Banana Chocolate-Chip Muffins - Happy Valentine's Day!

Hurluuurrrr! (That's "Hello" in ermergehrd-speak, in case you couldn't tell.)

Again, I haven't posted in a long time because I'm (yes, you know the drill) SUPER DUPER BUSY. My Syntax professor decided to give us a take-home midterm (which was actually an extra-long homework assignment) due on Valentine's Day. :( If you asked me to describe my experience, I would say that it was 16 pages of sleeplessness, tears, and crushed dreams. But hey, it's over now!

Since the midterm/assignment was ridiculously hard, I had to collaborate with some other students in the class. I ended up making banana chocolate-chip muffins for all of us. They were pretty yummy and definitely made Syntax more bearable. Because muffins are most important, I'll share the recipe first:

Banana Chocolate-Chip Muffins

(Makes 12 muffins - Recipe adapted from Food.com)

3 medium very ripe bananas (Psst! College girl over here who ain't got no time to wait for dining hall bananas to ripen. Heat up your reasonably ripe bananas over a stove with a little brown sugar. This will make them squishy enough to mix in your batter!)
1 egg 

1/3 cup milk
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1  cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup chocolate chips

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line muffin tins with paper liners
3. In large bowl, mash bananas with fork.
4. Whisk in egg, milk, granulated sugar, and brown sugar.
5. In separate bowl, combine flour and baking soda
6. Add flour mixture to banana mixture and combine well.
7. Fold in chocolate chips.
8. Spoon equal amounts of batter into 12 muffin cups.
9. Bake 20 - 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
10. Allow to cool slightly in tin, then remove and eat them! Be sure to share them with people you love :) Yummmm~

So... About Valentine's Day! This is the second year in a row that I'm celebrating it as a single lady. I don't like to say, "alone," because the truth is, I'm never alone. I am so blessed to have such strong social support around me. My parents and circle of friends are simply amazing.

Last year, I was actually dumped right before Valentine's Day! It really crushed me - it didn't come as a surprise, but I still felt hurt. I was forced to realize that what crushed me was the feeling of being single. Not missing him. In fact, I didn't even like him as a person, and I had nothing in common with him. I'm not saying he's a terrible guy or anything, but the two of us were most definitely not meant to be. I clung to him because I thought it was better than being "alone."

Things started looking up after that happened. I learned a lot about accepting myself. I wound up meeting a really great guy, and we had fun together. Although things broke off, it was on pretty good terms. And now? I've been single for... well. About 7 months, forrealsies! I'm not saying that I'm completely okay with it all the time. I still battle insecurity, and I still feel lonely sometimes. But overall, I'm a LOT more proud to be me. Since being single, I have done the following:

1) Cut my hair short... SUPER short. Like, girlie faux-hawk short. Pffft, who needs waist-length hair? (To be fair, I am now starting to grow my hair back out hahaha)
2) Volunteered abroad in a foreign country where sanitation was not the greatest, and I didn't speak the language AT ALL.
3) Learned Spanish, sort of (This was directly caused by #2)
4) Became a writing tutor for freshmen at my college
5) Tried my hand at being a TA for an introductory Psychology class
6) Became a peer educator with Counseling and Psychological Services in my university.
7) Started working out regularly. I'm starting to get muscles, guyz!!!
8) Focused more on my friends. Platonic relationships are the bestest thing. Why didn't I try to cultivate more friendships earlier?!
9) Learned to laugh at myself. I'm a huge dork and I do stupid stuff sometimes. But that doesn't mean I'm not awesome... plus embarrassing stories = the best stories!
10) Got the confidence to start speaking in class... AND going to office hours. What? My professors know me by name? How did that happen?!
11) Explored my super-weird fashion sense. I wear cat ears sometimes, and I really enjoy fake hipster glasses. If you don't dig them, that's cool. However, I do, and that's what's important to me :)

In conclusion... life is good right now. I hope that as you're reading this, life is good for you as well! You don't need Valentine's Day to know that you are special and loved. And most of all, you don't need to be in a relationship. I hope I got that across, although I'm sure it was pretty awkward.

PS: I got to go out for Valentine's dinner with one of my besties! Since I wasn't trying to look sexy, I decided to wear kitty-cat tights. Not gonna lie, I most definitely would NOT wear that on a date to impress a guy ahahaha... But I had way more fun with her than I've ever had on a "romantic" date!

 

Gingerbread Cookies

HELLO!

I'm pretty excited right now because Christmas is coming! When I was really little, my mama convinced me that robbers would come down the chimney and steal my Christmas gifts if I didn't sleep next to the tree to guard them. At that age, I already doubted the existence of Santa. Those robbers? Yeah, I thought they were a legitimate threat. This "Santa" business was probably a cover story for these highly trained, ninja-present-robbers.

Looking back, this might have been a vaguely malicious thing to tell a four-year-old girl... and yes, I did sleep in front of the tree every Christmas Eve. And I still do. I'm twenty now, you do the math. Was this an awkward story? Probably, huh. Well, you wanna know something ELSE that's awkward?

Attractive guys! Attractive guys are not inherently awkward, but I never know what to say to them. One of my friends told me that I shouldn't be awkward because I'm attractive as well. However, I think the real problem is that I have the subtlety of a brick wall.

Me: "I wish it was socially acceptable to just say, 'Hi! You're really cute and I'M really cute, so we should just be cute together and get coffee!'"
Friend: "Uh... that might work. I mean, maybe if he was really desperate he'd be willing to overlook that awkwardness. I think you're supposed to show that you're interested in his PERSONALITY, not his looks."
Me: "So... 'Hi! You're really cute, and I'm really cute, but I like people based on MORE than their appearance, so we should find out if we have compatible personalities and get coffee!"'
Friend: "No. Just... no. No."

Clearly, I'm a lost cause in the romantic realm. That would be pretty depressing if it weren't for the fact that I make awesome food for myself to eat, and I would probably have to share that awesome food if I were playing the dating game. This would cause there to be less awesome food for myself, so I'll stay single and stare at good looking guys from my window using binoculars.
...
I'M  SERIOUSLY JOKING, SHEESH. (Besides, there's a giant tree outside my window and it blocks my view.)

Now that you probably think I'm a certified creep, it's time to do some damage control on my image and talk about one of the awesome foods I made...

GINGERBREAD COOKIES!

I know that you were expecting me to say "Gingerbread Men" but that is an astonishingly patriarchal and stereotypical assumption. Nah, nah, I kid. It really comes down to what kind of cookie cutters I have available. In this case, I had teddy bears, hearts, crescent moons, Christmas trees, and stars. BUT! Regardless of their shapes, they are seriously delicious and slightly crispy. I got  the recipe from Mrs. Fields (I love that woman) and bought icing in squeeze-y tubes to decorate them. They really don't need frosting, these cookies stand well on their own.

Gingerbread Cookies/Men

(Makes 3-4 dozen cookies, Recipe from Mrs. Fields Cookie Book)

3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 cup salted butter, softened
3/4 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
1 large egg
1/2 cup unsulfured molasses

1. Preheat oven to 325°F.
2. Mix together flour, soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in a medium bowl.
3. In large bowl with an electric mixer cream butter and sugar. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add egg and molasses, and beat on medium speed until smooth. Scrape bowl and add the flour mixture. Blend on low speed until combined; do not overmix.
4. Separate dough into 2 balls and flatten into disks. Wrap each disk lightly in plastic wrap or a plastic bag, and refrigerate 1 hour or until firm.
5. On floured surface with a floured rolling pin, roll dough out to 1/4 inch thickness. With floured cookie cutters cut into gingerbread men. Gather scraps and reroll dough until all dough is used. Place on ungreased baking sheets 1/2 inch apart.
6. Bake for 8-10 minutes. When cookies cool, you can eat them. Or decorate them. Or do both. Have some fun!

I hope you have a very Merry Christmas, and that you spend it with your loved ones. Presents are great, but I really just love the family-time that Christmas symbolizes to me. Even if you don't celebrate Christmas, at least you should enjoy all the seasonal drinks that Starbucks has right now! Mmm, eggnog latte. Here is an unnecessary photo of me enjoying that very beverage.

 I hope you try making the gingerbread cookies! I will write more blog posts soon. I have a few new recipes I want to share :)

 

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Hello y'all! *Ahem*
So... you may or may not have noticed that I have NOT blogged anything for a quite a long time. I have a really, really good excuse, I promise. Uh...
*crickets chirping*
I mean, being kidnapped by aliens makes it REALLY hard to write blog posts and make recipes.... you don't believe that I was kidnapped by aliens? Well fine then. You were right, I wasn't kidnapped by aliens.

However, in my defense I would like to say that balancing 3 jobs and taking 18 units of classes is hard and takes time away from things I want to do, like write super cute blog posts and share tasty recipes.

Right now I am nearly at the end of Fall Quarter, and I cannot believe how much stuff I still need to do. May I just say that grading essays is a BUMMER? I'm an IA (Instructional Assistant) for an Introduction to Psychology course, and I have over twenty lovely, lovely students. I believe they are bright young individuals who will move on to do great things. I'm sure that none of them intended to write essays that would make me lose hope in humanity, but alas, a few of them did. (Dear students, there is something called a "textbook." It worries me that it is so late in the quarter, and so many of  have failed to incorporate this wondrous object into your lives.) SIGH.

I made super-duper delicious pumpkin chocolate chip muffins a while ago, and forgot to post it. I also didn't take any photos (Boo! Alina how could you?!) So I have instead included a picture of pumpkin chocolate chip muffins from All Recipes, which look nearly identical to the muffins I made. Let's be real, muffins are muffins.

I brought these goodies to my Section of students during the first week of October and they gobbled 'em up. I strongly believe that these muffins are the reason that my students like me so much. A couple of weeks ago I asked them to give anonymous feedback regarding my teaching style, and nearly all of them mentioned my "fun and energetic personality." While I do think I am fun and energetic, I have no illusions about the power that food has over hungry eighteen year olds. 

I mean, do you think that THIS FACE would inspire so much affection without the help of pumpkin chocolate chip muffins? Oh please, as if. (Beeeteedubs, isn't my giant plush reproduction of a neuron - aka a brain cell - adorable? Look at it. I spent a lot of precious class-time explaining how neurons worked to my students...)

If you need to win the love of anyone -- your friends, your boss, or even your Psychology students... I promise that these muffins will do the trick :) Enjooooy!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

 (Makes approximately a dozen - Recipe adapted from All-Recipes)

 1/4 Cup white sugar

 1/2 Cup brown sugar

1/4 Cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

3/4 Cup canned pumpkin (PLAIN pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling!)

1/4 Cup water

3/4 Cup all-purpose flour

3/4 Cup whole wheat flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp all-spice/pumpkin-pie spice (may add more or less to suit your personal preference)

3/4 Cup mini-chocolate chips (I like mini-chocolate chips because they do not sink to the bottom of the muffins and ensure that every single bite is chocolate-y. If you want to use regular chocolate chips, just make sure that you get them slightly wet and coat them with flour to prevent sinking.)

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Prepare your muffin pan and line it with your paper liners. (Or you can grease and flour your pan, whatever floats your boat.)

2. In a medium-sized bowl, mix together your sugar, oil, and eggs. Add the pumpkin and water to this liquidy pulp. 

3. In a separate (large) bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and pumpkin-pie spice. 

4. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture in the large bowl. Mix it up like you mean business. Add in your chocolate chips and try not to drool.

6. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake in your preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes.

I hope y'all try this recipe out! It's so easy and yummy. One of my friends said that these were literally the best things I've ever made. That's a pretty strong compliment considering I make some pretty bomb desserts. Anyway, I promise I'll try to post more. I know I've been really bad about that lately...

Easy Caramel French Toast - I'm BAAAACK!

Hola chicos! Que tal? Para mi, todo bien. :)

Well, here I am, 2 months later... I wanted to update my blog, but Cusco is not a city known for its fast internet. Or television. Or clean water. Or hot showers. But I digress. Here in the U.S. of A, we forget that our standard of living is NOT the norm around the world; instead, we're incredibly privileged.

In the program that I did in Cusco, I spent my first four weeks in a host family, and took Spanish classes at Amauta Language School. For my second four weeks, I lived in the student residences of Amauta and volunteered at la Clinica de San Juan de Dios with disabled children. This was my first time truly away from home and my parents, and also my first time using a language other than English. I actually did succeed in learning Spanish - while not quite fluent, I'm conversational and can definitely get by in a Spanish-speaking country. I also made some really close friends, and I'm grateful for having this opportunity to meet them. I did some amazing trips (Machu Picchu WHADDUPPP?!) and even went rock climbing and river rafting for the very first time!

All in all, this trip was a complete success! The recipe I'm gonna share with you is something that I made in Peru. Considering I didn't have access to some ingredients, AND I used a super scary gas burning stove (seriously, that thing nearly killed me. I'm the idiot who doesn't even know how to use matches. Also, I don't smoke, don't even get me started on lighters.), I think it turned out super duper well! I actually made this French Toast for a Spanish class assignment! Our teacher wanted us to make a recipe from our own country in class, while describing the recipe in Spanish. He claimed that this is so we could practice using the Imperative Form, but I think he just wanted an excuse to eat food in class.

America is such a mixed bag of cultures, so it was really hard for me to think of an iconic recipe that I could do with minimal equipment. I finally decided on French Toast, though I felt a little leery about it; I mean, FRENCH Toast hints at something decidedly un-American. However, I was reassured when the one French student in my class told me she had never heard of "Tostada Frances con huevos, azucar, y canela." Also, one of my Belgian friends told me that they call this dish "Lost Bread" in Belgium!

Easy French Toast

(Serves 6 - Recipe adapted from All Recipes)

4 eggs

3/4 C milk

3 tbsp sugar

12 slices white bread

Manjar/Dulce de Leche for drizzling over the toast*

1. Beat the eggs in a large mixing bowl, then add the milk and sugar. Continue to beat until fully combined.

2. Soak bread slices in the egg mixture, moving quickly so the bread is covered, but not soggy.

3. Heat a lightly buttered griddle or frying pan over medium heat. Brown the slices on both sides - this should take only a couple of minutes. Serve hot, with maple syrup or dulce de leche!

* In the States, we usually use maple syrup. In Peru, maple syrup seemed pretty expensive so I bought manjar, which is what Peruvians apparently call dulce de leche. Dulce de leche is a type of thick caramel made from condensed milk, which is popular in a lot of Latin American sweets. You can find it in cans in lots of supermarkets! If you prefer, you can definitely use maple syrup. However, I actually think the French Toast was better with manjar... mmm, caramel.

Hahaha I get a kick out of everything being in Spanish. I'm sure that when my Spanish improves, I'll get tired of being quasi-bilingual. And yesss, evaporated milk, it's cheaper than real milk! And the French toast still tasted AWESOME.

So give this recipe a go when you want a super simple, fast, and tasty breakfast! I promise, you won't be disappointed. Here's a last photo of me looking triumphant at Macchu Pichu. I'm sure that I would have looked even happier if I had eaten a breakfast of French Toast... instead of stale granola bars and Pringles (bleh) hahaha