Banana Pudding

Look delicious? I think this is one of the best things I've made. I cheated with the whipped cream and used store-bought, but next time I'd definitely whip my own because I realized nothing beats homemade whipped cream. I also bought Nilla Wafers for this. The original recipe said I could make 8 small servings or 4 large. I put the pudding into 6-oz glasses and it made 4. I think next time I'd add ,more bananas and maybe a center layer, but it was fine the way it was, too. Definitely try this if you get a change! Homemade pudding is delicious!

Banana Pudding Parfaits

Adapted by Me from Annie's Eats

Yield: 4 servings

1/6 cup all-purpose flour

3/8 cup sugar

1/8 tsp. salt

1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten

1 1/4 cups milk

1 1/2 tbsp. butter, at room temperature, divided

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1-2 ripe bananas, sliced

Vanilla wafers (mini if you make parfaits)

For the topping:

whipped cream

In a medium saucepan, combine the flour, sugar, and salt.  Whisk in the egg yolk, then the milk. Place the saucepan over medium heat. Add in 1 tablespoons of the butter. Cook, whisking frequently, until the mixture bubbles and thickens significantly. Remove from the heat. Whisk in the vanilla and the remaining 1/2 tablespoon of butter.

Layer individual serving dishes (4-5 oz) with vanilla wafers and banana slices.  Fill each dish with some of the pudding until all pudding is gone, nearly to the top of the serving dishes. Crush up several vanilla wafers and layer it on top, finishing with another layer of banana slices as desired. Cover with plastic wrap and let chill until well set, at least 2-3 hours.

Garnish with whipped cream and additional vanilla wafers.

Not related to baking, but...Kittens!

I have a lot of posts coming up, but first I have to show you all the new additions to my family:

Moses and Cleopatra! Cleo's the one with short hair, and Moses is my baby boy on the left. They're siblings but they have very different personalities--both adorable and very sweet. Especially when they meow, oh my god, these babies are too much. They're 9-10 weeks right now, and a few days ago we gave them free rein of the house. Our older kitty Nori doesn't like them too much yet, and they're terrified of our dog, Marco, but they're doing great and having fun! Definitely a huge distraction from what I should be doing day-to-day.

Asian Fruit Cake 2

Remember THIS? Yeah, well, I did it again. And this time it didn't turn out half as well. Yes, I made the cake 2 days before graduation. Yes, I assembled the cake the day before graduation. But still, I could have done better. I forgot the vinegar, and I'm blaming that for why the cake didn't rise, though I didn't buy new baking powder and used the one that I got in August, so that could have been a problem too. Then I didn't have the appropriate storage stuff to keep the cake from drying out overnight before I frosted it, so the plastic wrap didn't really work and the cake got a little hard on the bottoms of each layer. Kind of annoying. But apparently my grandma kept on thinking about this cake after she ate it, and it was really alright, though not light (the day I baked it it was light, because I ate a little piece that fell off, but the next day it was a little more dense).

That being said, still try this recipe! It's beautiful! But eat it the day of, and make sure if you're storing it, you store it properly!

Lemon Chicken with Parmesan Potatoes

Lemon Chicken
Recipe adapted from Southern Living
Recipe found on Tracey's Culinary Adventures

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 8 oz each)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons butter, divided
1 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup lemon juice
8 lemon slices
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Place the chicken on a cutting board. Working with one breast at a time, place your hand on top and use a sharp knife to cut the breast in half horizontally, to make two thinner chicken cutlets. (Don't worry if they're not perfectly even, mine never are!) Place each cutlet between two sheets of plastic wrap and use a meat mallet or skillet to pound to 1/4-inch thickness.

Season the chicken on both sides with the salt and pepper. Lightly dredge each cutlet in flour, shaking off the excess.

Set a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of the butter and the olive oil to the pan. Once the butter is melted and the pan is hot, add the chicken. Cook for 2-3 minutes per side, or until the chicken is golden brown and cooked through. Transfer the chicken to a plate and tent with foil to keep warm.

Reduce the heat to medium, and add the chicken broth and lemon juice to the pan. Cook for 1-2 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened slightly, scraping the bottom of the skillet to loosen any brown bits. Add the lemon slices to the sauce and let sit undisturbed for about 30 seconds. Remove the pan from the heat and add the parsley and remaining tablespoon of butter. Stir until the butter is melted and the sauce is smooth. Pour the sauce over the chicken and serve (you can garnish with the lemon slices if desired).

Parmesan Roasted Potatoes

Recipe by For the Love of Cooking

9-10 small baby Dutch yellow potatoes

3-4 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

1 tbsp olive oil

Garlic powder, to taste

Sea salt and fresh cracked pepper, to taste

Fresh chopped parsley, for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Boil a large pot of water and boil the potatoes for 4-5 minutes. Remove from water and let cool. Once cooled, slice into quarters and combine with olive oil, garlic powder, sea salt and black pepper as well as the Parmesan. Mix thoroughly and place in a baking dish that has been sprayed with olive oil cooking spray.

Place into the oven and roast for 20-25 minutes. Remove from the oven and taste, re season with sea salt, cracked pepper, or garlic powder if needed. Garnish with fresh chopped parsley. Enjoy.

Andes Mint Cake

I made this cake for my friend Steven's birthday--the last birthday everyone celebrated at college, and the last time we all got together to party. It was a great time. I spent most of the day making it (it was also somewhat for my boyfriend, whose birthday was after graduation) and it was really worth it. The party was a surprise party for Steven: I was planning it for a while and some of my friends said they'd help out, so we got a handful of people invited to a Facebook event, but of course Steven has tons of friends so there was well over just a handful of people there. It was a funny surprise story though: we convinced him to come over but it took way too long to actually come because he was watching YouTube videos. My apartment was overheated and everyone was dying. We thought Steven might have a feeling we were doing a surprise party, so we shoved 2/3 of the people into my roommates' rooms, and when he got there about 7 of us yelled "surprise" and told him we were playing Birthday Settlers (of Catan). We started the game and then I "had to go to the bathroom", and instead of me coming back, one of Steven's friends who wouldn't have been in my apartment came out instead, and tricked Steven into being blindfolded. While blindfolded the rest of the guests came into the room, and when Steven took off the blindfold, somehow we had been quiet enough that he was really surprised to see everyone! So it was really successful--pretty proud of that surprise working out!

This cake's frosting didn't work perfectly. It was too soupy even after I put it in the freezer for a couple of hours. I think it was just way too hot in my apartment. I really want my cakes to turn out perfectly like the pictures the original maker posts, but mine always look lopsided...I guess they look more homemade, though. Even though people only got tiny slices of this cake (there were tons of people at the party!), I got lots of compliments on this one!

Andes Mint Cake
Recipe from mommiecooks

For the Cake:
1 8 Oz. Bag Andes Mints
1/2 Cup Cocoa Powder
3 Oz. Dark Chocolate
1 Cup Boiling Water
11/2 Sticks Unsalted Butter (12 Tbsp or 3/4 pd)
11/2 Cups White Sugar
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
3 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla
1 Cup Mayonnaise
3 Cups Flour
11/4 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt

For the Frosting:
6 Egg Whites
11/4 Cup White Sugar
3 Sticks Room Temperature Butter (24 Tbsp or 1.5 pounds)
1 tsp Vanilla
1/2 tsp Almond Extract
1/4 Cup Cream

Toss about 3oz. of the andes candies into a bowl along with the cocoa powder and dark chocolate.

Pour the boiling water over the top and allow the chocolate to melt completely.

In a large mixing bowl cream the butter and the two sugars.

Mix in the eggs and vanilla.

Add in the mayonnaise.

In a separate bowl combine the flour baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Alternate adding the flour and then the liquid chocolate to the creamed mixture, mixing after each addition.

Pour batter into three prepared 9" cake rounds and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool.

For the frosting mix together the egg whites and the sugar.

Place into a double boiler and heat until the temperature reaches 160 degrees, whisking often.

Transfer to a mixing bowl and whisk on medium high until stiff, glistening and room temperature; about 5 minutes.

Cube up the butter and add it in a bit at a time while whisking on medium speed.

If your frosting separates, simply up the speed and give it a minute or two to come back together.

Add in the vanilla and almond extract.

Frost the cooled cake.

Reserving about 8 of the remaining mints, place the rest into a double boiler along with the cream.

Once melted, remove from heat and let rest about 5 minutes to cool down. Drizzle over the top of the cake.

Chop the reserved mints and sprinkle over the top of the cake.

Coconut Cookies

After finals period at my college, we had this thing called "senior week". For a week, seniors just chill out: there are events, some free & some expensive. There are friends with no obligations or work so you can just hang out. It was still pretty stressful, because I felt like there were an overwhelming number of people to see and things to do before it was too late. The first day of senior week was actually the last friday of exams, a couple weeks ago. Our college version of "prom" was that night, and my friends decided that was too expensive (I was going to go, but you have to be 21, and my boyfriend wasn't 21 yet) so they threw their own and invited everyone. Their twist on it was that everybody who came had to bring something to show: a song, a skit, food. Of course I brought food. I made these cookies and they were gone in a second. They were super delicious and super easy, I'll definitely make these again.

Coconut Cookies
Recipe from allrecipes.com

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C.) Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In a medium bowl, cream the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla until light and fluffy. Gradually blend in the flour mixture, then mix in the coconut. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly toasted. Cool on wire racks.

Salsa Chicken

Can you tell I've had more time to try new dinner recipes? Usually in college I'd just do something simple, like pasta with some sort of meat sauce, or plain chicken, or a simple fried rice or simple breakfasty thing or something else uncomplicated that I just threw together. But since I finished my finals relatively early, I had time to try more recipes. This one was pretty good, very easy, I'd probably make it again.

Salsa Chicken

Recipe from allrecipes.com

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

4 teaspoons taco seasoning mix

1 cup salsa

1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

2 tablespoons sour cream (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C)

Place chicken breasts in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking dish. Sprinkle taco seasoning on both sides of chicken breasts, and pour salsa over all.

Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 25 to 35 minutes, or until chicken is tender and juicy and its juices run clear.

Sprinkle chicken evenly with cheese, and continue baking for an additional 3 to 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted and bubbly. Top with sour cream if desired, and serve.

Ranch Chicken Pizza

Mmm. I love to bake pizza. This was a really great choice, and tasted as good as it looks. I didn't have a pizza stone nor a pizza pan but this worked wonderfully. Keep an eye on it so that it doesn't burn, but mine didn't and baked amazingly and I can't stress how awesome it worked out! The dough was fine--a very basic, foolproof dough, but without any extra fancy flavors if that's what you're looking for. I used the entire dough recipe for this and had no trouble!

Ranch Chicken Pizza

Recipe from Tide and Thyme, adapted slightly by me

Pizza dough (I used the recipe below)

¼ cup Ranch dressing

¾ cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1 cup cooked chicken, shredded

1/4 cup bacon, cooked and crumbled

1 tomato, seeded and diced

2-3 green onions, chopped

¾ cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat the oven and a pizza stone to 500° F. I used a cookie sheet because not only did I not have a pizza stone, but I didn't even have a pizza pan. It was fine. Allow the stone/pan to heat for at least 30 minutes.

In the mean time, cut a sheet of parchment paper the size of your pizza stone (Alternatively, use a pizza peel). Sprinkle lightly with cornmeal or semolina flour. Gently roll out the pizza dough into a large circle, leaving a thicker ring around the edge for the crust. Don't bake the pizza crust first.

Spread the Ranch dressing in a thin layer evenly over the unbaked crust. Sprinkle with shredded mozzarella. Top with grilled chicken, tomato and green onions. Sprinkle with shredded cheddar. Top off with bacon.

Carefully transfer the parchment paper and pizza to the preheated baking stone/pan and return to the oven.  Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and browned.  Slice, serve, and enjoy!

Pizza Dough

Recipe from allrecipes.com, adapted slightly by me

1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast

1 cup warm water (110 degrees to 115 degrees)

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Cornmeal

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the oil, sugar, salt and 1-1/2 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a firm dough. Turn onto a floured surface; cover and let rest for 10 minutes.