Recently I've been reflecting on my cooking habits and wishing I had more of a pattern. I have a credit at Shutterfly to make a photo book, and I've been thinking it might be fun to make a little cookbook of my favorites. As I was making my idea list, I had a hard time narrowing things down. I realized that my husband and I don't eat a lot of repeats, even when something comes out great (unless of course we need something fast and easy). Because I cook new dishes often, I never get a feeling that I've mastered something. I'm going to try and work on that more by revisiting some past favorites that are tucked into my recipe box. I think to really get a feel for cooking something you should make it at least three times.
Repeats are for another day though since I've got a backlog of food photos to blog on. Most of the new recipes came out well, but I had a bad cupcake experience last week when I wanted to make a treat for my brother who was visiting. (Note to self: Don't test new recipes for company if you really want it to come out, even if you're feeling invincible.) My husband and my brother ate the cupcakes like they were fine, but for me every attempt to give the gross-cakes another try ended with most of it being thrown into the trashcan.
Several days before that disappointment we had some bananas that weren't looking too happy. I did a quick Google search for Banana-Chocolate Chip Muffins and found a promising recipe. The initial plan was to make my recipe for Spelt Almond-Banana Bread, but it was after dinner and I wanted something fluffy with a little chocolate. Well, I ended up loving the recipe so much that I wrote it down on one of my super cute bakery-themed Snow & Graham recipe cards.
I was distracted by the television while the first muffin pan was in the oven so they got a little too brown. If you make them watch them closely because they should still look kinda yellow instead of golden. I tried using both paper liners with a traditional muffin pan, as well as using a greased mini muffin pan. I found that I preferred eating the mini muffins though both were great!
Lastly, Lulu turned 3! While we didn't have a party, as we did for her first birthday, I did feel the need to try baking a dog cake again. I'm afraid I won't be repeating this recipe though it did look pretty! (I love an excuse to use my pastry bags and tips!)
This cake recipe was copied onto a card a few years ago and I'm not sure of the source. The main ingredients are rice flour, canned pumpkin, mashed banana, safflower oil and a tiny bit of honey. The icing was my own experiment using natural peanut butter, carrot baby food, low fat cream cheese, and safflower oil. I only frosted the top to cut down on the fat I was adding to the cake. Though Lulu loved eating it (in very small portions for only a few days), I wasn't happy with the gummy texture. Next time I'll find a recipe that uses an egg.
Muffin recipe: Bon Appétit
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