What would YOU like for breakfast, Johnny?

MUFFINS!!!

     It's okay if you have no idea what I'm talking about.  I hope you do, but if you don't, here ya go.  Enjoy.

     So, the other day, I was feeling very "chef-y" and as luck would have it, we had a few bananas that were going bad on hand.  And one of the best things to do with bananas that are on their way past ripe is make banana muffins.  I cannot give you the recipe, because it was created by a very close, family friend.  I can however tell you that when made in mini muffin form (it makes enough to create your own mini muffin army) they are so delightfully pop-able, that it really is -- wait for it -- hard to stop.  Here are a couple of images of my banana mini muffin battalion:

     The nice thing about this particular recipe, is that it works well in most forms.  You could bake regular sized muffins, or a loaf, and the taste would be just as awesome.  There are nuts in the original recipe, but for the sake of  time and laziness, I left them out.  Also I'm not so much a fan of nuts in my baked goods.

     In other news, I forgot that babies are little germ farms, so as a result of my day of volunteering at Lisa's preschool, I have a little head cold.  Started in my throat, now it's in my sinuses, and I am struggling to understand how one person can create so much nasty crap.  I have already gone through one box of Kleenex, and I'm making a dent in a second one.  If only weight loss was as easy as blowing one's nose.  C'est la vie!

Adventures in Baking Land!!

     As I mentioned before, I love to cook.  Love, Love, LOVE to cook.  The kitchen is my playground, and cooking relaxes me (a great comfort for the anxiety that comes from moving back in with my parents after 6 years away)...*ahem.*  Anyway, I expect there will be many more cooking and or food related posts, so maybe I'll make it a weekly thing.  We'll see how things go...

     A few years ago, I made a cake for my dad, with a pineapple image piped on top -- an inside joke that goes way back into my childhood. I had never attempted piping icing before, but I watch a lot of the Food Network.  It came out a lot better than I expected it to, and so, a tradition was born.  When someone got cake, my job was to decorate it.  I'm still in very basic stages, but I do sometimes manage to impress even myself.  And I'm a tough judge.

The cake that started it all...

A cake I made for my Gamma's 90'th birthday...

I tried my hand at vertical piping...

     So, tonight was my Aunt's birthday party, and my job was (of course) to decorate the cake.  It took a while before we my mom and I came up with a good, personal theme or element to design the cake around.  She lives in Vegas and likes to gamble, and lately she's favoring electronic poker.  So we decided on a poker themed cake.  We found a great deck of cards, a special edition World Series of Poker set, and created a Royal Flush to sit on top of the cake (and made sure the glue holding the cards together was non-toxic).  The sides would have stacked poker chips, and the candle "holders" would be card suits.  The drawing was a good start, and I was confident that I could take it on.  Due to unforeseen circumstances (an uncomfortably hot kitchen, and not enough time) certain elements of the cake did not come out quite like I'd hoped, but here are some images of tonight's adventure...

  

She tells a joke better than anyone in my family.

Her nickname for me.  Also check out the back of the cards...

Things I Learned:

• When using red in a piping design, shell out the extra few bucks for pre-colored red icing.  It's not worth the hassle to mix it yourself, a la Wilton Icing Coloring if you want a true red color.
• Let the frosting on the cake set a little (refrigerate it for a while) before attempting to pipe on to it.  You will be far less likely to blend frosting into your piping.
• Make sure the temperature of your work area is cool.  The higher the heat, the more likely your frosting is to melt, thus making it more difficult to be precise.

Helpful Tips:

• It is totally okay if you don't have a piping bag and tips, or pre-colored icing (the selection at most grocery stores is pretty limited, so I use Wilton Icing Coloring to mix my own colors).  Plastic baggies work just fine if you pack the icing into a corner and cut the tip off.  Added benefit: Any size hole you want.
• Remember, the bigger the hole, the faster the icing will come out.

     I hope you have enjoyed my adventure in the kitchen today.  Coming soon: Home-Made Ice Cream!