banana blueberry bread

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 1.4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 buttermilk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 cup blueberries

COOK TIME: 50 minutes
To begin, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F . coat your loaf pan(s) with nonstick spray.

In a large bowl mix together your dry ingredients: flour, baking powder and soda, and salt. DO NOT ADD IN YOUR SUGAR...YET!

In a mixing bowl beat together your butter and sugar, until fluffy. Then beat in your eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla.

Next beat in your bananas.

Then combine your two mixtures, and mix until well incorporated. Add your blueberries and gently toss to combine.

Put your batter into your loaf pan(s) and bake for about 35-40 minutes.

Remove and let sit for about 15 minutes, to cool.

ENJOY! (:

pickle snack bites

I LOVE PICKLES! Let's just start there. Pickles are good with anything. Grilled cheese, sandwiches, burgers, chocolate. Yes, chocolate. So today, I had pickles. But not just pickles, pickle snack bites.

INGREDIENTS:
1. Pickles: it works best with spears, but I used slices.
2. Cream cheese.
3. Lunch meat: you can use ham, turkey, salami, whatever you like. I used the Buddig brand corned beef.

First you want to take your lunch meat. Since this brand is very thin I used two slices. I put a bit of cream cheese in between the two to hold them together. Next spread the cream cheese on. The spreadable kind works best with this thin meat, the thick original cream cheese will rip it. Next add your pickles. Add the pickles near the side, so you have room to roll it up.

Next, ROLL IT UP! This is why it's easier to use the spears, it makes it a lot simpler. Once it is rolled up, cut it into bite size pieces.

 

This package of corned beef does not make a large amount, so it wouldn't be suitable for a party or get together, but it's perfect for an afternoon snack.

ENJOY! (:

 

 

 

When is a pineapple ripe?

It can be tricky to get fruits just right. Either not ripe yet, or too ripe and close to rotting, either way its just gross. Pineapples, in my opinion, are one of the hardest fruits to get right. But there are a couple sure fire ways to tell if your pineapple is ready to be cut.

1. The scent: smell the bottom of your pineapple, if it smells sweet like a pineapple it's ready. If it smells overly sweet or fermented it may be rotting.
2. The touch: the pineapple should be firm and tough, if it's squishy it is too late for your poor pineapple.
3. The color: The grooves of the pineapple should be yellow.
*If the pineapple is leaking juices, IT IS ROTTING*

ENJOYY (:

Ham and Cheese Quesadilla

For lunch today I had ham and cheese quesadillas. Tortillas are something we buy a lot but tend to not get eaten. So lately I've been trying to think of different things I can make WITH TORTILLAS. One of my favorite sandwiches is grilled cheese and ham so I figured; why not put it on a tortilla.

This is an extremely quick and easy meal. But if you aren't a fast cooker with a good attention span I would not try this because it cooks extremely fast and is easy to burn! (trust me, I know!!) Put your skillet on at a low/medium temperature. Lay down one tortilla, and QUICKLY lay down some ham. I just used the Land o' Frost brand of honey ham lunch meat and I use four slices of ham. Obviously you can use more or less, depending on your preference. Then sprinkle on a handful of your favorite shredded cheese. Finally add on your top tortilla. And flip! let the other side cook until the cheese inside is melted. (After I did this I also flipped back to the original side and back once more before I was done.)

I ate my quesadilla dipped in sour cream with some pretzels and chipotle hummus. Mmmm (:

 

 

Big girl first day fizzies

At my grade school, everyone wanted to be in the first grade on the first day of school. Why?? Because the first grade teacher made FIRST DAY fizzies. First day fizzies were some strange concauction, that included sprite and some other yummy stuff. But the whole drink was basically all fizz. So last night I made my own first day fizzies.

INGREDIENTS:
-1 tray of ice
- Pinacle vodka
- Apple juice
- kool aid
- sugar
- water

I put a whole tray of ice into the blender, and blended it until it was the consistency of shaved ice. Then I emptied the ice into two wine glasses. Next I added the vodka, apple juice, kool aid, sugar, and water. And blended it on high until it was a fizzy bubble gum pink substance.

Eventually, the fizz will go away and you'll be left with a sweet, almost candy flavored juice. 

Smoked sausage and potatoes

I tried a new recipe last night. It was smoked sausage and potatoes. Let me just start off by saying, it was AMAZING. Easy and affordable too. We didn't have much in the house but I saw some potatoes and automatically knew I was going to be using them. But I didn't know what to with them. Should I make baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, fried potatoes? So I started looking for a new recipe I'd never tried before and stumbled upon this one, http://recipesfromthebigbluebinder.blogspot.com/2012/08/oven-roasted-smoked-sausage-and-potatoes.html. It looked yummy and didn't call for many ingredients. So it was settled; that's what I would be making.

First, I gathered my ingredients (using whatever I had in the house).
- 6 potatoes, I used one Idaho and 5 red potatoes. Peeled and cubed.
- 1 package of smoked sausage. Cut into rounds.
- olive oil
- black pepper
- dried onion
- garlic salt
- salt
* I deviated from the original recipe based off of what I had

After I gather the ingredients, I preheated my oven to 400 degree F. Covered a cookie sheet with two layers of foil. And drizzled a bit of olive oil on the pan. Then I began to peel and cut my potatoes, along with my smoked sausage. After I had my potatoes cut I threw them into a bowl and mixed in my olive oil and spices. Stirring it around until every potato was lightly covered with oil. I then spread them all onto my cookie sheet. I did the same thing with my sausage and was ready to cook.

I put the sheet in the oven. Every 15 minutes I stirred the food making sure every potato was flipped. I did this for 45 minutes.

I think it turned out great. The potatoes were crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. And the sausage had a great smokey flavor .