Happy Easter!

Whole Wheat Banana Bread

Made this to go with dinner tonight. The kiddos gave it 4 (out of 4) thumbs up and asked for seconds and then thirds!  Made with whole-wheat flour, yogurt, and honey! The recipe comes from a blog called 100 Days of Real Food. It has a lot of great articles and recipes for those of us trying to cut processed foods out of our diet!

Whole Wheat Banana Bread
Source: 100 Days of Real Food

2 ¼ c. whole-wheat flour
¾ t. baking soda
¼ t. salt
3 ripe bananas, mashed
¼ c. plain yogurt
¼ c. honey
2 eggs
⅓ c. oil
1 t. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease pan. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl mix mashed bananas with yogurt, honey, eggs, oil, and vanilla. Fold the banana mixture into the flour mixture until blended. Do not overmix. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake loaf for 40 minutes or until it comes clean with a toothpick. 

At The Bakery...

Just a few cakes I decorated over the last two weeks...

Summer Corn, Bacon and Potato Chowder

Even though it is officially Spring, it definitely still feels like Winter outside!  Guess that gives me time to post another yummy soup recipe! :)  With snow in the forecast for the next two days, this recipe sounds even better!

Summer Corn, Bacon and Potato Chowder
Source: Weight Watchers

1 medium uncooked Yukon gold potato
Cooking Spray
1/2 c. celery, chopped
1/4 c. onion, chopped
4 pieces corn on the cob, kernels removed (I used canned corn)
1 c. sweet red pepper, diced
4-6 oz. uncooked Canadian-style bacon, diced
2 c. fat-free skim milk
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. black pepper
1/8 t. hot pepper sauce, or to taste

Pierce potato in several places with a fork; microwave on high power until tender, turning over once, about 8 minutes. Allow to cool; peel and mash. Meanwhile, coat a large saucepan with cooking spray. Add celery, onion, corn and red pepper; sauté over medium-high heat for 5 minutes. Stir Canadian bacon and milk into saucepan; stir in mashed potato and mix well. Season with salt, pepper and hot pepper sauce; stir to combine. Cover and simmer 10 minutes (do not allow to boil). 

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A New Take on the Kit Kat Cake

The Kit Kat cake has sure come a long way! If you recall, I made a kit kat cake with pigs on top playing in mud just a few weeks ago.  This week, I had the request to make a lady soaking in a bubble bath...complete with a towel on her head and rubber duckies!  I have always said, "I don't draw or make people." That is a whole skill in and of itself but I gave it a whirl and this is how it turned out.

Cupcakes, Cupcakes, Cupcakes!

Each month I decorate 250-300 cupcakes for the University of Michigan.  They have a monthly cupcake event for the students and this month the theme was SPRING!  Here's what I came up with...

Hydrangeas...

Bumble Bees...

Daisies...

Ladybugs...

and Rainbows!

I can't wait to find out next month's theme! This is one of the highlights of my job.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Wishing you a Happy St. Patrick's Day filled with lots of cupcakes...

cookies...

and cakes!!!

Don't forget to wear green today! :)

{Healthy} Chocolate Protein Bars

This is my new FAVORITE {healthy} snack. They are just that good! I could eat the whole pan but then again that would probably defeat the point of eating a healthy snack, considering portion control is essential no matter what you are eating....unless it's perhaps raw veggies. Enough with the rambling, let me share the recipe with you!

{Healthy} Chocolate Protein Bars

2 1/2 c. old fashioned oats
1/2 c. wheat germ
1/8 c. flax seed meal
1/2 c. protein powder (I used Arbonne's chocolate protein powder)
1/2 c. dried fruit (I used dried cherries)
1/2 c. raw nuts or seeds (I used slivered almonds)
1/2 c. dark chocolate chips (I may have added a few extra :)
1 c. almond butter
3/4 c. honey
1/3 c. molasses
1 t. vanilla
1/4 t. cinnamon
1/8 t. salt
1 or more cups Rice Krispies

Mix first 6 ingredients together. Melt chocolate chips, almond butter, molasses, and honey over medium-high heat on stove. Take off heat and add vanilla, cinnamon, and salt. Mix with dry ingredients. Mixture will be very wet and sticky. Lastly, add 1 cup or more of Rice Krispies until it's a consistency you like. Press into a pan and then refrigerate until firm. Cut into bars and store in fridge.

I made a double batch which completely filled a 9 x 13 inch pan.

Llama Birthday Cake

I had the opportunity to make a fun cake this week for my hubby's company.  They were celebrating Don and Toby's birthdays (the owners of LLamasoft) so I was asked to make a llama cake wearing Nike tennis shoes.  Nike recently invested in LLamasoft; hence the Nike shoes.  This cake got a lot of ooh's and awe's and the employees really got a kick out of it. It was one of the most exciting, challenging and time-consuming cakes I've done so far.  This is a full sheet cake and piping all that 'fur' took some time. :)

Close-up of the Nike shoes...

I now have dog cakes and llama cakes under my belt. What animal will be next?

Pigs Playing in Mud Cake

You all know how much I love the Kit Kat cakes. I've lost count of how many I've made over the past year. Here's a new take on the Kit Kat cake. I found the idea while surfing the web one night and fell in love with these piggies playing in the mud!  This is a chocolate cake with chocolate icing with a layer of mud {chocolate fudge} on top.  The piggies are made out of pink fondant so they are 100% edible too!

Oink! Oink!  How fun is this cake?!?!