White Chocolate Deliciousness

I spent the night baking!  Finally!  I haven’t been in the mood to bake for so long and I definitely missed it.  I am so glad and my heart is happy that this part of me can be expressed with joy instead of sadness/heartache at remembering times of baking with others.  I love baking, baking with people and giving food to others. I made some brownies for those who watched Titanic and then I made banana bread with white chocolate and brown sugar from the States (woot! the brown sugar here is different…and you can’t get white chocolate in “chip” form here).  I included the recipe for the banana bread below since I think it’s the best and super delicious especially with white chocolate chips.  Enjoy!  Any recipes that you recommend?

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Banana Bread

5 T butter

½ cup sugar

½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 large egg, 2 egg whites or egg replacer works fabulously!

1 t. whites

1 t. vanilla

1 ½ cup mashed bananas

1 ¾ cup flour

1 t. soda

½ t. salt

¼ t. baking powder

½ cup heavy cream or soy milk

NOTE: These are REALLY good with white chocolate and many people like them with chocolate too, but I like white chocolate.  Estimate how much you want in there.

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Spray the bottom of the loaf pans (2 reg. or 4 small).
2. Beat butter in a large bowl on medium speed until light and fluffy.  Add sugar and brown sugar.  Beat well.  Add egg, egg whites, and vanilla.  Beat until well blended.  Add mashed bananas.  Beat on high 30 sec.
3. Combine flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder.  Add this flour mixture to butter mixture alternately w/cream.  End with flour mixture.
4. Pour the batter evenly into the loaf pan.  Bake until brown, toothpick inserted in center will come out clean.  Baking times: Larger Loaf pan—1 hour 15 minutes.  Smaller Loaf pan—45 minutes.  (I don’t know if I buy these times…each oven is different and I usually find it needs more time.  Just stick a knife in it and when it comes out clean then it’s ready!!).
5. Cool on wire rack in pan.  Remove from pan after 10 minutes.  Cool completely on wire rack.  (Nah, go ahead and eat some after the first 10 minutes…YUM!)

Cooking versus Baking

I have yet to get really into cooking.  I love to bake.  I love feeding people.  I love how making something and eating something yummy makes people happy when life is hard.  Although, I don’t measure things.  I throw a bit of this and a bit of that and estimate on pretty much everything.  Soooooo, wouldn’t you think I’d like to cook more since baking requires more precision??  Beats me.  Maybe I need to start making big meals for lots of people instead of making them dessert.  

p.s. I made white chocolate molten cake and chocolate molten cake with the roomie tonight.  Yeah, we’re pretty neat.  Plus, we’re master “fix-it” people hence why the toilet and garage are now in working order!

Peanut Butter Makes Everything Better

If you’ve been reading for a while, you’ll have noticed that I love baking especially for other people or for events.  Due to this love, I’ve discovered the world of food blogs.  So exciting.  The only problem is that I tend to veer toward the desserts and be less ecstatic about the real meals.  The real meal recipes are those that I really need!  Since I usually go to a coffee shop on Mondays before going to my ceramics class, I’ve decided to start a little series of recipe posts on Mondays.  I’ll feature a recipe and the source and any thoughts.  Maybe in the future I’ll plan ahead and take pictures of the recipes I try!  These posts might seep into the other days too, but for sure on Mondays!

Here’s today’s recipe:

Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich

Recipe

2 tbsp. peanut butter (preferably smooth)
2 slices sandwich bread
1 small ripe banana, mashed with a fork (about 1/4 cup)
2 tbsp. butter

1. Spread peanut butter evenly on 1 slice of bread, then spread mashed banana on other slice, leaving a 1/4-inch border around edge. Close sandwich, gently pressing bread slices together.

2. Heat butter in an 8- to 10-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat until foam subsides, then fry sandwich, turning over once, until golden brown, about 2 minutes total.

3. Eat immediately with a knife and fork

–I don’t think you’d have to put the sandwich in a skillet.  You could probably toast the bread just as easily 🙂  I’m excited to try this soon because I love bananas and peanut and I love them together and well I’m a bread junkie too!

Wizard + Community + Desserts = FUN and FELLOWSHIP

Fellowship night! Antioch Community Church came together last night for some food, games, conversation and fun. I spent the afternoon making fruit pizza and oreo truffles–delicious! I love making food for other people especially desserts. The only bad thing about making food right before going somewhere consists of my inability to refrain from eating while baking so that by the time I’m done I’m full. Such is life!

I really enjoyed watching the two community groups come together and get to know each other more. We also had some new people check us out, which is always exciting. I’m pumped to see this church grow and where my role will be!

The night also was amazing simply because some of us ended up playing cards. I love card games. Spades, Rook, Hand and Food, War, Solitaire, Poker, pretty much anything. We played Wizard last night. Liz, my friend who is in Australia right now!, and her family play Wizard a lot so I’m glad that I finally got to play after hearing about it so much. Plus, I won and always got my bid (that’s impressive in case you didn’t know! haha). Not that I’m bragging or anything 😉

All in all, a great night and I had some really fun conversations (including one about seminary! and another about Mark Driscoll’s sermon series Religion Saves and 9 other Misconceptions and a little about Rob Bell). I’m definitely excited for next month’s fellowship time!

COLD

I absolutely HATE being cold.  I’m cold often unfortunately.

10 Signs Your House is Cold/You’re too Poor to Afford Heat

1. You leave the house to go to a coffee shop because you’re too cold.

2. You take hot showers to get warm (i.e. after work 🙂 )

3. You wear two pairs of pants.

4. You sleep with two down comforters in addition to the other 3-4 blankets on your bed along with flannel sheets.

5. You leave your coat on when you get home

6. You hate getting out of the shower because you’re going to freeze.

7. You leave the oven open after you’ve baked something

8. You bake something just to make the house warmer!

9. You constantly drink hot things like hot chocolate or tea in attempt to warm up.

10. You hardly ever get to wear shorts and halter tops even though they’re you’re favorite thing to wear.