Last week, I got bitten by a spider. I don’t even know how it happened. A section of my arm swelled up like a silver dollar. It was nasty! It itched and throbbed all at the same time. I had to constantly wash the punctured area before applying my ointment. It was just unpleasant. The swelling finally went down a couple of days ago but there’s a bruise-like discoloration. Eeeeeew! That was my excitement for last week.
I came across Laurie’s recipe for a Banana Snack Cake over at A Taste of Morning. I knew I wanted to make this cake the second I had overly brown bananas. I’m always looking for new ways to bake with bananas and I have to say, I think this maybe a new favorite!
I’m starting my weekend early this week. Chris is taking today and Friday off so we can have a little R&R and check out some new restaurants for lunch, happy hour and dinner. Yes, I get a break from cooking and lots of it —whoo hoo! I’ll be posting pictures of my meals on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ so if you’re not following me, there’s still time. 🙂
Today, I celebrate my 1 year blogiversary! I can hardly believe a year has passed. I loved every moment of it, except the stealing part. It truly has been a wonderful year filled with lots of delicious food and connecting with other bloggers and readers. And here’s to many more!
Happy Friday everyone! I hope everyone had a lovely week. E and M will be visiting next weekend. I’m super excited, as I’ll get to see my two cute little nieces. Which means this weekend, I’ll have to start cleaning. Yuck! It’ll be the first time they’ll be seeing our new place since Chris and I bought it last fall. I gave a quick tour via FaceTime but that doesn’t really count. I’m dreading having to scrub and clean, but at least I’ll have these yummy blondie bites to look forward to after my cleaning.
This is my first time making cheesecake anything. For some reason, I thought it would be difficult. Some of the recipes I have come across sounded overly wordy so it was a bit off-putting. I have to say this recipe is not one bit scary. 🙂
I love the Nutella here. I think that’s the best part for me. Chris really liked the crust. Crust was good, but in my opinion, the Nutella in this cheesecake won me over. Happy Thursday!
Good morning! I hope everyone had a lovely weekend. The weather outside was beautiful! Unfortunately, I couldn’t say the same about the inside of my house. It was like an oven! Hot, hot and very hot.
Regardless of the temperature, I was still in a baking mood. I generally prefer baking from scratch but there are those days when you just don’t want to be bothered with a ton of measuring. Think about all those dishes and clean-ups!
I took a box of vanilla cake mix (you know it’s a good one when you can see all the specks of vanilla beans in the cake) and added basil and lemon zest so it wouldn’t be so boring. Served this with some homemade vanilla cinnamon whipped cream, some raspberries and blueberries —it was delicious! I know it may sound strange adding basil but it really worked in this recipe. Now aren’t you intrigued to give this one a try? Go for it! You won’t regret it.
Happy Friday! I hope everyone had a good week. Chris and I are doing some tree removal/fence work in our yard. Earlier this week we had nine large Pittosporums removed. It was chaotic and noisy but worth it. We now have a lot more sun light coming through our kitchen/dining room area. More
sun light = better photos. Hooray!
Next week the tree guys will be out here grinding down the stumps. Then we’ll have our new fence built —can’t wait! We’ve been fenceless for several days now and it’s weird when there’s no barrier and people can look/walk in.
Anyway, today’s recipe requires no introduction. It’s chocolate-y and it’s Nutella. Need I say more? Enjoy your weekend lovelies!
We’re not huge grapefruit eaters. Heck, in this household, we’re not huge fruit eaters. I am, sorta, but Chris isn’t. So whenever I get fruits from Kimi or Nelson, I tried to eat them, but grapefruit is just not on the list of the fruits I eat. However, I’ll eat fruit in a cake form if there’s crumb toppings involved. Wouldn’t anyone? 😀 I really love the flavors in this crumb cake. Grapefruit and ricotta, it’s just so yummy that you can’t pass this up. Now march your hineys into the kitchen and bake this. You’ll be glad you did.
I made some PB&J bars yesterday. I was hoping to give some away to my friend Lisa and my neighbors, and send the rest off with Chris to share with his co-workers. I sent an email out to my neighbors first to see if anyone may want them before I distribute them, as not everyone likes the combination or peanut butter for that matter. I was pleasantly surprised to find so many takers! Not sure if it was the free baked goods or that they really liked PB&J. In the end, I was only able to send four pieces off with Chris *sad face* :(.
These are rich, dense (thanks to all that butter and sugar) and wickedly good! So if you’re not watching that waistline this summer, go bake yourself a batch of these. You’ll be glad you did. Have a great weekend!
uni homemaker 