Hellooo everyone!  Thanks for your great comments on my last post about weight!  I appreciate the understanding!

In other news, I was super please this morning to find that my panini post made the Food Buzz Top 9!

Today felt like a ridiculously unproductive day.  Yesterday I went to the library from 10am until about 5:30 and managed to bust out almost 1400 words of my paper (needs to be 2,500-3,000).  Today after class, I went to the library hoping to bust out the rest of the paper but only ended up writing about 300 more words.  It was just NOT happening!  So instead I just went home, where I proceeded to snack for a good while (probably a consequence of my scant lunch.  I was too lazy to make lunch this morning so I packet a pear, a luna bar, 1/2 cup of edamame, a carrot and some sliced cucumber.  Not substantial enough.  I need a full meal!  Lesson learned, won’t happen again.)

In my unproductiveness, I decided to bake for a friend who is in need of a sweet treat.  I was feeling creative so here’s my creation:

Peanut Butter Banana Cupcakes with Chocolate PB Icing

inspired by Voracious Vegan’s Ultimate Peanut Butter Cup Cake

1 1/2 ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup natural peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour (I used half whole wheat)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup + a little more milk (to make this recipe vegan, use soy/hemp/almond/other non-dairy milk)
See Icing recipe below

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine bananas, sugar, PB and vanilla in a large bowl.  Add flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  As you combine, gradually pour in the milk until well combined.  Pour into lined cupcake pan and bake for 15-20 minutes (mine required 17 mins in the oven).   Allow cupcakes to cool completely and frost with PB Chocolate Icing.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Sticky Icing

inspired by Pioneer Woman’s Sticky Chocolate Icing

1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
2 ounces of dark chocolate
1 tbsp peanut butter

Heat together in a sauce pan, stirring until all ingredients are well combined.  Spoon onto cupcakes and spread.

These should probably be enjoyed with a large glass of milk or warm cup of coffee.  The sweetness is crazyyy!  Sort of wish they were a little more peanut buttery!  Oh well, next time I’ll add more!

I’m hoping to get more done tonight.  Not sure to what extent it’ll happen though.  Just need to pull through til Thursday!  I can do it!  Wish me luck!  Have a lovely night!

Random Question: What’s your favorite kind of cupcake? I’m a huge fan of carrot cake with buttercream.

Have you ever noticed that “small talk” usually refers to talking about the weather, music, books and movies?

Whenever someone asks me what kind of music I listen to I usually tense up.  A typical young adult conversation goes something like this:

Person 1: What kind of music do you listen to?

Person 2: Oh a little bit of everything… (at this point the person is being polite but eagerly anticipating spouting off a list of the great)

Person 1: What are some of your favorites?

Person 2: Well, Radiohead, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd… (note: if you’re talking to a hipster you’ll probably get some obscure band in there and maybe a Le Tigre or Rilo Kiley).

Person 1: Awesome, I love Radiohead.

That’s not really how it happens for me.  Usually, I avoid that question at all costs by turning it around and asking what they listen to, because let’s be realistic no one wants to hear that your favorites are Beyonce and Shakira.  Should you dare to admit which ones you actually like, you are bound to be met with a confused glare and an undoubted perceptive drop in IQ in the mind of the asker (the exception to this being foreign pop… if you like that, you’re golden.  Thank God for Juanes).

So while my musical taste may be abysmal, I feel that I have two redeeming qualities: movies and baking.

I like my fair share of ridiculous movies (ahem… New Moon… *cough*), but I like Wes Anderson movies as much as the next person and thought Raging Bull was great! I feel that I can adequately have a semi-productive conversation with a “movie snob.”

My other redeeming quality…

Blueberry Coconut Oat Muffins with Maple Oat Topping

1/2 cup apple sauce
1/2 a small banana mashed
2 1/2 tbsp almond butter
1 egg
1/3 cup agave nectar
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut
1/2 fresh or frozen blueberries
splash of milk, water or juice if batter too firm (I added about 1/4 cup)

Preheat oven to 350degrees. Combine all the wet ingredients in a bowl.  Add the dry ingredients (fold in blueberries at the end). Fill greased muffin pan with batter (about half full), top with crunchy maple oat topping (recipe below).  Bake for 20-25 minutes depending on strength of your oven. (Note: you can veganify them by adding an extra 1/4 cup of applesauce or another half of banana instead of the egg)

Crunchy Maple Oat Topping

2 tbsp flour
1/4 cup oats
1/2 tbps coconut oil
1 1/2 tbsp maple syrup

Mix together with your fingers to get a crumbly topping.

I may not know everything there is to know about “good” music, but I can make a hell of a muffin from scratch!

Not to mention they’re low fat and pretty healthy as far as muffins go.

Back to school work… Enjoy the rest of your weekend!