Banana Everything Cookies

We ran out of muffins, so I just had to bake these cookies!   I still had a banana left over that had gone very ripe, so I used it to make these Banana Everything Cookies from the book, Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar.  It is from the same authors of Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. 

These cookies turned out amazing!  A taste of banana, oatmeal, walnuts and chocolate chips.  Chewy, soft with a slight crunch and this recipe made a whole lot of cookies - 36 small cookies for me, although the recipe says it makes 24 (depends on how big you make them I guess!)

Definitely pick up this book if you love cookies and you're vegan, lactose-intolerant, or want to cut back on the dairy/animal products! It is filled with TONS of delicious cookie recipes!

1 very ripe banana
1/3 cup canola oil
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
2 cups quick cooking (not instant) oatmeal or rolled oats
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup chocolate chips

1.  Preheat oven to 350F.  Lightly grease two baking sheets.

2.  In a mixing bowl, mash the banana with a fork.  Add the oil, sugar, and vanilla and mix with a fork.  Add the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon and mix until the dry ingredients are just moistened.  Add the oatmeal/oats, walnuts, and chocolate chips and mix well.  If the dough is too slippery, add a few extra tablespoons of flour.
3.   Clean your hands and roll the dough into balls slightly smaller than a golf ball.  Flatten it a bit in your hands and place each ball about 2" apart on the cookie sheet.

 Cookies on the baking sheet, ready to go in the oven!

4.  Bake for 10-12 minutes until lightly browned.  Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack.

 Cookies, fresh from the oven!

Ice Skating

On the weekend, I went ice skating with a group of friends for the first time in 18 years!  That's me pictured above on the right, and my best friend, Sarah on the left.  I bought a cheap pair of ice skates a couple of days prior, along with some hot pink skate guards (how girly of me!).  We went ice skating in my hometown of Dundas, Ontario at the Market Street Arena - the very same arena that I went skating at as a kid.  I have been friends with many of the people that I went skating with since the beginning of high school, and some of them have been my friends since elementary school!  So, this was the very same rink that we used to go skating at during school, which means that we skated together about twenty years ago as well.  Pretty cool.

I was a bit wobbly at the start, but got the hang of skating within a short while.  I just love the fresh, crisp air at a skating rink, even an indoor one!  It was lots of fun returning to my hometown to see great friends, and spend an afternoon at a family skating event that I went to as a child.

Here's to celebrating winter with some skating!
 
On an unrelated topic, going back to my bird feeder post....while we haven't seen any birds at our feeder yet, but I did sprinkle some bird seed on the ground to try to attract them.  It did end up attracting one very happy bunny!   He was in our backyard last night, happily munching away on the seed.  I didn't realize that rabbits ate bird seed.  Maybe he was just really hungry.  Well, there was one happy bunny sitting in the snow and sticking his face down into the snow to eat the bird seed!  He was so cute to watch, and I'm glad that at least someone is enjoying it!

Our Bird Feeder

After we moved to our new house, I decided that we should set up a bird feeder in our back yard to feed the birds during the cold winter months.  I bought this great wooden bird feeder with a place for bird seed, and two suet feeders so the birds can get extra high-energy food during the winter season. 

As you can see, some snow has gathered on top of the feeder (I brushed some of it off) and the feeder has been out there for at least two weeks...and no one has visited it!  Does anyone know how to attract birds to a new feeder?  I know that there might not be as many birds here in the winter, but a lot of them do stay here and probably just aren't familiar to visiting our neighborhood for food since the previous owners of the home didn't have any bird feeders outside.

I sprinkled some bird seed on the ground in the hopes that they might see it while flying overhead.  Hopefully it doesn't get covered up with snow if it ends up snowing tonight.

You can also see our super cute shed in the background - loving our backyard and can't wait to sit out there in the summer!

Banana Wheat Germ Muffins

We recently moved back in December to our very first house and today was the day I got to use our oven for the very first time!  We've used the stove-top burners plenty of times for dinner, but hadn't used the inside of the oven just yet.  I haven't had the chance to bake in ages and had the day off from work today...and I had some bananas that were starting to go...perfect opportunity for some banana muffins!

I dug out my cookbooks (that are still packed away in boxes from the move) and searched for a banana recipe that was suitable to use up the bananas.  Sure enough, my Veganomicon cookbook had a perfect recipe - Banana Wheat Germ Muffins.  Wholesome, dairy-free, can't beat 'em!  By the way, if you haven't picked up this cookbook yet, I highly recommend it - even for those of you who aren't vegan or vegetarian, there are tons of healthy and delicious recipes inside.

These muffins baked just perfectly - they have a slight crunch to them from the wheat germ, and they are soft and fluffy from the bananas.  Baked with whole wheat flour and wheat germ, you won't feel guilty snacking on these.  The recipe makes 12 muffins.

1 cup plain soy milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 very ripe bananas
1/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour or all-purpose flour
3/4 cup wheat germ
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 375F.  Add muffin liners to a muffin tin.
Pour soy milk into a measuring cup and add the vinegar to it.  Set it aside to curdle.
Meanwhile, mash the bananas in a large mixing bowl.  Add the soy milk mixture to the bowl along with the oil, sugar, and vanilla.  Mix well.
In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, wheat germ, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt.  Add this to the banana mixture and use a wooden spoon to gently stir the ingredients, until all the dry ingredients are just moistened.
Fill the muffin cups three-quarters full and bake for 22 minutes.  Remove from the oven and, once cool enough to handle, transfer to a cooling rack to cool the rest of the way.

I recommend serving them warm - they are just delicious! 

Cast On! More Handmade Knitted Socks

Casting on...a new knitting project!  I have lots of sock yarn so it is time to start a new pair of socks, as I slowly knit my way through the Favorite Socks by Interweave book.  If you are looking for socks to knit, I highly recommend this book.  There are 25 different sock patterns and all of them are wonderful!  I knitted the Uptown Boot Socks in the past from this book and they turned out great!  I'd love to knit a pair of every sock in this book....handmade knitted socks are so cozy!

This newest pattern is called Go With the Flow and I'm knitting them up in a self-striping yarn (Patons Kroy) in shades of blue. 

Can't wait to post the finished product! 

A Weekend Indoors

I don't usually get the entire weekend off work, but I did this past weekend.  Unfortunately, on Thursday night, I had the symptoms of a cold which emerged fully by Friday.  So, I was sick and laying in bed and on the couch for the entire weekend.  I don't get sick very often, and my cold seems milder than other people around me who have caught it - including Paul, who was sick with a fever for a number of days.  Some of my co-workers had a stomach flu...I seemed to just feel very weak with muscle soreness and a really bad cough.

I didn't seem to have the energy to do anything at all.  I totally hate that feeling because I am the type of person who always has to be doing something.  I can't even watch TV without a knitting project in my hands at the same time.

When I did have a small amount of energy, I worked away on my Sakura Cross Stitch.  This is a huge cross stitch project that I hope to have finished someday to get framed and hang on the wall of our new home.  The cherry blossoms are almost finished, and it is coming along quite nicely.

If only I was feeling better, this would have seemed like an amazing weekend -one where I could just sit and craft all weekend long!  Today, while I am still getting over this cold, I feel much, much better.

On an unrelated note, I finally watched the movie Coraline and got to witness all of the tiny knitting that I blogged about a while ago - how amazing is that!  A great movie as well, you should definitely check it out.

FO: Punch Needle Owl

One day, I was at the Michaels just to browse around the store (as if I couldn't be tempted into buying something!) and came across a small selection of Punch Needle craft kits.  I had heard of punch needle through a couple of blogs or crafty podcasts in the past, so I decided to pick up a kit and give it a shot.

From the Michaels website:

Also known as Russian embroidery or Japanes bunka, punch needle has been around since the turn of the 20th century. Designs are stitched by ‘punching’ thread through a piece of woven fabric to create a surface of thread loops on the front of the fabric, similar to the appearance of carpet pile. Each loop is created with a simple push/pull motion using a hollow needle to create a raised ornamental design.

I found a kit at the store (made by Dimensions) that included the thread, fabric, and the hoop.  I had to buy the punch needle itself separately for a few extra dollars.   There were a few different designs available, but I thought the owl was the cutest one there.  I'm sure by searching around online, you will be able to find a wide variety of patterns and kits to order.

Punch needle is extremely easy to learn and the projects are very quick to make.  All you have to do is thread your punch needle and punch the needle through the fabric.  By punching the needle through the fabric, you are making a loop and all of the various loops together create a raised texture, similar to a carpet.

You can easily finish a punch needle project within an afternoon, or even a couple of hours.  As someone new to punch needle embroidery, it was very easy to learn the technique and the craft itself was very relaxing.  For anyone who has ever thought embroidery or cross-stitching was too complicated or complex, you should definitely pick up a punch needle kit!  Within a small amount of time, you will have a fun finished project to hang up on the wall!

Christmas Postcards from the Holidays

Here are a couple of postcards that I received from Germany and England, from two of my pen-friends. Thank you so much! These are my first Christmas-themed postcards and they will be a great addition to my collection.  Also, a really big thank-you to everyone who mailed Christmas cards to us - they are lined up on top of our fireplace, and it is wonderful to have so many Christmas greeting cards on display in our new house!

I have my entire collection of postcards now scanned and available for you to see at my Picasa Web Album, so check it out if you'd like!  My little collection of postcards is slowly building!  I love receiving mail, but I also love learning about the world and seeing places in postcard-form that I hope to someday visit.

I have also scanned all of the cards that I currently have up to trade.  If any of the cards interest you, let me know and we can trade!  I'm currently collecting map cards and flag cards from all countries/US states, so if you have one that you'd like to trade, please just post below and hopefully we can set up a trade.  I'm also collecting any UNESCO cards, anything that shows historical buildings, history of any kind, beautiful landscapes, festivals, culture, scenery - anything like that!

If you collect postcards, how do you display them?  Right now, I have them all in a shoebox with little cardboard folders separating them by country/theme.  I'm thinking of moving everything to binders so I can properly display the postcards (front and back) showing through a clear plastic sheet of some sort.  I'm not sure how to attach them inside the plastic sheet without using tape and wrecking the cards.  I'd also love to get them out of the shoeboxes as I don't want them to get damaged/folded edges/the sunlight to damage them in any way.

If you have any suggestions on how to display my postcard collection, please let me know!  I'd love to hear about it!

And if you'd like to set up a trade, please post in the comments below, or feel free to send me an email - helloloolie at gmail dot com.

Who Needs Starbucks Part 2: New and Improved!

Last September, I blogged about how to make a Starbucks latte in the comfort of your own home.  That way worked really well...until I was talking to a coworker and realized how easy it is to make your own espresso at home, rather than using strongly brewed coffee!  I decided to look into picking up a few items and it really wasn't that expensive to purchase the equipment necessary to create my own lattes at home!

First, you need to buy a stove-top espresso maker.  I was told that the best one to buy is the Bialetti Espresso Maker:

So I bought this little guy - a 3 cup Italian Bialetti Espresso maker.  It makes more than enough espresso to make a latte...probably two, depending on how strong you make them.  I found mine for $29.99 at Home Outfitters, although you can find them at almost any kitchen or home store in person or online.

The next thing you need is a milk frother:

This is just a cheap one that I found at Kitchen Stuff Plus for $5.99.  There are nicer ones out there that are fully stainless steel, which I may pick up if this one ever breaks.  So far...so good!

Then, you just need your espresso coffee grounds or beans (just a couple of dollars at the grocery store):

You also need your milk of choice (mine is soy milk) and your coffee syrups.  You can use a bit of vanilla, drink it plain with a bit of cinnamon on top, some cocoa powder, or you can buy the coffee syrups like they have at Starbucks.

I found these Torani syrups at a store locally in Mississauga called Espresso Planet.  They have an online store that ships all over North America, and their retail store is awesome.  They have two full racks of different coffee syrups in every flavor imaginable!  I picked up a bottle of English Toffee and Chocolate Mint, along with the pumps to put in the top to complete the coffee barista experience!

All you have to do is fill the base of the espresso maker with water (up to the line, or just below the valve), fill the filter on top with espresso grounds, and put it on the stove.  Make sure you tighten up the espresso maker very well or else you may have a bit of spillage.  Set your stove-top burner to medium-low and wait for the espresso to be made.  In the meantime, you can heat up your milk in the microwave right inside the frother glass for a couple of minutes.  When your espresso is finished, put a couple of shot glasses full of espresso into your mug, along with a pump or two of your favorite coffee syrup.  Froth up your milk and add the milk on top of the coffee, topping it off with some frothy milk.

Taa-daa!  You're done!  And just as easy as that, you have no need to run out to your local Starbucks and pay $5 per beverage....you can make it all in the comfort of your own home!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  I hope that 2011 is a great year for everyone.  With the New Year comes the New Year's Resolutions...which I never really make, as I feel as though we should be continually living our lives as we feel is right, and if you aren't happy with something, anytime is good to make a change.  However, with the spirit of the New Year and new beginnings, I have a few things that I would like to get back into doing for 2011.

1.  Music

I have played the piano since age 4 and used to be in a post-rock band a few years back playing both guitar and keyboards.  While I no longer really have the time in my life between work and other interests to play tons of live concerts/go on tour/be in a band, I really need to get back into playing the piano and maybe even recording a few songs.  I used to record my own music all the time and this hobby seemed to fall by the wayside.  Music and playing the piano used to be among the key things that defined who I was, and it would be truly unfortunate if I were to ever lose those abilities. 

2.  Japanese

I took a full semester of Japanese language courses last year in night school.  When the classes were finished, I continued to learn on my own from a wonderful website called Japanese Pod 101.  When Paul and I bought the house together, nearly ever spare moment in my life was spent either going to work or going to paint the house...now that we have moved in and only have a bit of painting/organizing/unpacking to do, I'd love to get back into learning how to speak, read, and write Japanese.  It is a dream to travel there and it would be fun to have some basic language skills to get around.

3.  Exercise

This isn't a terribly difficult "resolution" for me, as I have worked out at a gym for many years and I love to do yoga, swim, go for long walks and a bit of running.  I joined a new gym near the new house and look forward to going on a regular basis.  I'm thinking of setting a goal for myself of training to run a 5k...I started the Couch to 5K Running Plan back in September, but got side-tracked when we were moving and I didn't have a gym membership when moving between homes.  Now that I have my gym membership again, I'm ready to get back on track!

Those are the main hobbies that I'd like to get back into this year, in amongst all of the other things that I enjoy - knitting, scrapbooking, learning how to sew/do embroidery, cross stitch, collect postcards and Re-Ment sets, read, write my penpals, play video games...hmmm, what else!  I'd also love to plan a vacation at some point this year if the finances are in check and we are able to do so!  I'd also just love to spend some quality time with my fiancé, Paul, as our work schedules seem to continually conflict and we don't get as much time together as I'd like!

Plenty to look forward to in 2011!