Favorite Friday

Delicious homemade bread

It's Friday once again! The last few days my sister and her two boys ("nuggets" as I call them) have been in town. My sister just discovered talent for baking beautiful artisan bread from scratch. Yesterday she showed me some of her skills and this morning I had a great piece of toast for breakfast! Check out her blog for more bread baking adventures.

My Gelish Nails in a light silver

Yesterday I used a daily deal and got a gelish manicure. These manis dry instantly after being cured in UV light. They look flawless and they last up to 3 weeks. I had mine done at Nails Naturally and I know Embellish offers something similar.

My collection of elephant kitchen items

As a kid I always wondered about my mom's collection of chicken kitchen items. She had so many chickens (usually ceramic) that she displayed on top of the cabinets. Beyond that there were chicken platters, tablecloths and more. How does that happen? A chicken isn't even cute. Well now that I'm older I'm starting to understand. I love elephants and so mostly through gifts I'm developing quite the elephant collection in my kitchen (and in my jewelry box). I figure I might as well embrace it!

Have a happy weekend everybody.

5 Cool Kitchen Gadgets

We all have our staple kitchen gadgets that we use all the time- microplane is probably my favorite. But have you ever gone into Williams Sonoma or Sur La Table and looked at all the random stuff available? Some of it is just ridiculous (a banana slicer... who needs that?)  but some of them look useful and interesting. Here are 5 seemingly useful tools that you probably never knew existed.

Bench Scrape: $7.95

Bench Scrape: 
This one is a Rachael Ray original and it's pretty clever. It quickly and easily scoops your chopped foods so you can transfer them to the pan.

Herb Mill: $19.95

Microplane Herb Mill:
According to the website this tool "finely chops fresh herbs without tearing or blemishing delicate leaves." Sounds helpful!

Pot Clip: $6.95

Utensil Pot Clip:
This took clips your spoon to the pot or pan you're working with and eliminates the need for a messy spoon rest.

Onion Goggles: $22

Onion Goggles: 
I need these! If you're sensitive to cutting onions these goggles protect your eyes from the vapors that make you cry. It's worth looking silly for a few minutes to save your mascara.

Peeler: $14.95

Tri-Blade Peeler: 
This is three peelers in one making it a great tool for peeling thick or thin skins and it also juliennes!

With Love

Happy Valentine's Day lovers! I'm having a dinner party this evening for some friends and I'll be sure to post a recap on here later. Today I bring you a most-loved recipe that is sure to win over your sweetheart. The Baked Brownie. If you've heard of this and haven't tried it then you are missing out! These brownies are amazing and once again I urge you to USE GOOD CHOCOLATE! It makes all the difference. These are super indulgent and divine. My boyfriend goes crazy for them. Enjoy!

Image from Tender Crumb

The Baked Brownie

From Baked: New Frontier in Baking by Matt Lewis 

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp dark unsweetened cocoa
• 11 oz. dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1″ pieces
• 1 tsp instant espresso powder
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 5 eggs at room temp
• 2 tsp vanilla extract 

To make:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter the sides and bottom of a 9×13″ glass or light-colored metal baking pan.
2. In a medium bow, whisk together the flour, salt, and cocoa.
3. Melt the chocolate, butter, instant espresso powder, stirring occasionally, until completely melted and smooth. Turn off the heat. Whisk in the sugars. Add 3 eggs to the mixture and whisk until combined. Add the remaining eggs and whisk until combined. Stir in the vanilla.
4. Sprinkle in the flour mixture, and fold the flour mixture into the chocolate until combined. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake in the center of the oven for 30 minutes (note: my brownies were done in 25 minutes), rotating the pan halfway through the baking time, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs.
5. When cool, cut the brownies into squares. These keep tightly wrapped for up to three days.

Favorite Friday: Be My Valentine

Friday is here again and this week it's all about valentines. I'm one of those girls who loves Valentine's Day. I figure this is largely due to my weakness for all things pink, red, lacy, sweet and/or heart shaped. Seriously how do people dislike v-day? Anyway here are some of my valentine picks around the web. XOXO!

Urban Outfitters: spoon $8, glasses $14, t-shirt $34

Urban Outfitters has a cute valentine section on their site- these are my favorites. How fun is the wooden spoon? Love it.

Image from Ban.do

Ban.do has these shoe clips that add a pop of glitter and love to any pair of shoes you have- fun and cute don't you think?

Image from thebitesite.com

You really can't have Valentine's Day without some chocolate. If you've never made molten chocolate cakes you'll be surprised how simple, elegant & delicious they are. Easy recipe and instructions here. Make them for your significant other/roommate/friends and they will feel LOVE. <3

Austin SNOW DAY!

Taken from the Frost Building in Austin
Image via Tocquigny

It snowed this morning in Austin and most places are closed including UT & a lot of businesses in town. Last night I made cupcakes for an office party which is obviously not happening now. That means I have a snow day PLUS cupcakes for breakfast. Gotta love that! Happy Friday everybody, a FF post is coming later.

BREAKFAST!

That's Bananas

Most of us can agree on bananas. They're a good, healthy snack by themselves and a yummy complement to peanut butter, nutella, smoothies & more. I usually have some around my apartment but what do you do with them when they start to go bad? Personally I only like to eat the fruit when it is under-ripe to ripe.  Once they start getting brown the texture grosses me out.  But not to waste!

Here are some good ideas for brown bananas:
1. Cut the banana into small chunks, put it in a bag & freeze it. Next time you want to make a smoothie throw in the frozen banana pieces with some yogurt, juice & and other fruits and blend. Or another tasty option is to put the frozen pieces in the blender with some peanut butter & milk- this is like a "milkshake" with less calories since no ice cream is involved.
2. Mash the banana up and add it to plain oatmeal in the morning with some nuts, brown sugar & a touch of cinnamon to make "banana bread" oatmeal.
3. Bake real banana bread or banana muffins- this is what I did over the weekend using the recipe below. It takes about 40 minutes total & it makes your apartment smell fantastic!  These with coffee on a Saturday morning are perfection.  Enjoy!

MMMuffin

Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins
Adapted from this recipe
I love the kitschiness of the chocolate chips but if you're not feeling chocolate for breakfast sub in some chopped nuts.

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt (if you use Greek yogurt you may have to add some milk to the batter if it seems too thick) 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas
• 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips (or chopped nuts)

To make:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line your muffin tin with paper liners.  The recipe makes 10 muffins.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. In another bowl, combine the egg, oil, yogurt and vanilla. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. If the mixture seems too dry add a splash of milk. 
4. Fold in bananas and chocolate chips (or nuts).
5. Fill paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 350 degrees for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.

Favorite Friday: I Like This

Happy Friday everybody! I decided to steal the idea of "Favorite Friday" from my good friend Jenn's blog Touch of Garlic. I always enjoy her Friday posts where she shares some favorite finds from around the web. I hope you enjoy mine as well!

Image via bell'alimento

Be still my heart! Cinnamon rolls with nutella AND cherry? It sounds and looks too good to be true but it really exists over on Bell'alimento. Sounds like a delicious sinful combo that I'm dying to try.

Budget wall decor: Ikea frame in my apt with Vettriano prints cut from a calendar

Fellow Austin-blogger CasaCullen has a great, cheap DIY idea for wall decor that I've actually used before: taking art from calendars and framing it. Bonus- it's super affordable now that all the 2011 calendars are on clearance.

Image via Barneys.com

Lastly I'm currently coveting these Roseanne Pugliese lavender amethyst earrings. I love the clear purpley color and the shape. I'm on the lookout for a more budget-friendly version so let me know if you see anything similar. Happy weekend!