Banana Cream Sundae

Boy do I have a treat for you guys! This year for Valentine's Day we decided to stay at home and cook a meal together. Lonnie came up with dinner (steak, shrimp, salad, and macaroni and cheese...it was to DIE for!) 

And I came up with dessert!

Now, my husband's favorite dessert is his Mawmaw's banana pudding. Now, we all know that there's no way that I can compete with Mawmaw's banana pudding. I mean come on, it has Mawmaw's Love mixed all in it.

So I wasn't even going to try. Instead I created this...

I am calling it my 'Banana Cream Sundae' and let me tell you...woah. Hold on tight because this is going to be one of the best desserts you have ever tried!

And it's not complicated at all.

Start by collecting a few ingredients. Nilla Wafers, Cool Whip, 1 Banana, White Chocolate Bar (I used Lindt. It must be at room temperature), Banana Cream Pie pudding mix, and a cute glass to put it in!

*Side Note: You could easily make this sugar free or fat free and it would be just as delicious.

First, you'll want to make your banana cream pudding. I used the quick pudding mix. Follow the directions on the box. Once the pudding has set, you'll want to let it cool. Pop it in the freezer if you're in a rush. Just make sure you check on it often so that it does not get to cold. You want it to be about room temperature so that when you fold in the cool whip it will mix well. 

Once the pudding is ready and at room temperature, fold in 1/2 of the cool whip until well mixed.

Now the fun part! Assembly!

Slice your banana into 1/4 slices. I used one banana for two glasses but you can always add more/less. Make sure to save a few banana slices for garnish!

Then add your pudding/cool whip mixture. Try not to touch the edge of the glass. You want to keep the glass as clean as possible. 

Now put your Nilla wafers in a ziploc and smash using a glass, rolling pin, whatever you can find in your kitchen that will crush the wafers. Like so. 

I forget how good Nilla wafers are...I had to sneak a few. MMMmm.

So I made a mistake on this part. You see in the picture below I got so excited to make this puppy that I forgot to sprinkle the Nilla wafers on top of the pudding mixture before I added the cool whip. It won't be as pretty but..it still tastes delicious! But it still makes me sad. I'm all about the pretty...

So if you are following the correct directions you would add the cool whip now. But I had to add the wafers instead. Sigh.

Now this is fun! Make sure your white chocolate is at room temperature. Using a vegetable peeler, create little chocolate curls. It makes me feel so elegant and classy. Look at those pretty curls! 

Lastly, garnish your sundae with a slice of banana and a piece of the white chocolate. All I can say is banana heaven. Sweet Sweet mother of bananas. This dessert drives me bananas (in a good way).

And let me tell you Lonnie absolutely LOVED it!

Now go make you some! You know you want to. It's nanalicious.

Strawberry Banana Smoothie

I know it's winter.

I know it's freezing outside (well today it's actually in the 60s..crazy I know!)

But sometimes I just get a craving for a smoothie. Today was one of those days.

So here is the recipe for a DELICIOUS strawberry banana smoothie!

1 very ripe banana (this is important. If you don't use a very ripe banana your smoothie will turn foamy in gross.)

1 cup frozen strawberries

1 cup of orange juice of your choice (or any juice)

a squirt or two of agave nectar (or honey)

Throw all of that in a good quality blender and blend it well. You don't want any large chunks of strawberry.

...or do you?

Sometimes I'll even leave out the agave nectar, so the only sugar that you are getting is from the fruit and the orange juice! You may also want to strain the smoothie afterwards if you don't like the strawberry seeds. 

I wonder what would happen if you added some coconut flavoring....

I hope that you enjoy this smoothie as much as I am!

Cheers!

Meal Planning is the Name of the Game

Boy oh boy do I have something exciting to share with you! 

Last week I gave you a tour of our pantry and how awful it was. And how I fixed that problem. This week I stumbled upon a website that is going to make grocery shopping, meal planning, and organizing so much easier! 

It is called: www.pepperplate.com

This website (and app might I add!) is a place to store and organize recipes that you find online. But not only that....You can create shopping lists, menus, and meal planners! And it's super simple.

Let me show you:

This is my profile. You can see the three categories: recipes, menu, planner, and shopping. First things first, let's add some recipes! 

One of my favorite things to do in my free time is find new recipes online. The problem..where do I keep them if I ever want to use them again? I have finally found a solution! Find your recipe online, copy the url, and place it in blank box and click add.

Easy peasy right?!

You can also add recipe's manually. Nana's pecan pie recipe has been uploaded to a safe (and readable) place!

Pepperplace conveniently gives you a list of websites that they support. Not only are my favorites (pioneer woman's tasty kitchen and foodnetwork) on the list, but there are so many other places that I would have never known to search for recipes! Discovering this list was like discovering presents on Christmas morning.

All of your recipes are stored here under the recipe tab. They even have pretty pictures and list the name of the website where you find them (some even have calorie counts!!)

Next, you can create menus. 

Do I want green beans or corn with my meatloaf? 

Plan out your meals for the next week. And it's not only dinner...lunch and breakfast can be included too!! 

My life is complete.

And of course...we can't forget about the shopping list. Not only is this list interactive (it has check boxes!!!), it also categorizes each item. Your cheese will never again be listed next to your BBQ sauce (what a travesty). You can even add extra items like laundry detergent, dog food, etc. 

Some items the site may not recognize but don't you worry. You can select a category for it.

This website has me all excited to plan our meals and step into the kitchen. I hope that you find it as handy as I do!

Enjoy!

A New Year, A New Pantry

Along with all of my other normal New Year's Resolutions...you know...the typical

1. Grow and deepen my relationship with Christ (not to understate this resolution. It is definitely #1 on my list this year.)

2. Lose weight (which really will happen this year!)

3. Get into shape 

4. Run a 5k

5. Be a better wife

.....and the list could go on an on! But one of my big resolutions this year is to get my house organized and put together. 

Starting with the pantry. 

We have a HUGE pantry! And to be honest, we haven't been using it to its full potential. See for yourself.

Can you say scary?!

Hide yo kids, hide yo wife. 

I'm not kidding...

I'd known that my pantry had been scary looking for awhile but with the craziness of this last year, I tended to over look it scrambling to get dinner ready. But since it's the new year and all I thought that I would put my big girl britches on and tackle this monster.

So here it goes!

It didn't take long to empty. Really, what took the longest is to find room to place all of the items till I figured out how to organize it.

Callie took this opportunity to sniff out little nuggets of who knows what. Her favorite...the cap of some cheese whiz. Yes, I did throw it away. And the can of cheese whiz. 

Now isn't that purdy? Much better than before! And all it took was some time, patience, and a few organizers from the store. Like the one under the cans to the left of the image and the bins at the top (to hold chips). Lazy susans would also be a good one to use!

I tried to organize everything in categories. All of my rices, pastas, and snacks are on the top shelf. Cans, sauces, vegetables, and breads make up the second shelf. And less used items like oils, seasonings, beverages, and stocks make up the bottom shelf.

On the remaining shelves I put all of our cooking equipment, bake ware, platters, cook books, jars, vases, paper towels, etc. I even made a baking station to the right of this image! It has all of my chocolate chips, flour, shortening etc. 

Needless to say I am super excited to have an organized pantry and I think that it will make cooking even more enjoyable. At the least I can look at it and smile :)

Room one CHECK! Stay tuned for more room updates throughout this year!