I'm not sure that I am nesting...I'm not even sure I know what that means. I can tell you my house is nastier then it has ever been; we literally have crap strown from one end of the house to the other...BUT, I have been in the kitchen quite a bit as of late, and I have some pretty good stuff to share with you. So maybe my version of nesting only involves baking, who knows...I am sewing as well, and clearly that isn't my "cup of tea". Maybe cleaning will come next, I sure hope so. I have some recipes that are worth sharing...as in, PIN these on your pinterest and find a reason to make them all....they are all really, really, good!
First off, a couple of weeks ago I had a strong key lime craving. I initially could only think of my friend Christi's key lime cake balls, but alas she was in Clemson tailgating for the tigers and could not remember her recipe off hand. Google failed me as I found 10 billion recipes for "key lime cake balls" but none seemed to match what Christi makes. I did what any self-respecting, key lime craving, pregnant woman would do...I turned to pinterest and typed in "BEST KEY LIME RECIPE"...and this is where I ended up:
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| courtesy of about.com...mine didn't last long enough for pictures |
If you are too lazy to click the link, the recipe is pretty simple
- 1/4 cup (4 tbsp, or 2 oz) melted butter
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1-1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (from about 10 rectangles)
- 20 oz chopped white chocolate (about 3-1/2 cup)
- 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp finely grated lime zest
- 3 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice
make a crust with the melted butter and graham cracker crumbs (i suggest using more butter, since my crust didn't stick together very well) and bake for approximately 5 minutes at 375.
melt the chocolate (i used white chocolate chips), sweetened condensed milk, and salt in the microwave (stirring every 30 seconds), combine remaining ingredients and dump on top of your crust. cool in refrigerator or freezer until "set", (I was impatient and probably only made it an hour or two), cut into bite size pieces, ENJOY!
Next up, when Chuck went out of town last week, I ended up with several over ripe bananas (no one eats as many bananas as Chuck so we always have a ton...without him they just hung on the hanger and started getting brown). Again, I took the pregnant woman approach and converted my healthy bananas into a sugar filled snack...banana nut muffins! I followed this recipe (and added a handful of chopped walnuts), because it popped up when I googled "BEST BANANA MUFFINS" (are you starting to see a trend in how I find recipes?):
Banana Crumb Muffins
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 bananas, mashed
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 1/3 cup butter, melted
- 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon butter
In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.
Grease 10-12 muffin tins, Bake in preheated oven at 375 for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.
Finally last night, Chuck and I decided that with it being October 1 (officially Fall in our books), rainy and cold that we should cook a pot of chili for supper. I had just happened to be reading another blog earlier in the day when I saw a recipe for Pumpkin chili with pumpkin cornbread. Now, I am all about some pumpkin, but if there is one recipe I am not willing to mess with it is my chili recipe! Pumpkin cornbread, however, inticed me. Go ahead and save this recipe, because it is a good one. Just a hint of pumpkin and sweetness and spice. I had another piece for lunch today :) Pumpkin Cornbread
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| YUM! picture from sweetpeaskitchen.com |
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1 cup cornmeal
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 tablespoon molasses
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease an 8×8″ cake pan.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, spices, brown sugar, and cornmeal; set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, lightly beat the eggs, and then stir in the pumpkin, oil, and molasses.
Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients just until combined, and then pour the batter into the pan, smoothing the top.
Bake 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
