Banana Caramel Muffins

I usually stray away from making muffins. I am much more a sweet person than a fruity-nutty-semi-savory breakfast person. But I made homemade caramel (recipe coming later) a few days ago and had so much left over I had to use it for something so, under recommendation from my mom,  Banana Caramel Muffins it was.

This recipe only calls for 2 bananas but the flavor wasn't very intense, if you like a lot of banana flavor up the salt a bit and add another banana. This recipe only make 10 muffins, so I tripled it. It was awesome because when I started putting everything together I had only tripled the bananas. But don't worry! I realized my mistake and added everything else too. :)   So here we go!

Banana Caramel Muffins

2 or 3 very ripe bananas, peeled
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter (unsalted is always recommended, but salted is fine too)
1 cup of brown sugar (I always use dark)
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup milk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract (NOT imitation vanilla)
1/2 to 1 teaspoon of kosher salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons caramel

1. Preheat the oven to 375F. Line 10 muffin tins with liners, or spray with nonstick spray.
2.Put naked bananas in a large microwave safe bowl and microwave on high for about 1 minute. Add the butter and continue to microwave until butter is soft.
3. Using a potato masher, or fork, mash the bananas and butter together until most lumpiness is gone.
4. Stir in the sugar, beaten egg, milk, vanilla, and salt.

5. Add the dry ingredients, you can measure them right into the bowl and stir or sift them in for a lighter muffin.
    5a. This is where you add the caramel, if caramel chews, melt in microwave first, then stir right into the batter.
6. Fill the muffin tins almost full. Bake until they are dark brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out dry.  Total baking time is about 20-25 minutes. 15 if you are making mini-muffins which are also quite enjoyable. :)

  Mini Muffins!

7. Get them out of the pans almost right away and drizzle with caramely goodness.

8. Celebrate with your doggies!

Breaking Your Fast

The best way to start off the day is definitely breakfast!  And I really prefer starchy, super sweet, calorie-loaded and sugary food...  mmm or a stack of pancakes with a couple fried eggs on top...  Anyway, pancakes are the topic today!  Blueberry pancakes, yummm.

First things first, make sure you have a fool-proof recipe for pancake batter; the fill-ins and topics are just the afterthought.  You really need a tried and true recipe that you are comfortable with, and then making a delicious homemade pancake breakfast is only about 20 minutes away!

So Heather and I grew up on pancakes from my mom, though she cheated and used Bisquick  :)  I don't play that game!  Once I started making breakfast on the weekends for Virgil (my wonderful husband) and I, I decided to try my luck with homemade batter.  So I stumbled upon a few recipes and finally found one I love.  I will never go back to the Bisquick route... at least not for pancakes.

So here is the recipe I love, (thanks to Dakota Kelly's grandma...):

Original Recipe Yield 8 servings

 

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions

1. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg and melted butter; mix until smooth.
2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot. 

 

Okay, so the recipe says it is 8 servings... but it makes about 12 normal-sized pancakes.  And yes, normal sized is according to my mind  ;)

 

Tip One:

Keep some sort of frozen fruit in your freezer at all times!  You never know when they will come in handy!  They are great as a breakfast topping, or in batters, in smoothies, on ice cream...the list is endless!

Now, to make the pancakes super special, just one or two simple steps is all that is needed.  You like nuts?   Add nuts!  You like blueberries?  Add them!  Whipped cream?  Put it on!!  Its really that simple.  This particular morning I chose blueberries, and I just mixed it right in the batter...

Tip two: The trick to making sure your pancake is ready to flip is to watch the bubbles!  My mom taught me early on that the bubbles that form in the batter when you pour it on is how you can tell your pancake wants to turn over.  So as soon as those bubbles start popping, you know it's ready!

 Alright, flip your delicious pancakes, and admire your golden-brown beauties :)  let them cook on the other side, and then transfer them to a plate!  My final tip about cooking pancakes?  Let them stack up on your serving plate.  Make sure you cook them all and stack them high so whomever you serve will be impressed at how fast you made such a special breakfast, and they will be doubly surprised once they take a bite!

 

Heat up your skillets!

So, a food blog?  Of course a food blog!  And a good food blog at that!  This is a new endeavor for my sister and I to attempt, and one that hopefully we will succeed in.

Goals:
-Creating delicious recipes
-Recreating favorite recipes
-Documenting all of these recipes
-Trying new restaurants
-Revisiting old restaurants
-Documenting these adventures
-Giving tips for all sorts of fun and food-related stuff
-Having a gosh darn good time

Reality:
Who knows what my sister and I will end up with after getting the ball rolling on this food blog.  Hopefully, whatever comes of it, we will learn new things about food, ourselves, our friends, and any other random stuff that crosses our path.  This may be a food blog, but just as everything else, food is just a part of life, so do not be surprised to find our lives showing up in our posts!

Our inspiration:

Of course our inspiration is our mother.  She is the one, after all, who taught us our basic cooking skills and we grew up watching her virtually every night in the kitchen making something delicious for dinner.  By the way, she is a diet-ruiner.

So a little more about the two of us.
Danielle:
I am the oldest child--currently 22.  I have always really enjoyed cooking and eating.  In high school, I was referred to as the 'mother' in my group of friends, as I would have them over for breakfast on countless Saturday mornings for homemade chocolate chip pancakes (with peanut butter, yum!).  I love any type of cooking, other than baking.  That's Heather's forte.  Anything else you need to know about me will undoubtedly show itself through the blog, just give it time.  :)

Heather:
I am the middle child, most definitely the best, and I do the baking. I rarely venture into the cooking world, although last night I did make manicotti.  Really, my whole theory about baking is: If it includes chocolate, it's worth making. If not...someone else can make it. Although I do make some incredible vanilla cupcakes. I bake because it takes precision and patience. (Something my sister lacks.)

Our first, and perhaps the greatest advice we could give?  Make sure you never begin a recipe adventure without your adventure soundtrack!









Hopefully, by the time we get a few posts up, you will be able to recognize how our food blog is most definitely LEGEN(and I hope you aren't lactose intolerant because the second half of that word is)DAIRY!!!

Well, here goes nothin'!

Crazy Pasta

I call this my crazy pasta because you feel a little crazy (good) when you sit down to eat it.  This isn't a simple marinara with a spaghetti noodle.  No, this pasta is not for the faint-of-heart.

I love vegetables, and I love incorporating them into pasta.  Perhaps this 'pasta and sauce' recipe can be considered more in the meat and potatoes category, as it is a very filling and hearty dish.  Anyway, the best thing about this recipe is how flexible it is, meaning you have all the authority in the world to add or remove vegetables as you please  :)

Tip one:
Always make sure you have a great, heavy, non-stick or stainless steel pan (mine in the picture is Calphalon).

Step one:
Heat up pan, and add a couple tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.
                                    Side bar:  Should I use Rachel Ray's oh-so-smart-and-short 'EVOO'?  Maybe.  I
                                    am just going to assume that from now on if I write EVOO, you know what I am
                                    talking about, or you have at least seen one episode of 30 Minute Meals.

Step two:
Saute about 1/2 cup of chopped onion and about 3 cloves of minced garlic in your heated pan.  Let these soften up together for about 5 minutes and then add a package of sliced mushrooms.  Cook these together until the mushrooms start to darken and get soft.  All together they should have cooked for around 8 minutes on medium-high heat.

Step 1a:
While you are sauteing the delicious vegetables, have another one of those great heavy skillets heating up on another burner.  I, being the newly-wed and super-poor-college-kid that I am, have only two good skillets, and one of those is cast-iron.  I don't really care for cast iron for cooking ground meat, but you must work with what you have, so I do!

                                           Side bar: I made this recipe huge!!  I have half of the sauce in my freezer so it
                                           can be a quick and easy dinner some other night... so feel free to cut this all in
                                           half if you want just one dinner!

Now, you can fill in the meat part with whatever you have on hand.  I try to be health-conscious as much as possible (I have a wedding coming up...) so I used ground turkey.  I put in one pack (1lb) of Italian seasoned turkey and then three hot Italian turkey sausages out of the casings.  So just cook this meat right up so it is ready to add to the sauce.

Step three:
Put some water on to boil in a large pot.  When it comes to a 'rolling' boil, add a lot of salt!  Make it so the sea horses can swim in it!

Step four:
Back to the sauteed veggies...  I love olives, so add olives if you do too!  They have such a great taste, even if they are a little fatty, I just feel that they add so much flavor and color to the recipes.  Anyway, add them at this point if you prefer, otherwise, its tomato time!

Now, if you are feeling ambitious, get some cans of diced, crushed and whole tomatoes.  I would put about 4 or 5 14oz cans in at this point.  Then, season them up.  Salt, pepper, thyme, parsley, sage and rosemary to taste.  I like a lot, and I never measure  :)

Otherwise, just use canned sauces.  I used a variety of both when I made it, using two cans of pasta sauce and then a large can of diced tomatoes.  I also still seasoned to my tastebuds  :)

Step 4a:
If you love spinach (which I do, especially with tomato sauces), add frozen spinach here!  Make sure you thaw it and drain it through a kitchen towel thoroughly, otherwise you will have watery sauce!

Step five:
Add your pasta to your boiling sea horse water and cook as directed.  Al dente is best!

Step six:

Add your cooked meat to your sauce and let it simmer.  The longer it simmers, the better, but it is ready as soon as it is hot and your pasta is done!!

P.S.
The model is my friend Kylea  :)  She loved Crazy Pasta!!