I'm back! And Banana Agave Muffins

Hey! Did you ever think I was going to update this ol' thing again? Well it's been about a year, so I figured I've give a recap of what's been goin on. I really really want to try and keep updating this, but sometimes it's hard when I am working until 7pm every night and then trying to go to the gym after work and then trying to fix dinner at home and then before I know it I have to go to bed! And weekends are my chance to grocery shop and spend time w/ B and any other friends that I still might have...
So yea I just need to suck it up. One thing I do update regularly is Yelp. I love Yelp. Living in Chicago has really made me become a foodie, and I love trying new restaurants, bakeries, grocery stores, and other interesting businesses. There are so many, sometimes it's overwhelming! But while I am living here, I want to experience all the variety there is, so I usually write a review on Yelp so that I can remember it better.

Ahh so these Banana Muffins are so good, I've made them lots of times. They have agave instead of sugar, so they are a little bit healthier. And of course I had to go and make them unhealthy by adding a Nutella frosting.
Just in case you were interested, here is what has happened over the last year. My niece Presley got cuter.

We had B's parents stay with us in our tiny apartment in Chicago for Thanksgiving, and made our first turkey in our tiny kitchen with no counter space! But it turned out delicious.
I gave B some Baconnaise in his stocking for Christmas. It didn't taste quite as good as it sounded. But oh well.
B gave me this AWESOME shark potholder. I love it!
We got a teeny tiny fake tree at Target. It was just enough to help bring Christmas cheer into our place.
Presley and Josh visited us in Chicago for a few days, and we did all the touristy stuff like go to the Bean, eat Lou Malnati's deep dish pizza, walk down Michigan Ave, and go to Pickle's Playroom. Oh wait that last one isn't touristy, but we needed to do something that a 3 year old would enjoy for the afternoon, and it was really cool!

Presley and I made chocolate covered pretzels for everyone, and she was a pro at dipping the pretzel in the chocolate. She was also a pro at licking her fingers and touching all the pretzels.

Next update will be soon!

Banana Agave Muffins (taken from Vanilla&Lace blog)

3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed1/3 cup canola oil
3/4 - 1 cup agave
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

Preheat the oven to 350°F With a wooden spoon, mix oil into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the honey, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Pour mixture into oiled muffin pan (or loaf pan if making a loaf). Bake muffins for 18-20 minutes, (if baking a loaf about 1 hour). Cool on a rack.

Persimmon Pudding

Hey remember me?? I'm doing good on the quarterly postings at least! Better than nothing. So a lot and then not a lot has been going on since January. It's still cold here, and we had that one crazy 80 degree day a few weeks ago, but other than that it's just terrible how cold it still is! Where are you spring?? Ahh well I guess it gives me an excuse to keep baking those comfort desserts that we all love, like chocolate chip cookies and Persimmon Pudding. I'll tell you a little more about that in a minute.

For Easter, my roomies and I cooked up a lunch filled with a big ol' ham (free cause my roomie is a flight attendent and had some weird coupon!), along with some lemon chestnut string beans, red-skin mashed taters, corn, deviled eggs (which I ate pretty much all of them since no one else liked them and I LOVE them), good ol' biscuits, and a few others Easter-y things. Since I didn't go home this year, I missed my Grandma's cookin, so this definitely made up for it.
We made some Trader Joe Guiltless Brownies, and all you add is vanilla yogurt and bake, and out come the moistest (is that a word?) best chocolatey brownies from a box that you will ever taste. They are really good, I was surprised! Doesn't Amy look cool in her apron?So I also made Persimmon Pudding, and apparently persimmons aren't easy to find in places except Indiana and maybe Japan or somewhere outside the U.S. They kinda look like a tomato and pumpkin combined and have a pumpkin-y spice taste, and you have to wait for them to get really ripe before you can eat them. You use the pulp of a persimmon (I think just scrape out the insides) to bake with, and so I made this recipe that my mom had always made when I was growing up.
Just a dollop of whipped cream on top makes it best. I'm gonna attempt to take this to work tomorrow so that we don't eat it all ourselves, but I'm a little nervous about having it just sitting out with whipped cream all day for people to come and get. Hopefully the whipped cream doesn't get all funky...

Persimmon Pudding (From mom)

1/2 tsp. baking soda, stirred into 2 cups of persimmon pulp

2 1/2 cups sugar

2 large eggs, beat well

2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. vanilla

pinch of salt

dash of nutmeg

Beat all these together well.

Add 2 1/2 cups milk

Add 1/2 stick melted butter

Stir well.

Preheat for 325 and bake for 55 minutes in a 9x13 inch pan.