Strawberry Banana Muffins

to continue on the theme of strawberries... I mixed up these strawberry banana muffins off of various recipes and suggestions I found at allrecips.com. I had bananas and strawberries that were going bad and wasn't in the mood for a smoothie, so I thought this seems appropriate.

2 eggs, beaten
1 cup white sugar
3/4 cup strawberries chopped into small pieces
1 cup mashed bananas (2 bananas)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup oil (people suggest subsitituing with applesauce, but I didn't have any)
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt

Mix together all dry ingredients in seperate bowl. Mix together eggs, sugar, strawberries, bananas, vanilla, and oil. Stir in dry ingredients. Bake in Muffin cups at 350 degrees for approx. 25 minutes. Makes 12-16 large muffins.

Strawberry Trifle

the season for strawberries....

Angel food cake cubed
Sliced Strawberries
Vanilla Cream

Layer ingredients in Trifle bowl, cover with coolwhip, and let sit for 30 minutes before serving.

Vanilla Cream:
1 box vanilla pudding
1/2 cup milk
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup coolwhip

Blend all ingredients together and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Oh Julia.

When I was a kid I didn't get up Saturday morning for the Cartoons. I got up for the Frugal Gourmet and Julia Child. I though she was a goofy druken old lady who whipped up impossible things in the kitchen and it fascinated me. At the American History Smithsonian they had an exhibit that contained Julia Childs actual kitchen.

For one of Julia's recipes click her name above to access the Julia Child Recipe Tumblr.

Seventh Hill Pizza

yum.

I really enjoyed 7th Hill Pizza a lot. This is where we went to eat our first night in Washington DC. It's off Capital Hill in the Eastern Market area. I just love firestone pizzas, I had a personal pizza called Navy Yard. It was topped with tomato, toulouse sausage, oregano, and pecorino cheese with mozerella. Super good. I loved what Mike had too. It had prosciutto and some sort of leafy greens I haven't been able to identify. Then for dessert we had what I had been waiting for...the Nutella Calzone. oh.my.deliciousness. Creamy nutella and some raspberry in a calzone. It was really really good.

Now this is no exact recipe but this one looks super delightful so I am going to include it, make it this weekend and report back how it was.

Ricotta and Nutella Calzones

Easter Pavlova

This was my first time kaing this...delicious!!! It's gooey in the center and the crust melts in your mouth, so very good.

It's simple, IF you follow the instructions.

4 egg whites at room temperature
1 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp corn starch

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Crumple up a piece of parchment, uncrumple and spread on baking sheet. sprinkle with some corn starch. If you don't do this it will stick and break apart when removed. I have heard you can use aluminum foil instead of parchment paper.

Beat egg whites until a stiff peak forms and still shiny. Add sugar 1 Tbsp at a time, beating throughly in between. Fold in vanilla, lemon juice, and cornstarch (don't pre mix). Scoop onto baking sheet and spread in a 9 inch circle, with edges higher than the middle. (I spread mine into 12 and it was more crust than goo and cooled faster, I enjoyed the cooling faster and like the crust so I didn't mind, but it is supposed to be taller and have more goo in the middle, when done).

Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour then turn off oven, open door a bit and cool in oven for 1 hour. It will crack a little on the outside, and be a pale pinkish brown color.

Before serving top with coolwhip and strawberries and kiwi (the traditional toppings, although any fruit will do).

Enjoy!