It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time

It's probably one of the most basic and well known combinations.  Sure there are other incredible foods to pair with peanut butter, but you have to love a classic.  I mean, who didn't have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in their lunch bag every couple of days.  Weird fact about me...I loved when sandwich got squished.  I thought it tasted better after being stuffed into my backpack and shoved into my locker.

Every family had their peanut butter preference.  My family was a JIF family.  We always had crunchy (for my dad) and creamy (for my sister and I).  For jelly, it was hands down Smuckers grape.  Now, I would never think to choose grape but for some reason I would only eat my PBJ sandwiches with grape jelly.

It was time to re-create this classic combination.  Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins.  Originally, I thought these would turn out to be a great snack....wrong!  These muffins turned to be huge, dense (in a very good way), and filling.  They are definitely meant for breakfast and not just a post work nibble.  The peanut butter flavor stood out without being too overpowering.  Warning...you will be tempted to eat these straight out of the oven.  The warm peanut butter and gooey jelly will be calling you name.  Resist the temptation!  You will burn your tongue and make a huge sticky mess all over your kitchen counter.  I promise that they are just good when they have warmed a couple hours later.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tbl baking powder
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup crunchy peanut butter
3/4 cup skim milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 jar jelly or preserves

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 400.  Spray or line muffin tin.
2. In large mixing bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
3. Add peanut butter.  Mix until it resembles coarse crumbs.
4. Add milk, oil, and eggs.  Stir.
5. Spoon muffin cups half full with batter.  Top each with 1 tbl of jelly.  Distribute remaining batter over the jelly.
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Zucchini Boat of Yum

As always, I went to the farmer's market after my Saturday run.  I stopped at a vendor that had beautiful, vibrantly colored vegetables.  I knew that I couldn't pass up this stand without buying something.  Lucky for me, this vendor had huge, bright green zucchinis for only 50 cents each.  let me just clarify, that when I say huge...I mean HUGE!  It was bigger than the size of my foot and about the size of my forearm.  I would say that 50 cents for the absurdly large zucchini was a steal!

Ok...mine wasn't THAT big.  But it was still pretty big.

I had seen a couple different recipes for zucchini boats and decided to give it a try.  There are many different recipes for zucchini boats, but it essentially has 4 steps: cut the zucchini in half, hollow it out, stuff in with your ingredients, and bake.  Even with the large zucchini that I bought, not a lot of filling was needed (or really fit) into the zucchini.  Actually, I was a little over ambitious with my filling and had some leftover and ate it on the side.

My recipe is using rough estimates because I did not truly measure everything.  It is not a recipe that you will mess up by adding too much of one thing or not enough of another.  It's all about you taste and how you like it!

Zucchini Boat (2 servings per zucchini)
Ingredients:
1 large zucchini
6 bella mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup yellow onion, diced
basil and garlic salt seasonings
handful of cherry tomatoes (about 8)
3 tbl tomato sauce
1/4 cup mozzarella cheese

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Cut zucchini in half the long way.

3. Scoop insides out of zucchini.  Some people save the insides to use in their mix. I thought it was zucchini overload, so I tossed them out.  Place zucchini on baking sheet lined with foil.

4. Saute mushrooms and onions with spices for 5 minutes.  Place into bowl.
5. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, and cheese to bowl.  Mix.
6. Put mixture into zucchini.

7. Bake for 20-30 minutes.

Yummy, cheesy perfection!  I will admit that as good as it was,  I thought that it would be more filling than it turned out to be.  I didn't make anything else to go with it, so I finished my dinner off with some popcorn.  I definitely recommend making something to go with your zucchini.

There are so many different types of zucchini boats. Here are some other great websites that have different flavors/types of zucchini boats incase you want to try something else:

http://www.recipegirl.com/2012/02/13/stuffed-zucchini-boats/

http://www.adashofsass.com/2010/06/22/italian-and-southwestern-zucchini-boats/

http://inthelittleredhouse.blogspot.com/2012/07/how-to-eat-zucchini.html

Continued Love for Peanut Butter

Last night, I played beach volleyball with a group of friends.  It's a fun way to break up the week and get together with friends.  Plus, the weather was great last night so it was fun to be outside by the lake.  We've won a couple of games, but last night was not our night.  You win some, you lose some!

My friend Lindsey recently moved into a new apartment and did a Target run.  Living in the city without a car, Target is a little difficult to get to.  So, I asked her a HUGE favor.  I have fallen in love with a new cereal that I have only found at Target (I think people are hoarding boxes of it at the grocery store by me).   This cereal combines one of my favorite cereals, Cheerios, and my favorite flavor, peanut butter.  That's right...Peanut Butter Cheerios!  I recommend that everyone try them.  An enormous thank you to Lindsey and her mom Cindy for picking them up for me!

It was either a post volleyball or post shower picture. I opted for the cleanliness of post shower picture.

This week, I tried making a new and different dinner.  I love Indian food and have eaten it out several times.  I don't usually think to make it at home for 2 main reasons:

1. Indian food uses a lot of spices that I don't tend to have on hand.

2. It is known to smell.  Living in a small studio apartment, I don't have the luxury of containing smelly dishes (even if those dishes are tasty too).

The other day, I saw a pre-made Indian sauce at Whole Foods.  Having a pre-made sauce took away reason 1 for not cooking Indian food at home.  I decided to take a chance with reason number 2.

Maya Kaimal makes several different types of sauces.  I chose the vindaloo sauce, which is a coconut and chili flavored sauce. I had tried a vindaloo sauce at my favorite Indian restaurant in Chicago and liked it.  Also, it said that it was spicy and I tend to opt for spicier flavors.

I decided to go vegetarian and roasted a zucchini, mushrooms, onion, and a mixed bag of cauliflower and broccoli.  I set the oven to 420, coated the vegetables in olive oil, and put them in the oven for 20 minutes.  

Toward the end of the 20 minutes I started to simmer the sauce.  I then added the vegetables to the sauce and continued to simmer together for 5 minutes.

This recipe can easily be made using a pound of meat and/or chick peas and whatever vegetables you enjoy.  Be sure to buy naan to make your Indian meal complete!

It might not look pretty, but it was delicious!  And not to mention...smell free (an added perk)!

A Different Type of Cupcake

I have been using pinterest to keep track of my recipes recently, so my cookbooks and recipe binder have become somewhat neglected.  I decided to revisit my cookbooks and recipes the other day and found a recipe for mini meatloaf muffins that my mom had given me a while ago.  My mom often send me recipes she sees or has tried and think I will enjoy.  I decided it was time to finally give it a try!

These "muffins" use ground turkey breast and lots of chopped up veggies.  According to the recipe, each muffin has about 142 calories and the recipe makes 9 muffins total.  Obviously, I halved the recipe because I did not need 9 muffins for myself.  Turns out, even with halving the recipe I made 6 decent sized muffins.  The recipe also called for using ketchup, but I was craving BBQ sauce so I used that instead.

They tasted delicious and were super easy to make! The muffins were extremely moist and perfectly cooked.  When I took them out of the muffin pan, I was surprised at how well they stayed together.  Making meatloaf muffins made me feel like I was taking something retro and making it cool and up to date (yea...I just admitted that).  And with the 4th of July coming up, meatloaf screams America!

I'm going to give you the recipe with the changes that I made to it.  Just remember, you can use ketchup or BBQ sauce and you can easily double the recipe if cooking for a crowd.

Mini Meatloaf Muffins
Ingredients:
1/4 cup diced onion
1.5 cup bagged broccoli slaw (chopped)
2/3 pound ground turkey breast
1/4 cup quick cooking oats
2 egg whites (or 1/4 cup liquid egg)
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbl BBQ sauce

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix together all of the ingredients.
3. Line or spray muffin pan.  Distribute mixture into muffin tins. (I used 6 muffins but depending on the size you could use more or less). 
4. This step is OPTIONAL.  Spread the top of each muffin with 1 tsp of BBQ (I'm a dipper so I skipped this step and reserved extra BBQ sauce for dipping).
5. Bake for 30-35 minutes.  Muffins will become firm and lightly brown on the edges.

I had 2 muffins and roasted a veggie mix from Trader Joes (asparagus, mushrooms, and red onion) for a complete, filling meal.

A Lucky Morning and Gorgeous Day

Today started off great!  I got a ride to work today and parked right next to the best spot ever.  Too bad someone else got there first.

For those who don't know, 919 was the address for the house I lived in my senior year of college.  Oh the memories!  It was a long day of meetings at work, but at least the morning started off with a happy walk down memory lane.

I brought the peach bars to work today and they were a hit!  One of my co-workers said it was "like heaven" and he went back for a 3rd and 4th helping.  I would definitely, call that a successful recipe!

Since I was working at my downtown office today, I took full advantage of the beautiful weather and walked home from work.  Today it was only 80 degrees and the perfect weather for my 1.5 mile walk.  Walking home was a great way to unwind from my long day of sitting in meetings.

Once I got home, I started prepping my dinner.  Tonight, I was making Yucatan Shrimp Cocktail Salad.

The recipe was full of awesome, crisp veggies (exactly what I was craving)!  The veggies included (going clockwise) tomatoes, cucumber, scallions, celery, and poblano pepper.

As usual, I didn't completely follow the recipe.  The recipe can be found here.  The changes I made:

1. I halved the dressing and amount of shrimp, so that there were 2 servings instead of 4.  Perfect for leftovers tomorrow!

2. I didn't measure the amount of vegetables.  When it comes to vegetables, I don't think you can have too many.  I put in as many as I wanted (definitely lots of tomatoes because they are my favorite) so that it was a complete and filling meal.

3. I used a poblano chili instead of a Anaheim chili.  I only did this because they did not have an Anaheim chili at my store and the man said it was a good substitute.

It was the perfect light, refreshing, summery meal!  Lucky for me, I enjoyed it sitting on my balcony.  A great end to a good day!

Millions of peaches, peaches for me

This weekend rounded out my first week of half marathon training.  On Saturday, I did a 5 mile run along the lakefront.  I woke up early so that I got done with my run before the heat started.  To be honest, I don't really mind waking up early on Saturday because I'm actually up early anyway.  For some reason, I just don't sleep in anymore (far from my college days where the name on my mailbox was "Sleeping Fink").

The weather was gorgeous, barely a cloud in the sky, and so many other people were out running and biking along the trail.  I guess that I was a little too excited about my run because my first mile was over a minute faster than my typical pace.  Thank goodness for the Run Keeper App (see summary in this post incase you missed it before) or else I would have never been able to finish at that pace!  I ended up finishing the run at my goal pace.  Let's hope I keep it up for the rest of training!

As usual, I ended my run at the farmer's market.  There is so much more fruit and vegetables compared to the first week it opened!  I obviously got myself apples and flowers, but two other things caught my eye.  Cherries and peaches!  I was so excited to see they were now in season.  I probably ate half my bag of cherries on my walk home (not sure if this is a benefit or downside of stopping at the farmers market post run).

I had a special recipe in mind for the peaches...brown butter peach crumble bars.  I found the recipe for these bars at How Sweet Eats.  This blog always has incredible recipes and I especially love her desserts.  She always has unique, fun ideas that I would not have thought of.  Not to mention all her her recipes are indulgent and everyone I have attempted to make is absolutely delicious!

The bars did not fail to disappoint!  They were basically like eating a peach cobbler in a bar form (and you can never go wrong with peach cobbler).  The peaches made the bars perfectly juicy.  When you make these, and I say when not if because you would be an idiot not to make them, aim to cook them so that the edges are slightly browned and crispy.  The middle will still be soft, gooey, and amazing!

Just look at that peachy goodness!  Unfortunately, Ricky was not working this weekend to give his seal of approval.  However, I can confirm that these are incredible and you MUST make them ASAP!

Summery Salad

I got this in the mail:

It's my new Starbucks gold card with my name on it and everything!  It's amazing and sad at the same time.  Amazing because now I can get lots of Starbucks perks.  Sad because I didn't realize how often I was actually going to Starbucks.  Oh well...no point in stopping now that I'm being rewarded for going!

Yesterday was the official first day of summer and I am definitely feeling it!  It is hot! I seriously do not remember it being this hot last summer.  No one wants to be standing over the stove and turning the oven on during those hot days.  When the summer heat starts, I crave fresh and light dinners.  I love having salads and try to mix up what I put in it to add more variety to what can otherwise be a boring dinner.

This salad combines fresh fruit and vegetables to make a delicious and refreshing salad.  The salad includes blueberries, corn, cucumber, red onion, jalapeno, and cilantro.  I found the recipe here.

When I first saw this recipe, I noticed that it made 6 serving.  I was hesitant to make it because that's a lot of food when living on your own!  When cooking for 1, leftovers are always an issue.  Who wants to eat the same meal every night for a week.  For me, there are five key things I do to solve this problem:
1. Halve it.  Most recipes are easy to halve.  Sometimes it's a pain when buying certain items (like canned items) but I'd rather throw out some leftover corn than eat the same thing all week.
2. Freeze leftovers.  This is especially good for soup and casserole type of dishes.
3. Variation.  Change one or two things each night while using the same recipe/ingredients.
4. Skip a night.  Just because you have leftovers from one night doesn't mean you have to eat them right away. Wait a night or two before having your leftovers so that you don't get bored of the same thing two nights in a row.
5. Bag it. Take leftovers for lunch.


For this salad, I halved the original recipe.  I then tried to do something different with the salad each night I ate it.  One thing I kept consistent is that with each variation I put the salad over lettuce and added a protein to make it a more complete and filling meal.


Variation 1: I used the dressing from the recipe and added jalapeno chicken sausage from Trader Joe's for protein.  To cook it, just cut it into pieces and cook in a skillet over medium heat.

The dressing from the recipe was really good!  I love anything with a lime flavor and the honey helped to offset the spicy flavor from the jalapeno.

Variation 2: I changed the dressing to a balsamic glaze. It added a sweetness to off set the jalapeno flavor.  For protein, I used the shrimp.


Variation 3: I actually brought it to work for lunch instead of eating it for dinner. I used the dressing from the recipe and added the jalapeno sausage for protein.

Overall, I thought the salad was great!  Sometimes, cooking for one can be difficult.  But with some variations and creative thinking the same meal and ingredients can become something different.

"This is awesome!"

After last week's muffin fail, I was on a mission to bake something awesome for this week.  And I did!

Chocolate Banana Bread with Peanut Butter Chips.  It is the perfect flavor combination.  I mean, who can resist chocolate, peanut butter, and banana?  It's like a match made in heaven!

Honestly, I chose this recipe because I had all of the ingredients at home (except for the peanut butter chips).  Usually, when I cook or bake, I try to look at the ingredients I already have and find a recipe that uses those ingredients.  Why go out buying tons of new things when you have perfectly yummy ingredients to use at home!  I had some bananas that were ripe and I hadn't eaten yet (I was over ambitious with my banana buying the other week) and had leftover cocoa powder from the nutella brownies.  The recipe was basically begging me to make it!

I found the recipe on pinterest and made it with a couple alterations.  Here is the original recipe.  The changes I made include:

1. I had 2 mini loaf pans instead of 2 regular sized loaf pans, so I halved the recipe.
2. Instead of sour cream, I used Greek yogurt.  Once again, I did this because I already had Greek yogurt in my fridge.
3. Instead of marshmallow bits, I used peanut butter chips (I did this for no reason other than I was craving peanut butter).

Here is the recipe with my alterations:


Chocolate Banana Bread with Peanut Butter Chips
Ingredients:
6 tbl softened butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/4 cup Greek yogurt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 large ripe bananas (the riper the sweeter/better)
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
peanut butter chips (I don't measure this. Just put in as many as you like.)

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350. Spray mini loaf tins with Pam.
2. Cream sugar and butter in medium bowl.  Mix in egg, Greek yogurt, and vanilla.
3. Mash bananas and add to mixture.
4. Stir in flour, cocoa powder, salt, and peanut butter chips.
5. Pour into and divide between two pans.  Bake for about 40 minutes.
6. Enjoy!

And who could forget...Rikki's verdict?

"Wow Fink! This is awesome!"

Nutella Overload

I had an extremely busy and fun filled weekend!  Friday night started off with a going away party for one of my friends who is moving to Cleveland for the year.  A bunch of girls got together for some dessert and "girl time".  What can be better?

A while ago, I found a recipe for brownie bottom nutella cheesecake squares.  This was the perfect opportunity to make them.  The bottom of the bar is a nutella brownie and the top layer is a nutella cheesecake.  Talk about nutella overload (but in a very good way)!

For the recipe, the brownies are made form scratch.  I'll admit that I rarely make brownies from scratch.  I think brownies from the box are awesome once they are doctored up with some coffee (to bring out the chocolate flavor) and chocolate chips.  However, I made the brownies from scratch and they turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself!

Ricky's verdict: "absolutely delicious".  He even asked for me to bring him any leftovers after the party!

For the recipe click here.

Another fun part of my weekend was going to the farmers market on Saturday morning.  I bought a special produce that I have never bought before.  It's a surprise recipe that I'll share later this week.  I'm going to try out a new recipe with it so be on the look-out!

Portabella Dinner

I usually go to the grocery store with an idea of what I'm cooking that week and a list of groceries.  This past weekend, I went with no plan.  I had no idea what to make and was not getting any good ideas looking around.  I had fallen into a dinner rut and needed some new ideas.  Dad to the rescue!  I called my dad and he suggested grilling portabella mushrooms.

I used Italian spices and added veggies, cheese, and tomato sauce.  To make the portabella, you can use a grill (outside of George Forman) or bake it.  I used the George Forman, but if you choose to make it put your oven at 420 and bake for about 15 minutes.

Grilled Portabella with Veggies (1 serving)
Ingredients:
1/2 bag spinach
sweet onion
cooking spray
spices of choice (I used garlic salt, basil, and red pepper flakes)
handful cherry tomatoes cut in half
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1 portabella mushroom
1 wedge Laughing Cow Garlic and Herb
grated parmesan (if you want more cheese)

Instructions:
1. Heat skillet over medium heat and spray with cooking spray.  Plug in and spray George Foreman.
2. Add onions to pan.  Season as desired.  Remove from pan once softened (about 5 minutes) and put on plate.
3. Re-spray pan and add spinach. Once spinach is wilted (about 3 minutes), add to onions.
4. Add halved tomatoes to spinach and onions. Top with half of the tomato sauce.
5. Season portabella. Place on George Foreman.  Cook for about 2 minutes.
6. Place portabella on top on spinach mixture.  Spread cheese on portabella and top with remaining tomato sauce.

Please notice the Vitamin Water in the top right corner on the picture.  Yup...that's me drinking something with dinner!  Making moves to meet my new goal!

Breakfast time!

For me, there are 2 requirements for my breakfast: its filling and I can eat it on the go.  I wake up early and therefore eat breakfast early.  I need something that will fill me up until lunchtime (usually a good 4 hours).  Also, since I'm already waking up early, I'm not spending tons of time preparing breakfast in the morning.  I need something fast  that I can take with me on the bus that isn't messy and is easy to eat.

In my opinion, the ideal breakfast includes some form of fruit, protein, and carb.  Here are a few of my favorite breakfasts on the go divided into 3 categories: make that morning and make ahead.

MAKE THAT MORNING
1. Waffle-which
-2 multi grain waffles
-peanut butter
-banana on the side

2. The Quick Breakfast Wrap (no cook)
-tortilla (or flat out)
-peanut butter
-sliced strawberries or apples


MAKE AHEAD
I only really have one "go to" make ahead breakfast and it's Baked Oatmeal.  It's become a regular in my breakfast routine and I have it most mornings.  I am giving you the basic recipe, but it can be changed to your favorite flavors. Try experimenting with the basic recipe to make it your own!

Baked Oatmeal (1 serving)
Ingredients:
3/4 cup oats
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 large egg white
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Above are the key/basic ingredients.  Here are 2 of my favorite flavor options:
3 tbl canned pumpkin puree
2 packets sweetener
OR
1/2 mashed banana (my new favorite flavor)

Other add ins include:
raisins, craisins, shredded coconut, chocolate chips

This is a banana flavor with raisins.

Instructions:
-Preheat oven to 375
-Spray mini loaf pan
-Mix key ingredients
-Stir in flavor options and add ins.
-Bake for 10-12 minutes.

This recipe is easy to multiply.  If you make 4 servings bake it in a 9 x 9 pan or use a muffin pan (about 3 muffins equals 1 serving. Bake for about 8 minutes).

Summer Treat

I'm back and blogging after a break from the long weekend.  I had an incredible weekend celebrating my friend from college's wedding in DC.  It was a gorgeous wedding and she was a beautiful bride.  It was an amazing weekend celebrating my friends wedding and reuniting with some college friends that I hadn't seen in way too long!

Some of my college friends and I at the wedding.

The gorgeous bride and me

Like I've said before, I love finishing off a meal with something sweet.  With lots of upcoming weddings and bathing suit season, my sweet tooth can sometimes get in the way.  One great low calorie dessert that I love it Jello.  However, plain Jello can get boring.  Growing up, my mom used to mix Jello with Cool Whip.  The Jello and Cool Whip form layers: bottom layer is all Jello, middle layer is Jello and Cool Whip mixed, and top layer is mostly Cool whip.  It's a tasty treat that is great on a warm day when you are craving something sweet.

Jello with Cool Whip

Ingredients:

your favorite Jello flavor

1 container Lite Cool Whip

Instructions:

-Make Jello according to directions.

-Whisk Cool Whip into Jello.

-Divide into 4 cups (or bowls).

-Put in fridge for 4 hours or overnight.

Quick and Delicious Dinner

For some reason, the summer weather makes me crave seafood.  I rarely cook seafood for one main reason: I live in a small studio apartment and don't want it smelling like fish all night. However, one good "no smell" fish is shrimp. Here is a great summer shrimp recipe:

Cilantro Lime Shrimp (1 serving size)

Ingredients:

1/2 pound shrimp

olive oil or oil spray

2 small garlic cloves crushed

handful of cilantro

lime

salt and pepper (to taste)

Instructions:

-Heat a pan with olive oil on medium heat.

-When hot, add shrimp and season with salt and pepper.

-When one side of shrimp has cooked, turn over and add garlic. Saute until cooked.

-Remove from heat. Squeeze lime juice and toss with cilantro.

It's a great light recipe that is perfect for a summer dinner.  I ate it with steamed vegetables, but it would also be great over pasta.

If you want to change up the recipe, substitute basil and lemon for the cilantro and lime.

Special Treat for a Special Day

Tomorrow is National Devil's Food Cake Day and more importantly my good friend from grad school's bachelorette party. In grad school, I always brought fun treats for my friends' birthdays and during finals for study snacks.  It was only natural that I make a special treat to bring to my friend's bachelorette party.  I decided to go along with the food of the day theme and use devil's food cake as part of my dessert and made Devil's Food Cake Whoopie Pies.

Cookie 
Ingredients:
1 box Duncan Hines Devil's Food Cake
2 large eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil

Instructions:
-Preheat oven to 375.
-Mix ingredients together. Roll into balls.
-Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes.
(I made 3 dozen cookies. I made smaller cookies since I will be making them into sandwiches.)

Icing:
I recently heard about this new product from Duncan Hines called Frosting Creations.

It is a plain, unflavored icing to which you add one of 12 flavor packets to.  You just mix the flavor packet into the icing and it's ready to go! Some of the flavors include chocolate almond, cinnamon roll, and bubble gum.  I used the chocolate marshmallow flavor.

Sandwich
Instructions:
-Ice bottom side of one cookie.
-Place another cookie on top
(easy enough?)

This recipe is as tasty as it is easy!  Ricky's verdict..."Awesome sweet sandwiches"

A Special Weekend

The past weekend in Houston was definitely filled with lots of celebration, family, and good times. 

For my nephew’s 1^st birthday, my sister made a delicious yellow cake with chocolate icing for Nathan’s smash cake.  It’s called a smash cake, because that’s basically what happens (if you can’t tell from the picture).  The cake was everywhere! All over his face and body, in his hair, covering the floor, and anywhere else nearby.  He had fun getting messy and enjoyed the little bit of cake that actually made it into his mouth.

The next day was Nathan’s birthday party.  Since it was a train theme, my sister and brother in law rented a train to come to a nearby park.  The party was a huge success and everyone had a great time riding the train!

Danielle, Noah, and Nathan riding the train.

And no party would be complete without cupcakes!

On Sunday, there was yet another huge celebration…Mother’s Day!  I was so happy to be able to spend Mother’s Day with my mom.  My dad and I celebrated my mom by making her a wonderful brunch.  We kicked off brunch with a bloody Mary bar complete with Vodka, bloody Mary mix, celery, olives, pickled okra, and Tabasco sauce.  My dad uses Zing Zang to make his bloody Marys.  I love this mix and it is just the right amount of spicy!

My favorite parts of the bloody Mary bar

To eat, we had breakfast tacos filled, muffins (recipe later on), and fruit.  My dad did a great job making the breakfast tacos.  They were filled with eggs, potatoes, sautéed onions, cheese, and topped off with salsa.  He even warmed the tortillas before serving them!

Cooking the eggs, potatoes, and onions

I made peanut butter banana muffins.  I originally found the recipe on Skinny Taste.  I made these muffins once before for my friends at book club (with chocolate chips added) and they were a huge hit!  Banana and peanut butter is obviously a no fail combination.  One of the best parts of these muffins in that they have an extra layer on peanut butter in the middle…pure peanut butter gooiness!

The recipe calls for a special type of peanut butter called Better n’ Peanut Butter.  It has half the calories and half the fat of regular peanut butter.  Before I tried it, I wasn’t too sure about how it would taste.  I ended up loving it and now buy it regularly along with my other staple, crunchy almond butter. It’s less creamy but stickier and sweeter than regular peanut butter.  You can use regular peanut butter in this recipe, but if you want to try Better n’ Peanut Butter you can find it at Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods.

Banana Peanut Butter Muffins (makes 12 muffins)

Ingredients:

3 ripe bananas

1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 ¼ cup flour

¾ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

2 tbl butter

1/3 cup light brown sugar

2 large egg whites

½ tsp vanilla extract

10 tbl Better n’ Peanut Butter (divided 8 and 2)

Instructions:

-Preheat oven to 325. Line muffin tin with liners.

-Mash bananas and set aside.

-In a medium bowl combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Whisk and set aside.

-In a large bowl cream the butter and sugar.  Add egg whites, bananas, applesauce, vanilla, and 8 tbl of Better n’ Peanut Butter. Mix at medium speed.

-Add flour mixture and mix.

-Pour batter into muffin tin halfway. Top each with ½ tsp Better n’ Peanut Butter. Top each with remaining batter.

-Cook 25 minutes. Cool and enjoy!