The Best Banana Bread

Banana Bread

If you like banana bread, even if you aren't the best baker this was seriously super easy and it was delicious. My roommates and I ate half the load in one sitting. I'm going to save this recipe and make it every time my bananas get old. 

& thanks to one of my roommates, she's my "little helper" in the kitchen. If it needs to be squished, mashed, or poked, chances are she did that part. 

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/best-ever-banana-bread/

I followed the recipe with the exception of using a little less sugar.

 Moist and not too banana-y

(the top looks burnt, but it was soft and didn't taste burnt at all) 

 Banana Bread less than ten minutes after I removed it from the oven

 I love the way the buttermilk, oil and bananas look when you're mixing them

Banana Blueberry Pancakes

Banana Blueberry Pancakes

I love breakfast more than any other meal or snack time. On any given day, I will wake up 30 minutes earlier just so I can make breakfast before I leave the house. Lazy Sunday today, so I just woke up, wandered around the kitchen and decided to make pancakes. Then throw in some blueberries, add a little banana, then I had banana blueberry pancakes. 

Nails of the Moment: Violet Voltage

Nails of the Moment:

I would say nails of the week, but it's been a long time since I've keep one color for a whole seven days. Nails of the week seemed more appropriate. I used Sally Hansen, Violet Voltage, and White on for the two colors, and the design was part of a Konad Stamping kit. They're a lot of work, but once you figure it out their pretty easy. 

 They turned out pretty well! I love them. Maybe I'll keep them on for a week and see! 

Blue!

Sinful Colors- Midnight Blue #13

I had to cut my nails and whenever that happens I tend to use darker colors, so I brought out my favorite dark blue. I'll let it speak for itself.

Banana Berry Smoothie

Banana Berry Smoothie

The perfect anytime snack

I love smoothies, pretty much all flavors, but I prefer berry smoothies. The other day I made a Banana Berry smoothie for breakfast before the gym. Normally, I'd use fresh fruit, ice, and apple juice but this time I used frozen fruit which doubled as fruit and ice blended with apple juice. 

I used frozen raspberries, strawberries, blueberries and blackberries with an emphasis on the blue berries. I also chopped up a banana and poured a little bit of apple juice. Blended it, stuck in a straw, and done! I tasted no difference between frozen and fresh which was great because normally I'll taste a difference and frozen made for a quicker, easier smoothie! 

Lemon-Blueberry Yogurt Loaf

Lemon-blueberry Yogurt Loaf

Total Disaster

Last time was another procrastibaking night, and procrastibake I did, this yogurt loaf took forever!! I have to admit in the end, it tasted delicious, it's pretty sweet but I like it that way. The disaster of this was that I could not for the life of me get the middle to set and the top was browning. It turned out okay, but this recipe needs another try before I get it right.  

Here is where I got it from, I actually didn't change anything. Maybe next time a little less sugar, but other then that it was good. http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/23kpc5/sweetpeaskitchen.com/2011/05/15/lemon-blueberry-yogurt-loaf/

 Before I stuck it in the oven, I was afraid it was going to go over, but it didn't rise too much so it was okay.

 I had to post this for the beautiful mixture of juices

 I said I had trouble getting it to set right? 

disaster. 

Then a delicious peace of cake. 

Round 2 will be much better. 

The Best Pink

Hot Pink

In terms of my nail polish collection, the majority is pink. In terms of my closet, I might have one pink thing. I've searched forever to find this exact pink and I've already gone through multiple bottles. Its a Sinful Colors polish number 920. I've had a really hard time finding it lately, but surprisingly Walgreens had it. Here it is my favorite pink out of at least 20 different shades. 

Fishies!

Baked Salmon 

7 days! 

Yay! A week of blogging! I'm pretty proud of myself. My first milestone, we'll see how I'm doing in a month. Tonight I made baked Salmon for dinner. I love lemony things, seriously love them. So, like most things I made, I added a ton of lemon to this. Lemon pepper and lemon juice. I even cut parts of the fish so that the lemon soaks while it bakes. 

 I seasoned it with lemon juice, lemon pepper, garlic, garlic salt, and parsley

 I baked it at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. 

Nice and crisp on the outside, juicy tender inside.

 This makes me crave sushi! 

Breaded Eggplant Sticks

Little sticks of heaven

Breaded Parmesan Eggplant Sticks

I am a mozzarella stick lover, so when I first bought a deep fryer, (yes bought a deep fryer) the first thing I wanted to throw in there were mozzarella sticks, and I did, and they were delicious. Today, I was sitting in class wanting a new way to cook the eggplant I just bought, I normally grill it, but I wanted something better. This recipe reminded me so much of mozzarella sticks that I had to try it.  

I googled, and found this recipe http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/09/baked-eggplant-sticks.html, I am in love! I made a few little edits, but mostly I stuck to the recipe. I made them the same way I would have made mozzarella sticks which left me wishing I had some cheese in the fridge. I will most definitely be making these again! I can't explain how delicious they are. I breaded them and baked them in less than 30 minutes. 

 Cut  & Breaded

 I added a little Parmesan...or a lot

Straight out of the oven and onto the dish! And of course, ranch for dipping. 

Yes, marinara is suggested...but who doesn't love ranch? 

Sand Tropes

Here is a nude nail polish from Essie, I borrowed it from my roommate to try it out. I usually like brighter colors, but this is kind of growing on me. Its called Sand Tropes.

 I think its safe to say that these match the new shoes I brought, not to say that I'm going to repaint my nails when I eventually wear these shoes. I just liked the coincidence. 

Wedges

Relapse 

I think its safe to say I've relapsed. I successfully quit my shoe addiction for four months. Then I bought a pair of sandals, which i justified by the change in weather (this was on the 6th). Today, I'm already back to heels (serious, barely a week later). I'm in love with these wedges. Now like all the other shoes in my closet, I need to find a place to wear them. 

What do you do with an artichoke?

What in the world do you do with an artichoke?

Day 4

I bought artichokes to change up my vegetables and since they were buy one get one free, I got two. So I look at these artichokes and think "what do I do with them." I looked up a few recipes and nothing really stood out. I ended up just putting some garlic, lemon pepper, and butter, and boiling them. They actually turned out pretty good. I'm not sure I'm the biggest fan of artichokes, but we'll see. 

Coral Reef

It wasn't always addicting

Day 3

For anyone whose every seen me, ask yourself, have you ever seen me without my nails painted? You probably are answering no. Have you ever seen them chipped? The answer is still most likely not. It's because I'm addicted to nail polish and I love painting my nails. I hate not having nail polish on. I've seen a lot of nail polish blogs and they always take a picture of the bottle and share with everyone what polish they used...I've always thought that was stupid. What am I going to do, see that bottle then run to the store and buy it? Well lately, yes. Just in case, I'll post my bottles too.

This is one of my newest colors (I added 7 to my collection last week), this one has probably become one of my favorites and will definitely be used more in the summer. This one is called Coral Reef in case you were wondering. No pretty designs this week, but maybe next week. 

 & yes, these are my real nails. I've never had fake nails. 

Omelette sans fromage

Omlette sans fromage

Day 2

Good morning! Last nights procrastibaking was successful, my paper was procrastinated and I had a delicious pie to eat; however, the problem with procrastibaking is that, well I'm procrastinating. So, I stayed up late, got a measly six hours of sleep, (if you know me, really know me, you know that I prefer to have ten hours a night). Anyways, the best part of waking is breakfast, not Folgers, since we all have the cute jingle in our heads, not Starbucks, since it's taking over the world, but a nice healthy breakfast. 

So this morning, omlette sans fromage, an omelete without cheese. My brother randomly likes to say "an omelette du fromage" an omelete with cheese, from Dexter's Laboratory, so today I thought of "omelette sans fromage" then made it. If I wasn't eating healthier, this thing would be covered in melted cheddar cheese. 

So first we have the ingredients, onions, bell peppers, avocado, and spinach

I also like to add garlic and pepper into the eggs. 

I use egg whites (like I said, healthy eating) but whatever works. 

Put everything together, and OMELETTE SANS FROMAGE! 

12 hour school day, ready set go! 

Caramel Apple Pie

Caramel Apple Pie

The Beginning: 

Hey! As of now it's just me blogging but I wanted to share all the random nail painted and baking that I do. Maybe one day I'll have people who care, but for now, I'm just sharing. I'm tired of Facebook, instagram leaves no room for rambling (which I am a fan of, I'm sure all those who know me agree) that's why I ended up blogging. Tonight I did what I like to call Procrastibaking: Procrastinating by Baking. I am a fan of productive procrastination, so here goes. 

I made a caramel apple pie. I've adapted the recipe a little bit, but I got it from here. http://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/caramel-apple-pie/118de97a-8750-4d1c-b5a2-7d03f60b4cf1/

This is the pie crust I used. It comes with two parts so it's super easy. Push one into the pie pan, and leave the second one for the top

Then: chop up the apples (or make rings) add a little lemon juice to keep them from browning

I like the granny smith apples best :)

Add the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and flour. 

Pour it into the pie crust

If Desired: Sprinkle caramel on top 

 Half way through baking, put the foil over the edges so they don't get too dark.

Viola!! Caramel Apple Pie! Super Easy and Seriously Delicious!