Pinned: Success or Fail? Chocolate Covered PB Bananas

Another Pinterest review post from Sharon Fain! We're glad she's making this a regular thing. :)

I am no Julia Child in the kitchen, but I can follow a recipe. As I've mentioned before, I am also often impatient and lazy, which is probably why I am no Julia Child. So I am in love with simple recipes that don't require lots of prep or speciality techniques. 

I found this Pinterest recipe for chocolate covered frozen bananas that also have a dollop of peanut butter on top. I thought, "This sounds and easy enough." And looks to be delicious because I go through boxes of those chocolate covered frozen banana slices from Trader Joe's all the time.

The ingredients (yes, my milk is in a small container
because I don't usually buy milk and had to borrow some)

Here's the basics of the recipe (parentheses mine):

2 large bananas (I used three small ones)
1/4 cup nat­ural peanut but­ter (why measure this when you can just spoon directly from jar)
1/2 cup choco­late chips (hah! double that)
2 tbsp-1/4 cup milk of choice

This is about how far I got before the chocolate ran out.
I had to go back and add to some.

Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper or parch­ment. Slice bananas into coins about 1/2–3/4 inch thick. Spread a lit­tle dol­lop of peanut but­ter on top of each one. In a small bowl, com­bine the choco­late chips and milk: remem­ber, less is more. Microwave in 15 sec­ond increments until you can whisk them together. You want it to be a dip-able con­sis­tency, not spread­able. Add a splash more milk if nec­es­sary. Dip the banana chunks using a fork as a little chocolate-coating fork­lift, dip­ping them into the melted choco­late. Place choco­late coated bananas on the pre­pared sheet and place in freezer until completely frozen: 3–5 hours (mine took probably on the 2-3 side). Remove frozen banana chunks from the sheet and store in a freezer container.

Setting up in the freezer!

Success or Fail? Success on Taste, Fail on Recipe

THE FAIL:
I guess this is why you do these things because how could such a simple recipe go wrong? Well, first of all the peanut butter was very difficult to wrangle in the chocolate covering process (hence my very messy photos). I would suggest freezing the cookie sheet of banana slices with the PB on it before going into the step with the chocolate covering, especially if you are using a PB that is not a processed kind like Jif or Skippy. I did this on a cool day and even after a few minutes my PB started to spread on the bananas and then became completely uncooperative during the chocolate process.

Also, I did try the chocolate dipping technique the blog pictures, but because of the PB it wasn't happening and because the chocolate was just maybe a little to thick to be "dip-able." This is probably a bit my fault since I fear burning chocolate after some bad experiences. However, the unruly PB still would have made this hard to do even if it was as watery as chocolate syrup.

In the end I just spooned the chocolate on top of the banana slices (which I held over the bowl in a spoon). It did the trick.

The chocolate was not really enough either. Even if the consistency would have been more liquid, I don't think it would have helped (I also like a lot of chocolate).

THE SUCCESS:
I tried one of the bananas before it went in the freezer and it didn't taste that great. I was a little afraid it would be too peanut buttery. But when I took them out of the freezer they were delicious. They set up very nicely and store really well. I ate them in two days. Despite the inaccuracies of the recipe, I would do it again.

These got eaten real quick!

What about you? Would love to hear how this recipe turns out for you and any other tips or tricks you may have to perfecting it.

Gypsy Break

Hi Friends! I thought I would share some funny, mischievous kitty pictures:

I saw some fuzzy little feet sticking out of my bookshelf... Of course she would squeeze herself into that little, inconvenient spot!

I think I am better now, but for the bulk of yesterday I was totally under the weather.  I think my body finally said enough! Denying it of sleep paired with the weather changes has done a number on my sinuses. Then my shoulder + neck pain paired with my mind-melting headache was agonizing. It  really did a number on me :( THANKFULLY the remedy was putting myself on some major medicine + getting some rest with a fluffy beast across my chest.

Funny, Gypsy must be a therapy kitty because I caught her trying to help Kevin get better too-

Now that I am finally feeling like I am bouncing back- THANK GOD! It is time to get geared up for Easter :)  Hopefully poor Kevin won't be feeling bad and will bounce back quickly too.  He started feeling bad this morning just as I started to feel better myself- shucks.

Anyway, more fun to come tomorrow!  
XOXO, KC

Things with Cans, Vampires & BatCat

Hi everyone :)  Hope you are having a good day! 

Today I have been working non-stop on our aluminum projects.  I have been working on a special order of Reinbeers that I was hoping to finish by tomorrow. Here is a picture of what a busy day "at the office" is like for me.  I was able to get (5) Reinbeer templates to a sheet of paper this go round which leaves very little paper scraps wasted. However, now that they are so close to each other on a sheet I have to take the time to cut them all out before I can use them.  I started the day filleting a round of cans we hadn't flattened yet. Then I moved on to cutting out the majority of the paper patterns before gluing them down onto the backsides of the flattened cans. Once I cut the body out of the can, I realized any leftover piece can be made into these sweet circles.

For now, I am processing the leftover can pieces into these "sequins" for lack of a better term.  The one thing I want to toot my own horn about is that we really try to use every last piece of everything we come across.  The downside however to this method of supply gathering is sometimes I have to break down the materials at a time when I really need to focus on something else.  In this instance these circles don't take that much longer, but all the time doing these "side projects" prepping everything can really add up time wise.

Wanna know my guilty pleasure/ what helps keep me making things all day?

Newest Distractions- Say Hello to Gypsy!

Sometimes it seems that when I have the most to say, I go the longest from posting...

There has been so much going on that relaying it seems to be on the bottom of my to-do list.  I know this is an oversight on my planning and that the satisfaction I get from finding new and exciting things just has to be relayed for others to hopefully enjoy too.  I feel like this paradox is a place where a lot of creative types struggle.  Why talk about things when it holds you up from doing things???

My recent distraction is our new addition to the family- Gypsy :)

When I was off at the Culver City Art walk on 6/4/11 with my pal Sharon this little monster leaped from the bushes just after we crossed Venice Boulevard and we rescued her from the life of a "parking lot attendee" which it seems like she was for a good while.  I am not sure who would let this gorgeous creature go, but their loss is our gain!!!

She is so lovey and besides her late night energy fits and me letting her go to town on our wool rug she hasn't been much trouble at all.  I am sure in my saying this as soon as I leave to pick Kevin up from work she will turn into demon kitty... Let's hope not. 

Well, off to get Kevin :)
XOXO,
KC

I am sad to report that Miss Cali is in Heaven now.  We were very blessed to have such a beautiful kitty in our life and she will be missed very much.  I didn't really want to be that person blogging all about loosing my cat... but I thought an explanation of my brief pause in blogging might  be helpful.

Coming Up This Week: Last Week Before Christmas

Last week/ this past weekend we had some epic fun!  We  had an amazing time seeing TRON and living it up at DD's Holiday Party!!! We had so much fun it feels like it took forever to recover in this nasty weather. We finally braved the rain and saw The Social Network yesterday.  It really made me wish I was better at computers- on the weird, genius, billionaire level. I have all these great apps that I wouldn't say are the next Facebook, but where are these Apps??? Here is one of the many ideas for shortcut tools and organizational  spreadsheet kinda apps that I have.  It would be super badass if I knew away to get them made- please share around if you know any programmers who do apps :)

Cali Cat is having some tummy troubles and is being very demanding today- I hate it when that fluffy little face is not feeling well!

I found out that surgery is a go for my shoulder and will let everyone know when my web hiatus will begin- But, as of now I am having the surgery on September 20th.  Kevin and I will be busy trying to get this summer season wrapped up and Christmas prepped before my recovery/ down-time.

I purchased some wonderful Jewelry items last week, and tomorrow I will do a second post on KSaintP and Linda Lundgren following up on the Jewelry Party I attended last week. 

ALSO- Yesterday I met with my friend Alicia and she said that I can finally post the casting tape we shot together for a pilot she has been pitching :)  Look out for that this Friday!!!

The Un-GREENWASHING first stop- trying out BioBags

We are "Greenwashing" our Lives and trying all the GREEN alternatives.   Now items unfortunately get labeled as "green" or more Eco-conscious and sometimes aren't.  I am trying to figure out ways to change over to fully environmentally friendly products that both work and are even better than their counterparts.  For some people, the hardest part is starting... change is daunting.  But, I think its our duties to scientifically test (Who are we kidding, its gonna just be a trying things and figuring what we like the best!  Let us know if there is some questions you would want to know in using the product)

One thing I am super intrigued about is new Biodegradable bags. I bought some BioBags from Whole Foods before we left for Austin.  And, I am just now starting to try them out.  They are ~$7.00 here, and unfortunately my composting situation isn't as good as when I lived in NYC- soooo I don't currently compost.  I just can't rationally support plastic bags anymore so I would like to figure out an affordable and reliable way to dispose of what waste we do generate that can't be recycled or reused further.

There are really only 2 sizes it seems are readily available the 3 Gallon and Lawn & Leaf Bags.  The 13 Gallon size I didn't find in the store, may be online until demand picks up... I am planning on getting one of these composting buckets when I order the 13 Gallon size.  I am super excited to use the compost bucket in conjunction with the 3 gallon bags and pumping up my LA chapter of composting :)

Here is my first try without the bucket, and as you can see 3 gallons is tinier than you'd think!  We just bought a baby watermelon and this is ~1/2 the rinds in the bag.
 
I will keep some notes and keep y'all posted on the BioBags.  HOWEVER, here also is some other plastic bag things to think about:

 ***California’s law, SB 1749, maintains that bags should meet the ASTM D6400 specification for biodegradable product claims. Several other states are also instituting policies like California.***

I don't have a dog, but I have seen the new biodegradable doggy bags and I think everyone should HAVE TO use them every time.  The concept of hot contained, plastic poo sacks for up to a thousand years- Not appealing to me. I had no idea that there was a law set out in California about using bio-bags, but I hope all the stores only stock them or else this would be a moot point.

 
WHAT'S AWESOME is with the Biodegradable one's like these, Between 60-90 Days these suckers will no longer be "plastic" and will completely biodegrade or you could get some Flush Puppies and they would dissolve in water and put the sewage with the sewage; double bonus.

I didn't know they had cat liners for the litter box so I will have to put those on my list of things to green-up when it comes to restocking the house.  We already use biodegradable and flushable World's Best Cat Litter, so at least we are in the right direction.