Banana Split Nice-Cream ~ Raw/Vegan

mmm. MMM.

I have been craving banana "ice cream" allllll winter! There's a small, local place that is only open April through October and it serves this amazing ice cream alternative made exclusively of bananas! Due to this obsession of mine, a few years ago my husband bought me the exact machine the restaurant uses, and needless to say it has served our household well ~ birthdays, dessert-for-dinner, breakfasts, and et cetera !

So! Right around the beginning of May (yes, that's when I began this post and then life and *ahem* Game of Thrones, Mad Men, Veep, oh and a full-time job got in the way) the fam visited our favorite little restaurant where we ordered beautifully constructed banana ice cream concoctions made up of varying fruits and *healthy* alternative toppings (e.g., coconut, granola, non-dairy chocolate chips, sunflower seeds) - it was heaven in the mouth, but I wanted more...MORE >:D

Thus, the very next day I created this:

Recipe Deets (You will need a food processor or homogenizer ~ if you don't have these a blender will work but you will need to add milk, approximately 1/2 cup per banana)

5 frozen bananas (peeled)
1/2 cup frozen cherries
1/2 tbsp raw cacao powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tbsp unsweetened coconut (optional)
1/2 tbsp raw cacao nibs (optional)
2 bowls
1 large mug

- in the first bowl process or homogenize 1 1/2 bananas, transfer to a blender and add cacao powder and vanilla ~ blend well and place in freezer
- in the second bowl process or homogenize 1 1/2 bananas then transfer to a blender. Add cherries and blend until it turns a pretty pink (there will be chunks of cherry...this is cool...very cool), place in freezer
- using the mug (which will be your BASE banana portion, see photo above) process or homogenize 2 bananas
- remove cherry and chocolate portions ~ add the chocolate portion to your mug (with the plain banana base already in place), then add the cherry portion on top
- sprinkle with coconut and cacao nibs

Smash in face, dribble some down your chin, wipe your mouth on your sleeve - all without guilt!

Do it.

Healthy Choco Peanut Butter Cuppies

These peanut butter cups are super simple and use two ingredients! Because of my ingredient choices, each cup is approximately 4 grams of fat, with less than a gram of sugar. If you make mini-cuppies using a mini-muffin tin, you can cut those estimates in half! Due to the nature of this recipe, mainly because of the nutritional information, it is super important to use the two products I have listed below! You can click on each of the products names for a provided link to their respective websites where you can view exact nutritional information and where you can find the products (both found on Amazon if desperate...and when it comes to chocolate desserts, that is sometimes the case).

Recipe Deets

1 Cup Lily's Dark Chocolate Chips
3 tbsp PB2 (reconstituted) - there is also another brand that can be used: Just Great Stuff (I found this to taste a lot sweeter, and it's more expensive which we all know is lame)

- Use either a regular muffin tin for 6 peanut butter cups or a mini-muffin tin for 8-10 cuppies
- Line the pans with baking cups (I used a fancy tin and didn't have liners, which made it super difficult to remove the peanut butter cups, and resulted in having to place the pan in a hot weather bath...also lame)
- In a small sauce pan, melt the chocolate while stirring constantly (if you need to add a little butter or coconut oil, feel free to do so...though this will add fat)
- once melted, remove from heat and divide chocolate into the prepared tin
- Take your powdered peanut butter and add water. The directions say "1 tbsp of water for every 2 tbsp of powder"...I just slowly add filtered water until I reach the desired level of creaminess. Your peanut butter should be creamy and slightly less thick than regular peanut butter (this makes it easy to add to the chocolate)
- When using the regular muffin tin - add a heaping 1/2 tbsp on top of the chocolate
- Place in the freezer for 30 minutes
- Remove and stuff in face
- Place remainder in the fridge in a sealed container

Voila! Treats for those who love chocolate and peanut butter but work hard on maintaining their waistlines and lady-figures!

Side-note: Both products are vegan and made in certified gluten-free facilities.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star ~ 1st Birthday Party

In celebration of my daughter's 1st year on this Earth, my husband and I threw her a Twinkle Twinkle Little Star party (most favorite song ever...)! Mirabelle made it through one year completely healthy and right on track developmentally (i.e., physical and mental milestones) - so our family is just super thankful and honestly over-joyed with every little moment in time that we share with this tiny lady, and truly love watching her progress and become more and more the person she will grow into :>

I'm going to keep the yapping brief and let the photos speak for themselves!

While we made most of the decor ourselves (i.e., stars, puffs, and pennants), some of the decor also came from my own childhood birthday parties! The glassware, serving bowls, and random decor came from a few places: our wedding decor (which we collected from various thrift stores), wedding gifts, old vases from my grandfather, mini-porcelin dolls from my husband's grandmother, and the gold dinosaurs were re-used from my babyshower (we had bought a bag of cheapo plastic dinos and painted them).

I made Mirabelle's mini-cake and also the 4 layer cake. The icing was made from scratch, as well as the carrot cake cream cheese cookie sandwiches. This helped keep costs down a lot! Though, admittedly, the cost was a bit more than I initially expected yet it all turned out beautifully so I can't complain!

Food + Tableware + Clothing
GF Macarons (vanilla, chocolate ganache, and pistachio) - Posh Pop Bake Shop
Plates, wooden forks/spoons, and cardboard straws - Shop Sweet Lulu
Bunny-shaped Snacks (cheddar, white cheddar, pretzel mix, snickerdoodle, graham crackers, chocolate chip cookies)  - Annie's Homegrown
Mini-cake stand - Homegoods
Tiny Table & Chairs - KidKraft  (gift from my side of the fam)
Mirabelle's Birthday Outfit - Janie and Jack
Mirabelle's Birthday Shoes - Janie and Jack 
My Dress -  Forever 21
My Shoes - John Fluevog (my particular style is no longer available) 

Finally, as a family, our gift was a handmade teepee (my husband picked out the fabric and built the structure, while his mother was the seamstress). A perfect hideaway and future reading spot <3

Now what's next??