Banana Ice Cream

Frozen bananas + anything else that is delightful = banana ice cream! This weekend I dusted off my blender and made three delicious batches of frozen banana goodness. Lauren and I were very creative with our flavors, and we're looking forward to concocting even more! As we were peeling the frozen bananas (which was like sticking your hands in snow) we had an epiphany: one day, after we return from our travels in France and Sweden, we're going to open our own specialty food store and serve banana ice cream and french/swedish fusion food. So stay tuned! Anyway, for the first batch, we added honey, agave nectar, vanilla, and cinnamon. It has a breakfast-y, hello morning! spin to it. Delicious. For the next round, we added organic chunky peanut butter from Trader Joe's and the result was fantaaastic. Peanut butter + bananas = what could be better? The crunch of peanut blended with the cold, creamy banana is so good. And it's good for you too! (This is a completely guilt-free treat, all it is is bananas!) For the third round, we went a little crazy. We added NUTELLA (good in almost anything) to the bananas and it created what looks like a thick and delicious milkshake! A real treat. Try this in your dorm! Or at home! All you need is a blender. It took me about a week to get about 12 bananas from the dining hall. I wore my rain jacket one day to Hedrick and smuggled out six bananas at once - it was a legit operation. Once I had the bananas back to my room, I let them ripen till they get all the cute freckles on them and then I put them in a large zip lock bag and threw them in the freezer. It's nice to have a stash of frozen bananas on hand! Give it a whirl and feel free to experiment with whatever extra ingredients you want! Next time I think we might try some granola, frozen berries, walnuts, chocolate chips... the possibilities are endless.

Ingredients (for one batch)

4 Very Ripe, Frozen Bananas

Extras! (For the peanut butter banana ice cream, we added about 1/3 cup of peanut butter. I think I would add more next time though, who can say no to more peanut butter?)

First, peel the bananas and split them in half or thirds and then put them in the blender. Flip the switch on the blender and you'll soon see a mass of banana turn into a luscious and creamy concoction. Once the bananas are pretty much blended, add in your extras! It's better to mix these in by hand, so everything is distributed evenly. Pour the banana ice cream into a container (I save my yogurt containers) and put it in the freezer! You can eat it right away, of course, but after it's been in the freezer for a few hours it really gets that ice cream consistency.

Most importantly, have fun and be creative!

Sprinkles

If you're ever in LA, you've absolutely GOT to GO to SPRINKLES. Located in Beverly Hills, Sprinkles Cupcakes sells (you guessed it) delicious, out-of-this-world cupcakes! From the classic vanilla with white sprinkles to their famous red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting, you will always leave happy with a deliciously sweet smile on your face. It is SO easy to get to Sprinkles from UCLA. On the corner of Westwood and Wilshire, take the 720 or 920 Metro Rapid. For $1.25, you get to Beverly Hills in less than ten minutes. Bus rides on the Metro Rapid are always fun and you can people-watch while you envision the glory that will soon be your cupcake. I enjoy their pumpkin spice cupcake (pumpkin pie spiced cake with cinnamon cream cheese frosting) and all of their special seasonal flavors. For Halloween, they had a caramel apple cupcake. GET THIS: apple cake, filled with REAL chunks of apple, topped with CARAMEL CREAM CHEESE frosting. Does it get any better than that? For Easter, they had a caramel cake topped with brown sugar frosting covered with pralines. That was also epic. Needless to say, I am a little obsessed, and I wanted to share my love with you!

http://www.sprinkles.com/

Beautiful Morning Oatmeal

Breakfast is my most important meal of the day... and often the most delicious! College has transformed me into a huge oatmeal fan. I went to Costco a couple of months ago and bought a preposterously large amount of oatmeal. (It's Costco, what can I do?) The box promises well over one hundred servings, and it's the truth! While plain oatmeal is a creamy and dependable friend, I like to experiment and make this morning staple good enough to eat for every meal of the day. I call this recipe "beautiful morning" oatmeal because it's filled with fruit and lots of colors that remind me of the sunrise.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup old fashioned oats

1 small to medium-sized apple, diced (I like golden delicious apples, I think they cook the best in the microwave)

1 tablespoon raspberry jam (or strawberry, blackberry, or whatever your fav jam flavor is!)

about two tablespoons chopped pecans (or any other nut you like!)

cinnamon, to taste (i put A LOT, a lot a lot)

1/2 of a banana, diced

1/2 cup strawberries, chopped (when I don't have fresh strawberries, I like to add either dried cherries, cranberries, blueberries, raisins, etc.) I also keep some frozen berries on hand so I can add some to the oatmeal when I cook it.

Directions:

Put the oats in a microwave-safe bowl. Add enough water to completely submerge the oats. Cook in the microwave for two minutes. In the mean time, cut up the apple, the banana, and the strawberries. You've got some pretty stellar knife skills if you can chop all that fruit in two minutes! When the microwave bings!, add the diced apple and mix it in with the oatmeal. Microwave for about three minutes more, stirring the mixture after each minute. When the oatmeal has reached the consistency you like, add the jam (for a little sweetness), the cinnamon (for a little kick) and the pecans (for a little crunch and lots of healthy fats!). Top it with the strawberries and bananas and dig in! This is so good, I just might make it for dinner. Enjoy!

Epic Citrus Pie!

Today, my wonderful friend Lauren and I decided to make our own version of key lime pie! We drew our inspiration from Robin Miller of the Food Network. The ingredients are simple, and the results are deliciously epic. We went to the grocery store and we couldn't find key limes anywhere - so we used a mix of normal limes and lemons to make it our own! Lauren had the genius idea to mix lemon curd with the whipped cream for the pie topping. This lemon and lime dessert is SO GOOD. It's so light and refreshing, and the perfect way to welcome Spring! It's also super easy and FUN to make in your dorm room!

Ingredients:

1 pre-made graham cracker crust (you can make your own, but we don't have a pie plate so we just bought one!)

Filling:

1 8oz container of whipped topping (we used extra creamy Cool Whip!)

1 can of sweetened condensed milk (kinda weird stuff, but it totally works in this pie)

1/2 cup of lemon and lime juice mixed together (about 6 limes and 3 lemons... we added a little more juice later on to make the flavors really pop)

1 and a half teaspoons of vanilla extract (just an estimate)

Topping:

1/2 cup of whipped topping

about 3 tablespoons of good lemon curd (Trader Joe's has a really delicious one!)

2-3 limes, cut in pretty wedges

1 cup strawberries, sliced and arranged on the pie in a decorative way (any berry would probably be delicious here)

Directions:

First, squeeze the juice from the limes and lemons! We had fun fishing out all the seeds after. :) It helps if you firmly roll the fruit on a countertop beforehand to release more of the juices. Next, add the container of Cool Whip and the can of sweetened condensed milk together in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Add the juice and the vanilla and mix it together so it's nice and smooth. The mixture thickens the more that you mix it and seems to resemble meringue. This is normal, don't worry! (we did a little). Carefully spoon the mixture onto the crust. Smooth the top with a knife or a spoon, and place it gently in the freezer. We let it set for about an hour and a half before we decorated it! For the topping, mix the Cool Whip and the lemon curd together. Remove the pie from the freezer and carefully spread on the topping. Have fun and be creative with your decorations - we lined the outside of the pie with lime wedges, and then filled the center with loads of strawberries. The most important thing is for it to taste good, and it will!

Cut a big piece and enjoy!

The perfect Spring dessert.