Nutella Swirled Peanut Butter Banana Bread

Summer is always nuts and chock full of stuff to do.

This banana bread is like summer: it's full of nuttiness and it seems like everything AND the kitchen sink is in this bread. It's got a lot going on--you'll see.

I had to make it in honor of this crazy, busy, nutso summer.

Plus, my bananas were really really really ripe.

It's time, bananas!

Let's do this!

First, let's look at the key ingredients that make this bread ridiculously bad for you: peanut butter, Nutella, Reese's Mini Cups, and chocolate chips.

Oh so bad, but oh so good!

Everything and the kitchen sink!

I doubled the recipe, so I ended up buying 3 bags of the Reese's Mini Cups, which I found in the candy aisle, not the baking aisle. Also, I didn't have any regular chocolate chips in the pantry, so I used mini chips instead.

You're going to be stirring in your wets with your drys, but don't over mix! Only go till everything is kind of moistened. The interesting thing about this recipe is that it uses some whole wheat flour. (Maybe because we're feeling a little guilty for putting everything else in it!)

Stir, but don't overmix!

Then you will fold in the Reese's Mini Cups and chocolate chips. Fold--don't mix or stir too much!

Fold in!

Then put divide the dough into loaf pans if you are doubling your recipe. It is a super thick dough, so don't be shy and smooth it out with a spatula.

Ready to bake?

Then we introduce Nutella to banana bread. Oh Nutella! Ah!

Spoon three good-sized dollops of Nutella on top of the dough and drag a knife through it to swirl it about.

Not quite! You need Nutella!

Now bake for a good 50 minutes to an hour. This is a thick, moist dough, so it will take some time.

And there you have it!

The best crust!

I want to point out that the crust on this bread was amazing! It really was perfectly crusty, almost a little crumbly on the outside and so soft and moist on the inside.

Just look at all this stuff that is going on in this one bread!

It's got a lot going on!

In order to maintain that crusty crust and the moist center, you can store it in a paper bag instead of a plastic bread bag.

But maybe it won't last that long!


Nutella Swirled Peanut Butter Banana Bread
(adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction)

Ingredients
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (or crunchy if you prefer)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white flour
3/4 cup wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup Reese's Mini Cups, about 1 1/2 packages (find it in the candy aisle, not the baking aisle)
1/3 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup chopped peanuts or hazelnuts (optional, or switch peanut butter to crunchy)
3 heaping tablespoons Nutella


Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray loaf pan with nonstick spray.

In a large bowl, whisk mashed bananas, peanut butter, oil, egg and sugars. In a medium bowl, stir together flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Pour dry ingredients into wet ingredients and stir till all dry ingredients have been moistened, but not overmixed.

Fold in Reese's Mini Cups, mini chocolate chips, and nuts if you opt for this. Spread batter into prepared pan and smooth. Drop Nutella in 3 different spots and swirl with a knife.

Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then loosen with sides a knife and remove from pan. Cool completely on a rack.

Enjoy!

Happy Olympics!

Eeeeeee!

I'm a little excited for the Opening Ceremonies tonight.

How can you not be when there are talks of Mary Poppins, Lord Voldemort, and James Bond showing up?!?

Anyway, since I'm that person that watches the Superbowl for the commercials, here are a few commercials that will get you into the Olympic spirit if you aren't there yet!

Good luck to all the athletes and Happy Olympics to you!

How to Make Neon Duct Tape Feather Earrings

While at Girls Camp a couple weeks ago, I was put in charge of a craft for our girls (on top of the other activity I organized). I am not a naturally crafty-type person, so it was fun to explore all the possibilities on Pinterest.

I started perusing "duct tape crafts" first, since duct tape is just fun and Lee and I have made things with it in the past. I finally decided on making Neon Duct Tape Feather Earrings.

Posing with my first pair I made

I found them at the House of Brit blog--I had a feeling that the girls would love making them. They did!

The duct tape carnage at camp

 
Let's get started!

You'll need the following supplies: 

Duct tape earring supplies

• Duct tape (Duck Tape brand has all the fun colors and patterns. I found them to be the cheapest at Home Depot, not Michael's or JoAnn's)
• Jewelry wire (purchased at Michael's)
• Earring hooks (purchased at Michael's)
• Scissors
• Pencil or pen
• One pair of needle-nose pliers

1. You'll need a flat surface for working. Cut off a piece of duct tape, double in length of the size you want your feather to be. Lay it on your work surface, sticky side up.

Face side up

2. Fold the tape in half, the sticky side onto itself. It's easy to get bubbles in the tape--just push them out with your fingernail.

Folded in half

3. Hand draw a feather outline. Don't fret--you can do it. It doesn't need to be perfect.

My amateur drawing

4. Cut your feather out.

Cut cut!

5. Cut slits along each side to resemble a feather. Don't cut too deep into the middle since this will act as the shaft of the feather. I cut the slits pointing downward and found that narrow cuts made it look better.

Smaller slits = better

See! Looking good!

I agree, looking good!

7. Cut out triangles at random places in the feather to make it more realistic. The top of the triangle should be pointed toward the middle of the feather.

Triangles make it look real

8. Next, twist and rough up the feather so it doesn't lay so flat. Feel free to pull apart a few of the slits too since they stick together.

Rough it up!

See! Looks better!

Roughed up.

9. Cut off a 3-inch piece of jewelry wire with the needle-nose pliers.

Wire, hook and feather

10. Poke one end of the wire into the base of the stem. It may be hard to get through both layers, but keep at it and it will come through! You only need a short bit to be poking out.

Poked through

11. Using the needle nose pliers, curve the end up in to a hook.

Hook it!

When you pull the wire back a bit, it should look like this:

Hooked!

12. Next, sandwich that hook and the feather between your thumb and your other fingers, twist the wire up the stem. I did this with my hands since the weight of the wire wasn't too thick. You may need to use two pair of needle-nose pliers if you're working with stiffer wire.  Also, you will be smashing the duct tape stem--that will happen and is intentional--you want the wire to hold on to the feather!

Twist up!

13. Start to create a loop at the top of the stem by angling the wire back down and slip an earring hook on. Twist the wire back down the stem.

Make a loop and twist down!

14. You'll want to tuck the end of the wire to prevent from getting poked while wearing these. With the needle-nose pliers, twist the end upward in to a hook shape. I did it this way cause it looked somewhat decent. You can do whatever you please with that end--just make sure it doesn't poke you!

Not the best hook, but it doesn't poke me

15. Adjust the loop at the top of the wire so that the feather will face forward when worn.

Make it look pretty

And there you have it!

Feel free to go crazy with layering also. Here's a few I ended up with at the end of the day.

Fun colors and patterns!

Enjoy!

Pastry Wednesday: A New Member and a Key Lime Pie from Costco

This particular Pastry Wednesday, we welcomed a new member to our group. We'll call her Rx2Ex.

Colonel Mustard invited Rx2Ex to join our PW group. Colonel Mustard was pretty sneaky about it too. It was originally his turn to bring something, but convinced Rx2Ex that she should bring the next treat as part of her first time with us.

Rx2Ex is cutting up her PW treat

That was sneaky!

But Rx2Ex was a good sport and brought a Key Lime Pie from Costco.

Now, we all were a little taken back.

Costco?

We've never had anything from Costco or a grocery store before for PW!

The Key Lime Pie from Costco--it was huge!

I've never had the key lime pie from Costco, so I set my skepticism aside and gave it a try. Plus, it wasn't a fake electric green color like other key lime pies I've seen before, which is a good sign in my book.

My slice of pie--yummy!

The crust was awesome--it was a buttery graham cracker crust that wasn't too crumbly.

The custard portion was a tart citrus flavor. Colonel Mustard commented that he is always surprised at how Key Lime pies often taste more lemon-y than lime-flavored. Hmm...I'll have to pay more attention to future Key Lime pies. I always think of Key Lime pies as too sour, but that's coming from a person who doesn't handle sour things well. Thankfully there was plenty of whipped cream to tame the tart!

My only issue with the entire pie was the custard was a little grainier in texture than I would have preferred. I wonder why it turned grainy?

Love me some graham cracker crust!

Overall, all the members of PW enjoyed it. If you haven't tried it before, it's definitely tasty.

Family Similarities

Lee and I took a quick jaunt to LA this last weekend for our nephew's baptism and to help my sister and brother-in-law clean up their apartment before moving to Iowa.

(On a side note, yay for completing Item 4 on my Summer of Progress and Fun list!)

My crazy nephews!

I can't believe my nephew is 8 years old! I remember when I first met this little guy--my heart just melted. Gosh, I'm going to miss them--Iowa is so far away!

At my nephew's baptism with the Mad Scientist

Anyway, over the two days of travel and being in LA, I was told on three separate occasions that I either sounded like, looked like, or acted like each of my three sisters.

Gem the Rocker and the Phoenix

You know, when I was a teenager, I would have cringed if someone told me this. I was my own person; I didn't want to be associated with those weird people.

Dimples and I flexing our muscles

But now, it sure is a compliment. I love my sisters and brother a whole bunch and we are definitely good friends now that we're older. I hope I can live up to their good (and crazy) names!

Happy family picture

Crazy family picture

How has your relationship with your siblings changed as you've gotten older?

Easy Marshmallow Blow Dart Guns

As I mentioned earlier, I was at Girls Camp a week ago. The theme for camp was "Sweet is the work of a daughter of God" and they played up the "sweet" part by making it Willy-Wonk-aesque and candy-focused.

All the girls had different colored shirts indicating their "sweet" group.

I was asked to help with a field day activity at camp; there are fun races and games that are set up as "Candyland" on a big field. Lee suggested a game with marshmallow blow dart guns.

Excellent idea!

(For those of you who may not know, it's a blow dart gun made out of PVC pipes and marshmallows are used as ammunition. More on technique later.)

It's really easy to make these blow dart guns. Head on over to Home Depot or Lowes and go to the plumbing aisle. You want the 1/2 inch PVC pipes.

$1.63/pipe--that's cheap entertainment and fun!

Oh dear! They are 10 feet long and I needed about 10 to 12 inch pieces, but I don't own a pair of pipe cutters. Thankfully the Home Depot does (plus a hacksaw or two for bigger pipes) and let's you use them at the store.

Feeling all handy cutting my pipes at the HD.

Because of the candy theme, Lee helped by "candy cane-ing" them with red, green and yellow electrical tape.

Lee did a great job making these plain white pipes look like candy canes.

I wanted to tie the blow dart to the candy theme, so we came up with a game called The Peppermint Ninja Pow! (Note: We're into ninjas.)

I think my sign turned out pretty cute!

Then we made these targets with varying hole sizes and point values from foam core.

Easy to make and looks pretty good!

Okay, now let's talk ammunition. Marshmallows are the best in my and Lee's opinion, but I needed to think of something different since we needed to re-use the ammo at camp. Marshmallows are not awesome if you need to re-use them.

So I tried out a couple of other things:

1. Foam ear plugs (purchased at Home Depot for about $3.00 for 7 pair) and 
2. Fluffy craft pompoms (purchased at Walmart for about $3.00 for a pack of 250 varying sizes of poofs).

Lee tested all of these options.

I opted for the fluffy pompoms for the activity since I could buy them in bulk for pretty cheap. The activity turned out pretty well and the girls had a lot of fun.

During the Candyland field day activity

Lee, of course, had to show me the superiority of marshmallows, especially in machine-gun mode!

Gross! I always put the marshmallow in the gun then blow. Boys and their spitting skills--sheesh!

Anyway, I think this would be an awesome large group date or mutual activity if you don't mind getting hit with slightly sticky marshmallows.

Have fun!


Marshmallow Blow Dart Guns

Supplies:
10 to 12 inch long pieces of 1/2 inch PVC pipe
Marshmallows (or foam earplugs or fluffy craft pompoms)

Happy Independence Day

The 4th of July is one of my most favorite holidays. I love love the 4th of July.

When we were kids, our family would camp out on the route the night before the Freedom Festival Parade in Provo. Our goal was always to get the most candy during the parade the next day.

This isn't the 4th of July. This was the Chinese Lantern Festival. I just thought it was a cute picture of us kids.

Then in the evening, we would stake out a spot on the BYU Creamery lawn to watch the fireworks going off for the Stadium of Fire. While we waited for the fireworks to start, we'd have a picnic and set off our own fireworks in the parking lot.

My little brother and sister a long time ago!

We may not watch parades now (Lee is not fond of the them), but we do have one 4th of July tradition we enjoy--helping with the neighborhood pancake breakfast.

The men manning the grills!

Pancakes on the 4th of July taste so good. Like freedom.

Happy Independence Day! Hope it's a safe one!