie filling and any extraneous frozen berries.

That's it for today. Till next time....

Oh Nooooooo! It's Snowing!!!!!!

And yes, I am being sarcastic.  Apparently there is some big @ss storm barreling down on everyone and we're all supposed to be skeered!! It's just snow people and it IS winter.  Yeah, I know it's gonna be bad for people in some areas, but, seriously.   It's really not that big a deal (at least in my neck of the woods.)

I am convinced they want everyone to be frantic about everything.  Not sure why. But, I have my suspicions.

And that's it for today. I promise to have something more substantial to blog about next time. Maybe.

Till next time....

So Long My Heating Friend...

I finally decided that we should maybe, probably, most definitely retire our microwave.  It was this suspicious  black spot on the back of the microwave.

Upon better inspection, aka poking my finger back there, I discovered a hole. The microwave was still working fine. Heating like it was supposed to. Cooking like it was supposed to. Being all micro-wavey like it was supposed to.  But, I was making me nervous. I took many, mannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnny steps away from the micro when it was functioning.

Of course, it looked like this underneath the glass plate thing.  Not too healthy.  We've had this thing for 16+ years, so it had a long, longgggggggggg life.

So, the last time I used it I mentioned to the hubby that we should probably replace it and thennnnnnnnn I smelled something electrical burning.  I unplugged that sucker and we were on our way (the next day) to get a new one.

We went E-VER-Y-WHERE!  I wanted a big enough one and it had to be black. Just because.  We finally found this lovely gem at Lowe's.

Come to find out it was wayyyyyyyyyy bigger than our previous model and sticks out a little bit. But, it's all nice with no rust holes and no rust circles and it works and, and, andddddddddddd...  You get  my drift.

And then totally off topic, when I was done photographing my microwaves I happened upon our dumb cat sleeping on the coffee table.  And I got right in his face and took his picture. I don't think he was amused.

Till next time...