Cool Kid Caramelized Banana Pudding

I was 'surfing the web' the other day and I came across this recipe, and I just thought to myself, "Oh. My . God. I am so hungry!" I realized how hungry I really was and that I really needed to fill the giant hole in my stomach, because I really needed something to eat. Anyway, back to the recipe. I was 'surfing the web' and I came across this caramelized banana pudding recipe, and it looked so delicious (especially on top of all my hunger), and so I told myself that I just had to make it. I mean, when you see something this delicious (imagine the most delicious thing you can imagine), how can you not resist the urge to just rush to the kitchen (I know, I know, that sounds really cheesy, but it didn't in my head!)? So, with that delicious thing in mind, think of a caramelized banana pudding, and you will realize how un-delicious that other thing you were thinking of is. So I found the recipe for this super cool kid caramelized banana pudding at My Recipes, and  while I was looking I found some pretty great other recipes if you wanted to check them out here


Ingredients:
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/4 teaspoon bananas, sliced
1 cup granulated sugar, divided
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 large eggs
2 cups milk
4 large eggs, separated
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
48 vanilla wafers

Method:

Cook first 3 ingredients in a large skillet over medium heat, stirring constantly, 2 to 3 minutes or until bubbly.
Add bananas; cook 2 to 3 minutes or until thoroughly heated.
Remove from heat.
Whisk together 3/4 cup granulated sugar, next 3 ingredients, and 4 egg yolks in a heavy saucepan.
Cook over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, 8-10 minutes or until a pudding-like thickness. (Mixture will just begin to bubble and will hold soft peaks when whisk is lifted.)
Remove from heat, and stir in vanilla.
Divide half of banana mixture, pudding, and vanilla wafers.
Beat 4 egg whites at high speed with an electric mixer until foamy.
Add remaining 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 1 Tbsp. at a time, beating until stiff peaks form and sugar dissolves (2 to 4 minutes).
Spread meringue over ramekins.
Place ramekins on a baking sheet.
Bake at 325º for 15 to 20 minutes or until meringue is golden.
Let cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes.

Image curtesy of Southern Living

Plum And Cinnamon Oat Slices That Are Better Than What You Buy In The Store

So, the end of the quarter is coming up in about a week and, of course, most of my teachers have decided to give me tests this week. Of course we have the vocab final on Wednesday in English, but I have known about that for the entire quarter, same thing with my vocab final in AP Geography. That makes them acceptable. My french on the other hand, not quite. She decides to give us this huge, 6 part test, with barely any warning. What happened was, apparently on Monday it was on her canvas page saying we had a test on wednesday, but then on Tuesday, it wasn't on her canvas page and same thing on Wednesday. It did not say that we had a test.But.. she gave it to us anyways, and so we had to take the test with about a ten minute warning (as if that would have changed how I studied for that particular test), but I still managed to scrape a 100% (not meaning to brag, JK, I kinda am :\ ). So then she announced that we would be taking the next four parts of it on Friday (2 days away) and so we all said out loud, "ooh, I need to study up on the vocab" and in our heads "god, why does she have to give us a stupid test that we are supposed to study for but I'm really not because I will end up watching movies on Megashare instead." So that was how the second to last week of the quarter went for me. Not too great because now I need to prepare the whole weekend for my four gimongous test that are coming up in the next week before the quarter ends. So since I had that French test, I figured, why don't I be different from everyone else and instead of watching movies, I'll make myself a little snack for all of this hard work I will soon be doing to prepare for my quarter finals, and so I riffled through my copy of Delia's How To Cook Book Two, and I came across the recipe for Plum And Cinnamon Oat Slices. So, since you will probably be studying for finals soon, let me give you the recipe so that you can concentrate better whilst studying.

Ingredients:

1 lb (450 g) fresh plums
1 rounded teaspoon ground cinnamon
10 oz (275 g) organic plain wholemeal flour
5 oz (150 g) organic porridge oats
1 teaspoon salt
8 oz (255 g) butter
4 oz (110 g) light brown soft sugar

Method:

First, preheat the oven to 400ºFahrenheit
Cut all of the plums in half, around an through their natural line, give a little twist to separate the halves and remove the stones, then cut them into thin slices.
Now place them in a bowl and toss them around with the cinnamon.
Next mix the flour and the porridge oats together with the salt in a mixing bowl, then melt the butter and the sugar in a small saucepan over a fairly gentle heat.
Stir from time to time until the butter has melted.
Now mix the melted butter and sugar with the oat mixture, starting with a wooden spoon but finishing it off with your hands so you end up with a lump of dough.
Now half the mixture and press one half into a lightly greased non-stick baking pan measuring 10 x 6 inches and 1 inch deep, pressing it firmly all over the base with your hands like a wall-to-wall carpet.
Next scatter the plums evenly over the surface.
Then top with the remaining oat mixture, again pressing down firmly.

Now place the pan on the center shelf of the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, or a bit longer if you like the top really crispy.
Then, remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before cutting into 15 squares (To do this make 2 cuts lengthways, then 4 cuts width ways. Don't worry if they aren't perfectly even.)
If you would like it to be round, it can also be made in a 9 inch springform pan.

Beautiful Strawberry-Buttermilk Sherbet

So I was surfing the web the other day for some pretty amazingly good recipe for sharing, and I came across this one on MyRecipes, and it caught my eye. I had never made ice cream before, or at least nothing that looks or tastes anything at all like ice cream. I thought that this would be a super cool recipe to try out, and that alls y'alls would want to see the recipe. I think that it would be a really great one to try out, but the only catch is that you need an ice cream maker. Even though you need an ice cream maker to make it into ice cream, you could probably also just freeze it in the freezer, or make it in a blender with lots of ice, or pre-frozen fruits instead of fresh fruits.  I wanted to try and make this because I have an older sister who can be kinda judge-y. I wanted to make it super-duper good, because then I would have bragging rights because she used my recipe to make scones, and so she had been saying "I made the best scones!" and so I really wanted to show her up. So let's see if this recipe helps you to impress people just like it did for me.

Ingredients:

2 cups fresh strawberries
2 cups buttermilk
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Fresh mint sprigs for the garnish

Method:

 Process strawberries in a food processor or blender 30 seconds or until smooth, stopping to scrape down sides. 

Pour strawberry puree through a fine wire-mesh strainer into a large bowl, pressing with back of a spoon. 

Discard solids. 

Add the buttermilk, sugar, and vanilla to puree; stir until well blended. 

Cover and chill 1 hour.

Pour strawberry mixture into freezer container of a 1 1/2-qt. electric ice cream maker, and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions. (Instructions and times may vary.) 

Garnish, if desired.

Image Courtesy of Schnitzel and The Trout Blog

My Very Own Smoothie

So I was thinking of what would be a good recipe to share on this blog that I am doing every week, and so obviously I am thinking of all the best recipes I have ever used to make delicious things (usually desserts), and naturally, they were all recipes that belonged to or were created by other people. I realized that I love to cook, but I have never really tried to make my own smoothie. I was just kinda messing around and putting things together that might taste good, but then I tried to make it healthy... and that was when it started to get messed up. I made it the first time in a Vitamix blender, and to be honest it probably didn't taste that good anyways, but once I had made it I put it into clear cups... and it was green. Oops. Not very appealing to 8 year olds. So I tried again, and again, but my little bro didn't like any of them. The one I made last night though, he actually liked it! It was made of mainly fruits, but it still turned out green because of the lil' bit of spinach that I threw in there. So, here is the recipe so that you can try making it yourself and tell me if you liked it!

Ingredients:

1 cup strawberries
1/2 banana
1 handful spinach
1 cup ice
1/3 cup milk (or add more if you want it creamier)
1 tablespoon maple syrup

Method:

Plug in the Vitamix to the wall.
Put all of the ingredients into the blender.
Put the lid on the blender.
Change the settings to frozen dessert or smoothie.
Turn it on and let it blend all the ingredients together.
Pour the mixture into the cups.
Voila! :)