Friday, March 13th, 2015
Yesterday was such a beautiful day, one of those days you just want to get in your car and drive. Drive out of the city. For this city girl, driving on country roads is just the best thing ever. It relaxes me, it inspires me, it simply makes me happy. A few months back I did this after one of our first snowfalls, so I decided to take the same drive just to see the difference during a much warmer day. This time ending by Lake Mendota. It was truly beautiful. There were some spots you could still see snow melting away. Others where it looked like winter was long gone. These last days of winter have been nothing but the best. I cannot wait for Spring to officially arrive. I’m having way too much fun exploring our new city during each new season. What about you? Do you like taking random drives too? Come on, I know I’m not alone on this. Cheers to a lovely weekend!
Wednesday, March 11th, 2015
I’ve been on a banana kick lately haven’t I? First zucchini-chocolate chip banana bread and now this. This my friends was a creation sent to me from the baking gods! HA! I was telling the mister how I wanted to try making a banana coconut cake and he suggested to not forget chocolate chips (Yes, I married the right guy HA!). As I was mixing my ingredients I decided to add some cocoa powder to take it up a notch on the chocolate flavor, not really sure if it was gonna work. Well, the cake turned out incredible. I’m still patting myself on the back. I also made a “rum” glaze to go with it since I thought, coconut and rum go together right? I always use a splash of rum when mixing my banana bread ingredients so I thought why not add it to the glaze too HA! Anyways, that’s how this Banana Chocolate Coconut Bundt Cake was born. I also used some mini bundt pans for the first time and I am in love. Mini versions of things are just too cute arent’ they? The full recipe for this bundt cake is below so no need to keep referencing this old banana bread with ugly photos. God, I always laugh at my old my food photography, those were the days HA!
Banana Chocolate Coconut Bundt Cake
3 ripe bananas, mashed
2 Eggs
1 & 3/4 cups of all-purpose flour
2/3 cup of Sugar (brown sugar recommended)
1/2 stick of butter
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup of coconut flakes
1 tbsp of cocoa powder
1/3 cup of chocolate chips (or many as you wish)
*Optional – a little splash of rum.
For the Rum glaze: Mix a cup of powdered sugar, two tbsp of milk and a splash (or two) of rum!
To kick things off preheat your oven to˚350. Lightly grease and flour a bundt pan. In a big bowl mix the sugar, eggs and melted butter. Add bananas slowly to the mix taking turns with the flour. Add the rest of the ingredients with the coconut flakes and chocolate chips being your last, fold these last two lightly into your batter. Pour batter into mold and bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean, about 30-40 minutes. Allow to cool before adding glaze. For the glaze, mix your powdered sugar, milk and rum well until a smooth consistency is reached. You can always add more powdered sugar or milk depending on how rich or thick you want it. Once your cake is cool, add your glaze on top with a handful of coconut flakes! That’s it! Easy right? I so love how versatile this family recipe has become. Will you give it a shot? Aren’t family recipes the best? Happy baking friends!
Tuesday, March 10th, 2015
The other day I went to Joann’s for yarn… went home with yarn and some wood slats HA! For some reason right after I grabbed my yarn I ended up walking around the entire store like I always do, then in the middle of the wood crafts aisle this frame DIY idea came to my mind. I realized I had the rest of the materials at home so I ran out of there as soon I could without getting more distracted. Is it just me or can you not just go in and out of that store? I always end up spending way too much money time there. Thank God they have great coupons, otherwise we would be in big trouble HA! Anyways, back to the DIY.
The materials you need are simple, paint or stain of your choice, wood slats (these were $3.49 and makes two sets of frames once cut into four. I mean, it doesn’t get better than that!), washi tape, double sided tape, push pins and some twine. Then, you pick your favorite print and away you go to DIY-land (is that a thing?) I ended up picking some prints from my etsy shop since I’m a dork who likes to frame my own artwork HA! I sized and cut my wood pieces to hang about a 1/2″ over my prints. The next step once your wood is stained and dry, grab your twine and push pins and add it to one of your pieces. Depending on how thick your wood pieces are, be careful not to push the pins all the way through since you don’t want them showing in the front. Then grab your print with some pieces of your favorite washi tape and stick it to the wood making sure it’s centered. For the bottom panel, I used a little piece of double sided tape to keep both the panel and print together. The end result is just beautiful! I love how the possibilities are endless with this. What do you think? Will you give it a shot? I know we all have stuff that needs to be hung lying around. No, just me? Oh well, have fun, get creative and enjoy decorating with your new frames!
Friday, March 6th, 2015
Ever since trying my very first blood orange a few months back I really can’t stop. It has become my favorite fruit and I absolutely love baking with it. All thanks to this cake. I made it again for somebody special last week and it was a total hit. Then it dawned on me, why not turn it into muffins and add blueberries?!? HA! Because I needed another reason to bake right? I wonder once Spring comes around if I’m gonna be baking this much. Any-who, once again I followed this recipe, only this time I added a handful of blueberries to my mix. I also used a muffin tin instead of a loaf pan. Baking time was only 35 minutes since it bakes way faster as muffins. They turned out a-m-a-z-i-n-g! The mister loved them too so it was a total win in this house. Now excuse me while I go have another one and pretend it’s my cardio for the day! Are you in love with blood oranges too? What have you been baking lately? Happy Friday friends!
Thursday, March 5th, 2015
I’ve been wanting a spot to put away blankets but still keep them handy. To me there is nothing better than enjoying a nice cup of cocoa cuddled up on some pillows and blankets, especially during a Midwest winter. That’s when the light bulb went off and the idea of building a cute little ladder was born. Then, I decided if I was going to make this I was going to need to have a nice blanket to actually use. This is where Tiny Prints came to the rescue. Being newlyweds, I am going through that stage where I like customizing things that we can look back on for years to come and remember our first year of marriage. Yeah, I’m cheesy like that. You should know that by now. I mean, who wouldn’t love a custom blanket honoring your new last name. I do! (See what I did there?) HA! Besides a blanket I also got some awesome pillows which now makes this corner my absolute favorite spot at our home.
To build the ladder, I used a set of wood panels I found at Home Depot that were 8 feet long. I asked the nice gentleman there to cut one of them in half to create two 4 feet pieces for my sides. Then asked for the other panel to be cut down to 14″ for the rungs. I ended up having left over wood since I used only 4 pieces. Using 2 screws on each side, on each rung, I fastened them to the long pieces. Once all screwed together, I sanded it down and stained it (with leftover stain from this project ) and that was it! The hard part was really waiting for the thing to dry so I could bring it inside HA! This is now my favorite spot in the house and the mister and I might have to take turns using it. Between the pillows and access to our new blanket ladder it’s like the main place to be! What about you? Do you like customizing things? What is your favorite spot in your house? Will you build a ladder? Stay cozy my friends!
