The Most Amazing Peanut Butter Banana Pie Ever!

June 8, 201110 Comments

Hi friends! It’s pretty much been forever, but I’m back in California so things can get back to normal!

In the past few weeks, quite a bit has happened. I graduated! I have a Master’s! Woo!

My hat didn’t fit on my head. Such is life.

Then I came back to California and my sister and I made the most amazing pies EVER!

Truth.

Okay so one sorta melted. No biggie.

AMAZING Peanut Butter (or Nutella) Banana Pie

inspired by Joy the Baker’s No Bake Peanut Butter Tart

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (or Nutella or other nut butter)
4 oz cream cheese, softened
7 oz (1/2 can) sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup heavy cream for whipping
1 banana, sliced
1 tbsp butter
1 prepared graham cracker crust
1 cup cool whip or other whipped cream for topping

In a pan, melt butter and fry banana slices until golden (you can probably skip this step and just use fresh bananas, but the crispy fried banana was pretty delicious). Arrange fried banana on the bottom of the prepared graham cracker crust.

Using a mixer (or a strong arm) mix together the cream cheese, peanut butter and sweetened condensed milk. Once combined, set aside. In a separate bowl, whip the cream until it holds solid peaks. Then fold together the peanut butter mixture and the whipped cream. Once combined (don’t over mix), spoon the mixture into the pie pan, top with whipped topping and chill for a few hours before serving.

We made two, one with nutella and one with peanut butter. They were both a hit, but I won’t lie: the peanut butter one is to die for!

You should probably go make it now. You won’t regret it.

You Were Missed

May 26, 2011Leave a comment

Green smoothies

Drip coffee and English Muffins with PB and Banana

I had missed you all these months. Welcome back to my life.

Ahh exit project defense in less than 2 hours!

Remain calm.

Back in America!

May 25, 20115 Comments

I’m back in Ithaca!

Exit project defense is tomorrow!

Graduation is this weekend!

… I’ll be MIA the next few days 🙂

Amazzzing Dessert

May 19, 20111 Comment

Last night, the other grads and I went out for “fancy dinner.” We went to a restaurant called Renato e Luisa. It was pretty delicious. If you’re in Rome, I recommend it.

And if you go, promise me you’ll get the Creme Brulee all’arancia con canestrino di caramello (aka Orange Creme Brulee).

No words. But yes that’s orange creamy custard with a slice of blood orange then caramel on top.

Divine! The pasta with truffles I had was pretty delightful, intense and wonderful as well 🙂

Basically, if you’re in Rome, hit it up!

Tour di Italy

May 18, 20118 Comments

My parents and grandma are visiting. So far, we’ve had a great time. I won’t talk about food because that’s been a disaster. So instead we’ll talk about happy things like our four day road trip.

We started in Rome and left for Florence.

Florence was lovely. Gelato was amazing. The weather was perfect.

I wore hot pink sunglasses, because well… I’m ridiculous and why not. The next day with gross weather, we headed up north to Padova and Venice.

Venice was more beautiful than I remembered, and my grandma was a trooper. She walked all day and had a good time.

My mom and I went up to the terrace at St. Mark’s Square. Amazing view!

After Venice, we drove south and spent the night in Siena. The next day, we drove to Pisa to see the leaning tower.

Finally we made it back to Rome last night at 12:30. The next morning I was up at 7:30am to go to work. I’m pooped! We stayed in places for a really short amount of time and we saw practically nothing but that’s alright. We had a good time. Spending time with my family was totally worth it!

3 days left in Rome!

One thing I will miss about Italy

May 13, 2011May 12, 20111 Comment

I’m leaving in a little over a week. I’ll definitely miss the ability to walk everywhere and the widespread public transit use.

But really, one thing I’ve fallen in love with:

Risolatte. That means rice milk.

It basically reminds me of Jell-o pudding but with rice (and more natural… Ingredients: milk, rice, sugar, cocoa, corn starch and vanilla), and it’s amazing.

I don’t discriminate I like the chocolate and the plain kind equally.

Risolatte, you will be missed.

Redemption, Almost.

May 12, 2011Leave a comment

I thought for a second I had lost all my baking skills to the meaty Italian gods. I was wrong. This past weekend I almost redeemed myself by making the almost perfect cornbread.

It was sweet, perfectly textured and pretty much fantastic.

Almost Perfect Cornbread

adapted from All Recipes Buttery Corn Bread Recipe

1/3 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup nonfat plain yogurt
1/4 cup milk
1 cup + 2 tbsp flour
3/4 cup cornmeal
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 400F (~200C), grease and flour a 9in round baking pan or other baking dish, muffin tin, etc.

Cream together butter and sugar, add the remaining wet ingredients and mix together until just combined. Add dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Pour batter into prepared baking dish. Bake for about 25 minutes or until golden brown. Poke with a toothpick to make sure it’s cooked through in the center. Allow to cool and serve.

Even better when served with homemade Lentil/Chana Masala. We eat cornbread and chili all the time, why not try it with a South Asian flair?

The perfect combination of sweet, spicy and salty.

Like I said, I pretty much redeemed myself. But wait…

I jumped the gun and tried to turn it on to a plate without sufficient cooling time.

Lesson learned: be patient… and keep baking.

Banana Breakfast Polenta

May 8, 20114 Comments

I’m starting to get desperate. My life without oatmeal, not just any oatmeal but oatmeal made with big chewy rolled oats, is sad.

Okay, I’m being dramatic, but I do miss oatmeal. Last night, I was trying to figure out what to do with a very ripe banana. Normally, when I’m at home, super ripe bananas are exciting because they mean extra sweet oatmeal or smoothies. Here, without oats or a blender, I was sort of at a loss.

Then I had an idea, it cooked in my brain overnight at this morning I tried it.

Polenta for breakfast, which for me means something sweet.

It’s pretty tasty and pretty easy to make! Worth a try, right?

Banana Breakfast Polenta for One

1/4 cup cornmeal (aka polenta)
1 cup water
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (or more if you’d like)
1 ripe banana, thinly sliced
garnishes such as fresh or dried fruit, nuts, maple syrup, etc.

In a small sauce pan, combine all the ingredients. Bring to a boil over medium heat, once it’s boiling lower the heat to low. Stir constantly for about 5-10 minutes. Put in a bowl of plate, garnish and serve.