Mindblowingly Delicious Banana Bread

hello everyone!

Today I am sharing with you one of life’s great delights: banana bread!

Banana bread is one of those things in life that can either be mindblowingly delicious or disappointingly uninteresting.

I aim for mindblowingly delicious

Some people like plain banana bread, some like it with nuts, but personally I’m all about the chocolate chips. They really take it to the next level.

So here is how I make banana bread!

Step 1: Take out a stick of butter! 

I cannot tell you the frustration that I experience when a recipe all of the sudden tells me to add softened butter. Like, really? You tell me to preheat my oven and grease my pan but not to take out my butter?

While you’re at it grease a 9×5 loaf pan and preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

You’re welcome 

Step 2:

In a medium bowl combine:

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

 

 

Step 3: 

In yet another medium bowl mash 2 1/2 to 3 ripe bananas (I tend to vary this on the size of my bananas and just how over ripe they are)

Add a dash of milk (about a tablespoon)

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

Nutmeg. I absolutely adore nutmeg and I have lots of fresh nutmeg so I honestly just grate some in there. The amount totally depends on how nutmeg crazy you are. I probably did about a teaspoon, no guarantees.

 

(doesn’t that look appetizing?!)

Step 4:

Take that stick of butter that you’ve be softening (again, you’re welcome) and pop it into your mixing bowl.

Add about 1 cup of sugar. Again, this varies on how sweet you like your bread and the ripeness of your bananas. Mine were VERY ripe so I did about 3/4 a cup.

Add a dash of vanilla because honestly when was the last time you baked anything WITHOUT vanilla

Beat together until light and fluffy

Step 5: 

Add two eggs, beating well after each one.

I used a white egg and a brown egg because I believe in equality.

Also that’s just what I had.

Step 6:

Beat in the banana/cinnamon/nutmeg mixture followed by the flour mixture.

Your batter should look something like this

If it doesn’t, what the heck did you do?

Step 7:

Fold in one cup of those glorious chocolate chips. I use semi sweet.

Step 8:

Take that pan you greased and pour in your banana chocolate goodness.

Bake at 325 degrees for about 70 minutes*

***Note: The first time I made this banana bread it didn’t get done all the way through, it is VERY dense. Normally my oven is fast! Err on the side of a longer baking time.

While you’re waiting, try not to cry about the amount of dishes you have to do.

But actually, get on that. 

Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before taking it out of the pan and placing it on a rack.

I neglected to take a picture of the finished product because I was too busy eating it.

Best Wishes to you Bakers!

xoxo ❤

I Have Lived

Take comfort in the stars, their constant beaming light

Put your trust in the moon, you will live to see it fill and empty countless times

For if you never do anything with your life

If you can never boast any accomplishments

You can still say:

“I have seen the moon,

I have marveled at the heavens,

I have seen flowers grow and die,

I have felt the wind battering my body and soul,

I have cursed the bitter cold and known the comfort of the sun,

I have seen it rise in the morning

and set in the evening with the promise of tomorrow.

I have been in awe of the rolling sea

I have laid amongst the blades of grass

and felt mud between my toes.

I have heard the songs of the birds

and I have bid them farewell.”

And if you have done nothing with your life but live, then you have accomplished much.

For many are buried without ever being alive.
And few eyes have seen the true beauty of the earth

My only wish for you is for you to live.

Be fiercely and unapologetically alive!

So that when the time comes

And it is your dying day

You can say with certainty and conviction, with joy and pride, loudly and clearly

“I have lived”

Engulfed in Light

 

Look within

And you will find all that you need.

Every strength necessary.

Call upon your miraculous soul

And it will rise ,and the grace will engulf you

All that you are and all that you can be, it is all present.

Circumstance draws out that strength and makes is visible

But it has always been there.

All that you need, you possess.

Let the glory of your soul shine out.

You contain so much light.

 

 

A Weird Poem About my Foot

hello everyone!

Here’s a weird little poem I wrote about my foot.

 

Two weeks ago I flew

Quite unsteadily

I landed on the floor

My foot in agony!

I did not try again

I knew something was amiss

And I walked away that night

Cursing the abyss

The doctor told me it was sprained

he put me in a boot

He said “ten days and you’ll be done”

It will heal your little foot

Ten days have come and gone

I have not jumped or flown

And still this boot is on

With no healing to be shown

I wrote this poem about my foot

I really don’t know why

Perhaps because I’m really annoyed with this doctor guy

Little foot please hurry up

It’s getting pretty old

I need to go to dance tonight

Just do what you are told!

The Elixir of Life

hello everyone!

So, recently I’ve discovered the elixir of life!

And it’s lemons!

I’ve become quite offended by the phrase “when life gives you lemons…” because honestly if life gave me lemons I would have a party.

Drown me in lemons

Throw them at me.

Yeah, I’d be a human target if it meant I got lemons.

Because lemons are great! They have so many uses and they will make your life happier and cleaner and brighter.

So here are a few way in which lemons will save your life:

#1 The first use is obviously to eat them! Making lemon water hot or cold is so good for you! It has tons of Vitamin C and antioxidants and if you have a sore throat lemons will be your best friend.

#2 Rub that stuff on yo face! Take the end of a lemon, dip it in sugar and scrub away. The sugar will exfoliate and the lemon will brighten your skin and help make those acne scars go away! What’s not to love!  {if you have sensitive skin be careful, don’t get too lemon happy and start squeezing it all over yourself while laughing deleriously} 

#3 Clean clean clean. Does your sink smell? throw a lemon down there! Is your faucet dull and stained? Rub a lemon on it! Need to polish your wood? Mix 1 part lemon with 2 parts olive oil! Do your hands smell like onion? Rub a lemon on it! Is your hair not shiny? rinse it with lemon juice!

The list goes on and on, but for the sake of everyones sanity I’ll end it there. But for heavens sake stop crying when life gives you lemons and go rub them on your face.

You’ll feel better I promise

Now if you’ll excuse me I need to go buy more lemons

xoxo ❤

Offical Spokesperson for Lemons

 

Be Thankful You Have a Face to be Slapped by the Universe

Hello Everyone!

Let’s talk about thankfulness.

I’m talking about real thankfulness here. Not the Go-Around-The-Table-And-Say-What-Your-Thankful-For kind of thankfulness, that kind is just weird, socially, and makes everyone uncomfortable. (Should I say “My wonderful and supportive family”? or “I don’t have terminal cancer”?)

Real thankfulness isn’t easy. Because real thankfulness isn’t just being glad when life is going your way. Thankfulness is being thankful for what you have even when life is slapping you in the face. (In that instance you should be thankful that you have a face to be slapped)

Thankfulness has been pretty hard for me recently. There seems to be a lot of things to groan about. And cry about. And worry about. And just fall apart over.

It’s especially hard when you feel like the things that are most important to you are being ripped away from you. But examine your life. Do you still have good relationships? Do you still have people that care about you? Because a lot of the time we have these things and we forget that these are the most important things in life.

I’m trying to count my blessings. I’m writing them down. I’m making myself appreciate all that I have.

You should try it too.

 

xoxo ❤

I Still Have a Face To Be Slapped

A Nitrogen Infused Bus Adventure

hello everyone!

Yesterday was Tuesday and Tuesdays mean Lucy. Every single Tuesday I make the arduous journey (15 whole minutes!) to see my best friend. (Really its not just Tuesdays, Tuesday is just our IT ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY IS FOR CERTAIN THAT WE WILL SEE EACH OTHER TODAY day.)

We have four drivers that live at my house and 3 cars, but one currently can’t go over 40 mph otherwise an odd and disconcerting noise comes from it. (don’t ask me, I don’t know why) The other car had been taken by my sister to school so that left one car. My parents special baby. The Subaru Forester.

You all thought I was going to say something way cooler right? Yeah well we don’t have that kind of money, SORRY.

The Subaru is special because it’s brand new. Well actually its about 9 months old but since our cars usually average on about 20 years old it is very new. Hence I am never allowed to drive it. But since it was our ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY CERTAIN I WILL SEE YOU  TODAY day, I was allowed to take the car. To Lucy’s house and Lucy’s house only.

So I drove to Lucy’s house all the while praying to God that I wouldn’t encounter any drunk drivers (at noon) because NOTHING could happen to this car. (never mind myself, I’d rather die.)

I told Lucy that we couldn’t go anywhere because I had to drive the Subaru to her house and her house only. And she said:

“Well we could take the bus! Let’s have a bus adventure.”

That sounded fabulous to me so we headed off to the bus stop on our way to Quixotic Coffee. (There was a coffee shop we could have walked to but what’s the fun in that?)

We boarded the bus, quarters perfectly counted out in hand and began our adventure.

The ride on the way was  great, we made it there in no time and walked to the coffee shop.

We both decided we just wanted some cold brew so I went up to order.

Me: “Hi, we’d like two small cold brew’s for here please.”

Trendy Barista: “ok, well, do you want regular cold brew of NITRO?”

Lucy: “What’s nitro?”

Trendy Barista: “Oh well we infuse it with nitrogen and it gets frothy and stuff…”

Me: “Ok, we’ll have that.”

Try something new, right?

No, it was awful, the most acidic thing we had ever tasted and it made our stomachs feel like they were on fire. But we still managed to have a great time.

(Look she’s laughing so hard because I’m SO funny! Also because…IS that beer?)

So after our disappointing coffee we left to go catch the bus. We got to the bus stop and immediately saw a bus coming! That must be our bus! So we hopped on and immediately the bus turned in a direction we knew was not home.

We though “Maybe he’s going to turn again?” Nope. So we got off after about 10 blocks and had to drudge back…

we got to the station again and saw another bus coming and this one WAS the right one. we immediately jumped up from the bench like the Bobbsey twins SO READY.

They drove right by us.

Lucy: “That was so mean he KNEW we wanted to get on that bus!”

We then realized we were supposed to be at the bus stop across the street.

Me: “I wish there was a bench to sit down.”

Lucy: “I don’t I always get too nervous that they won’t see me.”

Finally the bus comes and we are so ready. Coins prepared. But when we get on the bus there is no place to put the change. So we walked confusedly on the bus and slowly put our fistfuls of coins back in our pockets. There was a woman with some groceries who knew we were dumb. But SURELY this bus would take us home!

But when the bus stopped at a major station the driver yelled “Have a nice day EVERYONE!” Like he knew we would be confused and he promptly left the bus.

After that we decided we had had enough of a bus adventure (plus we were just way too confused) so it was walking from there.

Shortly Lucy’s boyfriend called and we begged him to pick us up because we were so tired.

Thanks Francis.

I hope you enjoyed this sad story of two girls who are just really bad at the transit system.

 

xoxo ❤

The Bobbsey Twins

 

 

 

 

My Baking Comeback: Scones

hello everyone!

today I have a marvelous recipe for you! you may be thinking “Mikala! You’re baking again after the Chocolate Torte incident?!”  

Yes, I am. I have decided to brave the perilous world of baking after that disaster with a stout heart. (If you haven’t heard that riveting story, read it here)

I have recently discovered a fabulous recipe for the best scones you will ever eat and I thought it was too good not to blog about. I am now realizing that I could have kept the recipe to myself and been infamous for my scones and have people asking me every day “How are they so good” and “What is your secret!”

But I’m a nice person so I’ll tell you

First things first: preheat your oven to 425 degrees

1. Get out a cold stick of butter and cut it into small cubes, then put them back in the freezer to chill out.

2. In a large mixing bowl combine

• 3 cups flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons of baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt

3. Get the butter out of the freezer and using a pastry cutter, cut in the butter until the mixture is crumbly. If you have  few larger pieces of butter that’s okay.

4. Measure out 1 cup of dried currants and 2 Tablespoons of finely chopped fresh rosemary and add it to the flour- butter mixture *another good flavor is cranberry- orange and almond. Use 3/4 cup dried cranberries, 1/4 cup slivered almonds, 1 Tablespoon orange zest and a dash of almond extract*

5.  Measure out 1 1/2 cups heavy cream. (If you don’t have cream, substitute buttermilk which can be easily made by adding a Tablespoon of vinegar to milk and letting it stand for 5 minutes)

Add your cream (or buttermilk) to the flour mixture gradually. Make sure to evenly distribute the cream or else you will have a lot of flour that won’t combine. 

Your mixture might be quite crumbly but don’t worry! Crumbly scone mixtures although a little hard to work with make good, flakey scones!

6. Generously flour your work surface and dump this mixture out.

Quickly knead the dough if you have a lot of crumbly bits left over. Then, roll the dough out into a rectangle.

7. Gently fold the rectangle in half. Then roll it out again and fold it over again. Repeat this a total of three times.

                     

8. When you have rolled your dough out into your last rectangle, take a large knife and cut the rectangle into two squares. Cut these squares into X’s. The dough should be about 3/4 an inch thick.

You can leave the scones this size or make them smaller. They will puff up in the oven.

9. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper and place your scones on them. Then, brush your scones with cream and sprinkle them with sugar.

10. Finally, wish your scones luck and pop them into the oven for 18-20 minutes or until the start to become golden brown.

Now eagerly wait the ding of the timer while you procrastinate on doing all the dishes that you dirtied. Make yourself some English Breakfast tea and enjoy your hot scones with some butter.

I hope that you get a chance to experience the delight that these scones will bring you.

If you made this recipe make sure to flaunt it in everyone’s face and bring them to every party so you can be the awesome, domestic girl who always makes the amazing scones.

xoxo ❤

Resurrected Baker

 

 

 

Back to Basics

hello everyone!

today I have an outfit post! There are two outfits, both of them are very basic and use two staple pieces from my wardrobe that I wear all the time! An army green jacket and brown combat boots.

Outfit #1

The first outfit is a very typical outfit for me to wear. Basically jeans and a t-shirt. So exciting!

Let’s start from the top, a very good place to start! (That’s not right…just go with it.)

My necklace is from Charlotte Russe and I love it sooo much. I really love the layered necklace trend that is happening right now…

Also, my brother saw me wearing this necklace and asked said “I like your necklace, is it supposed to be the deathly hallows?” and I instantly loved it even more. #HarryPotterForever

I’m just wearing a basic, white, v-necked t-shirt from Kohl’s. It’s super soft and comfy! I tucked it into my jeans which are also from Kohl’s (what can I say they were having a sale) 

I’m really loving these jeans at the moment…there’s just something about the double buttons…

 

Then Lucy told me to pose like a model and I did this…

Then some awkward dancing followed…

Let’s just move on.

 

Outfit #2

This outfit is a little more girly and it’s basically what I wear every day of my life. 

I’m in love with this long sleeved dress from Charlotte Russe, it’s probably the softest dress I’ve ever felt in my life.

I’ve also been really obsessed with legwarmers lately. I think they’re so cute and they keep me so warm! Living in Minnesota I really can’t wait to wear my dresses until the weather is nice because let’s face it…it’s never really very nice.

Here’s me being walked by Lucy’s dog Millie.

She was really keen for a walk, and we were really keen for her to stop barking…

I hope you enjoyed these basic outfits!

xoxo ❤

Basic Girl…wait…

Moments

hello everyone!

so I’ve been thinking a lot recently about time an what a funny thing it is. An idea that I’ve been obsessing over is freezing moments. I just love things that capture a moment in time. I love pictures, I love videos, I love journals, anything that preserves time.

Because if you freeze time you can always go back. That picture that you took yesterday or that letter from your friend that you decided to save, that’s a physical memory.

I like to think that I’m documenting my life, so that when I’m old I can pull out boxes of pictures and old journals and cards and think “wow my life really has been amazing”

I just want to save the beauty that I see so that I can have it with me forever. I want my life to be a continual hunt to find beauty in anything and everything, to freeze that moment of joy or awe or even sorrow.

Live life one moment at a time.

xoxo<3