No Monkey Business....well maybe a little

Hello Sweets,

I know I've been MIA again, but this crazy weather has been wreaking havoc on my head and body :(   I don't mean like ouch I've got a headache, more like someone has put my head in a vice and keeps screwing it tighter and tighter, which makes me one sad little girl.  But the blog must go on right?  Which is why I've decided to start teasing your sweet tooth tonight with the first of many cookie recipes.

As you may or may not know my little sister is getting married (actually it's tomorrow), and I offered to make cookies for the reception.  In all honesty I'm regretting doing that, I know that doesn't sound very sisterly but I always overreach with my capabilities and this has been very painful for me.  Standing in the kitchen to make one batch of cookies wouldn't be so bad, but I've had to triple each batch and shape them into their initials four different times.  I've probably spent upwards of twelve hours in the kitchen and my body has screamed loud each and every time, but before anyone questions I did break it up over five days, unfortunately that didn't seem to help much at all :(

I figured I would start with my favorite persons cookie, that being my little cutie of a nephew :)

 An old pic but his cuteness hasn't faded!

So when I had to decide what type of cookie the "m" would be I knew it was pretty obvious, my little monkey loves banana bread so why not a cookie?  That meant I'd have to research to see what I could find, I've made banana bread and muffins but never a cookie.  In the midst of my searching I took a break to relax by checking my Facebook, earlier that week I had started following a page of recipes and what was on my news feed?  Banana bites!!  If you have Facebook check out the page "recipes" it's a closed group but they will add you shortly, they are full of yummy recipes and people are constantly sharing new ones :)

Banana Bites

Ingredients

1C white sugar

1/2C butter, softened

2 eggs

1 1/2 ripe banana, mashed

1Tsp vanilla

2C all-purpose flour

1Tsp baking soda

1/4Tsp salt

1/2Tsp cinnamon (my addition)

Directions:
1)  Preheat oven to 350F.  Coat baking sheets with cooking spray, I like to use coconut oil personally :)  In a large bowl, cream together sugar and butter until light and fluffy.

2)  Add eggs and beat thoroughly.  Beat in mashed bananas and vanilla until well combined.

3)  Gradually blend in flour, baking soda, and salt.  Mix until just combined.

4)  Drop mixture by teaspoonfuls onto the baking sheet (I made mine into letters), baking for 12-15 minutes.  Remove to wire racks to cool.

 

I didn't like the way they looked all blob like, so I cut them once cooled with the cookie cutter again :)

Well there you have it lovely readers, cookie number one complete and not a moment too soon because my shoulder and low back are starting to bug me :/  I probably won't be posting tomorrow obviously because of the wedding, hopefully I'll be back Sunday with another cookie recipe and maybe even a few wedding pictures.  Until next time...................

Stay sweet,



Jennifer xoxoxo

Not Your Average Sheppard

Hello Sweets,

Are y'all having a wonderful weekend?  Mine is pretty quiet and that's only because I'm dealing with a lot of pain, surprise surprise :(  But none the less I am alive and smiling (most of the time), so I really can't complain right?  I know it's been forEVER since I have written a post and for that I apologize, but I have still been creating in the kitchen so I think once this post is done it will really get the ball rolling again!  So I know I gave you guys fair warning of cookie overload due to my little sisters upcoming wedding, but I thought today I'd step away from the sweets (only for a moment though lol) and get back to where my love of cooking really came to head :)

Like most little girls, my kitchen adventures started by helping mom and grandma with baking. One of my favorite things to help with when I was little was, and yes it is silly, sifting flour.  I don't know what it was but I loved the noise the sifter made with each click of the handle and I ALWAYS had to do it lol.  But it wasn't until I was about twelve years old that I cooked a meal for my family all on my own, yup no help at all :)  First I'd like to give you a little background on my family so you can understand why this was my first dish that I made :)  My grandmother in English, her grandparents immigrated here after world war one so we had typical dishes such as fish and chips, now don't get me wrong I love my grandma but she doesn't use a whole lot of spices lol I don't know if that's part of her upbringing or what but my grandfather hates that.  My grandfather is Maltese (Italy kicked Sicily and pushed Malta, seriously that's what it looks like lol), he immigrated here when he was nineteen years old, he comes from a lot of pasta dishes....obvious huh.  So naturally my mother stuck more to the English side of the cooking, but thank the Lord she used spices lol she's the one the taught me no measurements just the nose ;)  So I made a dish that she had made my entire life, Sheppard pie :), except for one little thing that I don't think she even realized.  Sheppard's look after sheep/lambs so naturally the meat in the dish is corresponding with the association, well not quite at our house because we used beef.  No big deal right?  Well funny thing happened today, it's no secret I'm a huge fan of Gordon Ramsey so I watch a lot of Kitchen Nightmares and Hell's Kitchen, and by a lot I mean all lol.  So while relaxing early I decided to watch some reruns and what happens?  He orders Sheppard's pie from this restaurant and it's made with beef, he looks at the waitress with one of his priceless looks and says "it's not Sheppard's pie, it's a cottage pie when it has beef in it".  Well you know the saying 'you learn something new every day', well I just learned something new and I'm glad I did because I wouldn't want to misinform my lovely readers :)  And I was surprised when they served it with gravy  and thought to myself jeez I think my mom invented a whole different dish, but then he pointed out it shouldn't have it lol.  Any-who here is my "updated" version of Sheppard's, I mean Cottage Pie, and I say updated because I've added some new things :)

Cottage Pie

Ingredients

1lb extra lean ground beef

2 large russet potatoes, cubed

1/2 onion, diced

1 can of corn, drained

2Tbs butter

couple dashes of milk

1/2Tbs garlic powder

1Tsp cayenne powder

1/2Tsp black pepper

pinch of salt

Directions:

1)  Wash the potatoes and cut into smaller cubes to boil, I left the skins on but you can peel them if preferred.  Place in a pot of water and boil until they become soft, or until a fork pierces them easily. 

 

2)  While the potatoes are boiling, place the onions into a frying pan and sweat them off (soften).  Add the ground beef cooking thoroughly with a little of each of the spices added and then drain the excess grease from the pan.  Place the meat and onions in the bottom of a casserole dish.

 

3)  Next you want to mash your potatoes; drain the water from the pot and add the salt, some pepper, garlic, and a pinch of  cayenne.  Add the butter and milk and mash away!

 

4)  Place the corn in a layer over the beef, and then finally the mashed potatoes.  Finish it off in the oven at 400F until the potatoes have slight color and crispiness to them.

 

There you have it, the very first meal I ever made on my own when I was young :)  I know some people like to add gravy to theirs, but if you season everything correctly you won't need it ;)  

Just so y'all are aware the cookie overload commences again tomorrow, so be prepared to see something sweet, besides me that is lol just kidding.  Until next time................

Stay sweet,

Jennifer xoxoxoxo

Now Socially Acceptable!

Hello Sweets,

Spring is finally here!!!!!!!! Yes us Canadians have to wait longer than the rest of you to enjoy the nicer weather, but it has been fabulous and warm out so I couldn't be happier :)  Well actually I can, but until Nathan and I are reunited I will have to settle for sunshine only.  I took a walk the other night (no more treadmill for this girl) and I caught myself smiling because the weather was perfect and the smell of fresh cut grass assures me it's here to stay *happy dance*.

We've actually been fortunate enough to has some amazing summer like weather, weather just like Texas, which makes me miss my love but the warmer the weather the happier I get :D  Oddly enough our weather in good old Canadia has been warmer then Texas O_o but hey I'll take it!  So since it's been so warm I decided to make some more...............Canucksicles!!!!!!!  Yes that's right I made more but in a new flavor, which means a short but sweet post for a sleepy Sunday :)  But don't worry I've got some wonderfully delicious treats for you this week, I actually had a day where I was feeling especially creative and made a few different treats (this is where the cancuksicles were revamped), and I even spiced up one of my favorite dinner meals which is also the first full meal I had ever made at the rip old age of 12!  So as you can see my love of food started young and just kept growing into the passion I have today, let's get to the sweet stuff shall we?

Canucksicles #2

Ingredients

1 1/4C strawberries, quartered

1 banana, sliced

1/2C orange juice

1/3C yogurt (orange juice)

Directions:

1)  Chop up all your fruit into small manageable pieces for your bullet or blender.

2)  Place into the blender with the orange juice, blend just slightly before adding the yogurt.

3)  Add the yogurt and blend until completely liquefied, pour into your popsicle molds and put into the freezer to set.

 

So as you can see you can make popsicles with what ever you choose, I am actually toying with a green popsicle lol yup but I can't tell you what my secret ingredients are until it's complete :)  Be inventive and creative and most importantly don't be afraid to try something new and unusual.

So I know it's a short post today but it's Sunday and I have a day full of family, friends, and laughter so I think you guys will be okay with a short one :)  I hope everyone enjoys their Sunday whether you're relaxing with your feet up, or outside getting active with your loved ones!  Until next time..........................

Stay sweet,

Jennifer xoxoxo

Little Bites of Love for My Monkey

Hello Sweets,

Ugh I've been having one of those weeks that makes it tough for me to get anything done, including my passion of creating in the kitchen, but let's take a detour for just a moment shall we? One good thing that happened to me this week was I got a new bed! Lol I know it seems like a mundane thing to be excited about, but with my health (and everyone else for that matter) a good night sleep makes a world of a difference. I went from having an old small , no make that tiny bed (not by my choice GRRRR), and now I have a over sized double bed with an extra mattress topper to make it that more comfortable! The funny part of this whole story is that as a child my mother always read and referred to me as "the princess and the pea", and now I have a bed that I may need to buy a step stool since its so much higher lol. You make think I'm over reacting but I'm 5'8" and when I sit on the side of the bed my feet don't even touch the ground lol, true story :)

Okay enough of my comfy new bed lets get to the tasty and fun stuff, as I mentioned in my last few posts I have been given the honor to create signature cookies for my sisters wedding. Now Nathan will confirm I am a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to my baking, and you could imagine the pressure I'm putting on myself for this. I'm not sure if I explained what my vision is for the cookies with all of y'all so I'll do so now ;) My sister wanted them done with their initials, so I took it even further and this is my game plan by making the cookies their favorite types;
The letter A (for Asha my sister) - chocolate chip cookies
The letter J (for Josè my brother in-law) - peanut butter cookies
The letter M (for Miguel my cutie nephew) - banana cookies
The letter Z (for their last name) - I'm doing a combination of all three to signify them coming together in marriage.

I know I'm going a little crazy but it's my little sisters wedding so I wanted to do something nice for them :) The one cookie I was slightly worried about was Miguel's cookie, as I have never had or seen a banana cookie, but divine intervention worked its magic and on my news feed on Facebook (I think :/) was a recipe for cookies known as banana bites ! Now I know one of my nephews favorite snacks are bear paws which are basically soft banana cookie breads, so I figured I would make some tweaks to the recipe and hopefully it would be kid and bride approved :) I'll share with you my take on the recipe, and show you how difficult it was to make the dough cooperate in to the letter "M".

Banana Bites

Ingredients

1C sugar

1/2C butter

2 eggs

1 1/2C bananas, mashed (I used 3)

1Tsp vanilla

2C all-purpose flour

1Tsp baking soda

1/4Tsp salt

1 1/2Tsp cinnamon

Directions:
1)  Preheat oven to 350F.  Coat cookie sheets with cooking spray (I used coconut oil).  In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

2)  Add eggs and beat thoroughly.  Beat in mashed bananas and vanilla until well combined.

3)  Gradually blend in flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.  Mixing until just combined.

4)  Drop mixture by teaspoonfuls on to baking sheet.  I used my "m" cookie cutter and spooned the batter into it.

5)  Bake for 10-15 minutes (mine were closer to 10), or until lightly golden.  Remove to wire racks to cool.

As you can see my "m"'s actually look like crazy blobs of cookie, and of course I was panicking, so I threw the remainder of the batter in the fridge to see if that would help them hold more.  It didn't :( so I decided to sleep on it and think about how I was going to remedy the problem.  The next day I decided to go over them blobs with the cookie cutter again and it cleaned them up perfectly :D

 

aren't they perdy lol 

All that was left to do was the taste test.  Tereza my roommate tried them the night I made them and she said they were good and different.  Normally when someone hears different you think it's not that good, but I knew exactly what she was talking about.  If banana bread and cookies had a baby this would be it lol!  Next I texted my sister to come and try them to see if she liked the taste and look, and of course she brought the real judge along too Miguel :)  She liked the look and she even liked the taste (success!), and when we went to see if Miguel liked them too we saw that he had gobbled the cookie up.  I think it's safe to say that this will be the recipe to represent my cutie nephew, so that's one down only three more to go!

I am very happy that this turned out exactly like I had envisioned it :) now to create the others and make sure they are just as spectacular as these were.  So I am in full on research and creating mode, how much am I into this you ask?  So much that I am in full on study mode with my chic geek glasses lol.  Until next time.................

hehe cutest nerd around ;)

Stay sweet,

Jennifer xoxoxo