Guest Blog: Erin and Stephanie

Erin and Stephanie are also from Valpo.  They graduated from high school a year before me.  Although we had mutual friends in high school, we didn't hang out.  We reconnected at Purdue and spent two school years living in an apartment together...acting crazy, cooking, laughing, and having fun.  I don't remember what life was like before the girls were in it.  They are my best friends and they stood beside Chris and I at our wedding as our Maid and Matron of Honor.  I love these girls.  (photos by Jake Holt)

Erin...

Stephanie...

They spent this past weekend together, missing me I'm sure.  Erin sent this blog entry about their weekend:

Stephanie made the 5 hour trip from Evansville to visit Erin in Mishawaka. When Stephanie arrived, the apartment smelled of cake baking in the oven & Erin was preparing the spinach artichoke dip.

Together, they prepared Brian Botano’s Tomato & Garlic Crouton Salad, only adding the olives to Erin’s bowl.

Erin & Stephanie ate dinner while watching four wonderful episodes of the World Series of Pop Culture VH1 that Erin DVR’ed for this special occasion. After each devouring two bowls of salad, dip with crackers & raspberry lemonade, it was time to make the whip cream frosting for the chocolate cake.

This is the cake that Erin requests as her birthday cake every year, but instead of making homemade cake like mom, Erin used a Pillsbury box mix. The best part about the cake is that it also makes a delicious breakfast treat. We enjoyed our cake and coffee while watching a new show on comedy central that we found by accident, Human Giant.

We played Just Dance on the Wii, which amounted to 30-45 minutes of aerobic activity. After a shower, it was time for dinner.

While the rice was cooking, Stephanie shredded the cheese and cut the peppers and onions for our fajitas. Stephanie reminded Erin of the time at Purdue that we were having enchiladas & she was going to make rice pilaf to go with the dinner. Silly Stephanie! Erin cooked the steak & veggies in a grill pan on the stove. Topped with shredded cheese, salsa & sour cream, the fajitas were delicious! We could only eat a couple bites of the rice since we made the fajitas so large! We ate the fajitas and enjoyed the Christmas episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

The only thing missing from this fun weekend of friendship, fun & TV, was Stephanie & Erin’s dear friend Lauren. They both wish Lauren would have been there to complain about the TV shows they both enjoyed watching, laughing hysterically! Also, Lauren probably wouldn’t have gotten a piece of cake, because there was only enough for each of us to have 4 large pieces, not exactly enough to share.

Aunt Cindy's Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies

We received a wonderful package from Aunt Cindy, Uncle John, and Hannah for Christmas.  In addition to Trader Joe's Pumpkin Pancake Mix (can't wait to try!!!!!), the package included a mason jar filled with the dry ingredients for Aunt Cindy's Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies. 

We decided to bake the cookies on New Years Eve....and they were delicious!  I'll admit that I'm not a huge fan of cranberries (although I have recently discovered how good they are on salads) or white chocolate, but these cookies are such a wonderful combination of flavors.  These cookies are soooo good!  Hope you'll try them today and think of my lovely aunt from Georgia.

I used my Doughmakers cookie sheet.  I have had it for several years and just love it.  These wonderful pans are made in the US by a company in Indiana.  I know my mom and Chris' sister, Amy, have also used them.  Although they're not non-stick, everything slides right off. 

Aren't they beautiful?  We shared some with our neighbors, packaged some for our trip to Arizona (more on that later), and put a few in the freezer for later.  Yum!  I'd love to hear what you think after you try them!  Thank you Aunt Cindy!

Chris and Dave's Banana Nut Bread

Chris and my dad have a long history of dates at Starbuck's filled with long conversations over mochas and banana nut bread.  They talk about life, love, and eachother's good looks.  Over the summer I picked up a recipe card for Banana Nut Bread at Starbuck's and tucked it away in my recipe box.  This afternoon I stumbled upon it and decided to give it a shot.

I hope you can read the recipe below.  The spoon is covering up 3 bananas in the upper right.  It calls for 1/2 cup vegetable oil.  To trim a bit of fat, I used 1/4 cup canola oil and 1/4 unsweetened applesauce instead.  I do the same thing with my pumpkin chocolate chip muffins and no one knows! I wasn't paying attention and accidentally added all of the walnuts into the batter rather than sprinkling some on top and it was just fine, so I think you can do that either way...

Batter with walnuts...

Ready to bake...

Out of the oven...I blame the odd shape on top on my loaf pan...must not be big enough.  It's a Pyrex.  That also meant I had to bake it over 60 minutes to get the toothpick to come out clean, so watch out for that...

Perfect Christmas Eve Dessert.  Coffee in the French Press and Chris and Dave's Banana Nut Bread...

Chris reported that the bread tasted just like the real thing!  You should try this one, you won't be disappointed!