Cinnamon Swirl Banana Muffins w/Cinnamon Frosting

Posted on April 9, 2015 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Does that make them cupcakes? Meh, whatever. I will eat them any time of day thankyouverymuch.

These are seriously SO good. I kept the leftover frosting just in case I need to dip into it at random for a little pick me up. Don’t judge.

Maybe next time, I’ll just load these puppies up with more frosting so there won’t BE any leftover frosting. Yup, that sounds like a good idea. Definitely remembering that.

Let’s just cut to it and get to the recipe

Cinnamon Swirl Banana Muffins w/Cinnamon Frosting

for the bread

3 bananas, mashed
1/3 c plain greek yogurt
3/4 c brown sugar
1 egg
1 t vanilla
1 t baking soda
1 1/2 c whole wheat flour

for the cinnamon swirl

1/3 c sugar
1 T cinnamon

for the cinnamon frosting

4 oz cream cheese, room temp
1/8 c butter, softened
1 t vanilla
1 t cinnamon
3(ish) c powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 and spray muffin tin or line tin with paper cups.

2. Mix bananas, yogurt, sugar, egg and vanilla in a bowl until incorporated (can hand mix or opt for a standing mixer).

3. Add baking soda and flour and mix until incorporated. Don’t over mix!

4. In a separate bowl, mix the cinnamon and sugar. Fill the muffin tin halfway with banana mixture. Generously sprinkle (and be VERY generous) with the cinnamon/sugar. Top each muffin with the remainder of the batter. Bake for 18-20 minutes. Note: I accidentally forgot to set the timer on this, but that’s my estimate! Just make sure a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean

5. Let muffins cool on wire rack. While they cool, put all ingredients for frosting in a bowl. Using a hand mixer, beat on high until nice and smooth.

6. Once muffins are cooled, top the shit out of them with ALL THE FROSTING.

Haha, did you actually read the directions? I swore in one of the steps. So naughty of me.

Oh wait, there’s one more step. EAT THEM ALL.

When I attempted to take the above picture, Reggie promptly got ahold of this one. I fought him for it and I won. And then I ate the rest of it.

So yeah, these are kind of healthy? I used greek yogurt instead of butter and brown sugar instead of regular sugar. Yup let’s consider that a healthy swap.

Ah what the hell, let’s just call them cupcakes.

Your turn: cupcakes or muffins?

Humpday Bumpday

Posted on April 8, 2015 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Well, we’re finally down to the single digit countdown of when this guy is supposed to be out.

Phew. I can’t wait for him to get here but at the same time I’m freaking out that I have to take care of yet another living thing and I’m probably going to cry a lot. Can people please stop putting all the terrifying things on the internet about having a newborn? It’s scary!

The baby has been really spoiled AGAIN this week- Leigh and her baby girl Amelia stopped by and gifted us an awesome little surprise of goodies:

AND we got a package from his Aunt & Uncle & Oma (Tyler’s mom)!

(Can you tell I’m addicted to Netflix? I bring my laptop with me all around the house so I don’t miss a second!)

Just as I am typing this up, the delivery guy dropped off yet another package and to my surprise, it was a hand knit blanket from one of my brokers at work! Super thoughtful. I actually went on short term disability pretty unexpectedly and I never told any of my brokers that I was pregnant, so I’m sure it was a shock when they all of a sudden had a replacement. I’ll be back…it just won’t be until next April! 😉

OH…and the baby’s coming home outfit arrived as well! I’m not going to share just yet the exact outfit, but I did want to shout out to Kelly at Baby H Designs for doing a wonderful job on my order.

Her Etsy shop can be found here (Psst: she’s in Alberta which makes it even better!)

I found her shop during one of my super long Etsy window-shopping wormholes and loved her patterns, prices, AND that she was local. But I noticed that she only offered headbands (for headwear). I messaged her and asked if she could possibly whip up a top knot hat to match some leggings since I was having a boy and she did! When the package arrived, I was super pleased because the material is really comfy and you can tell it’s made with care. Please please please check out her shop and see all the cute things she has to offer!! (OMG the bubble shorts are the BEST and I want to wear a pair).

My best friend also sent us the Ergobaby Original carrier- thanks Kysh!- AND we lucked out with a sweet deal on a super expensive breast pump (wrote about that here).

And again, I’m beyond excited for my parents to arrive tomorrow…because I know that approx. 75% of their luggage consists of baby items. Plus my mom will cook. And she will be my drinking buddy after the baby is born.

Until then, I will be in my usual spot…doing my usual thing…with the usual suspects. (I swear, the beagle is still alive, he just wants nothing to do with me during the day until Tyler gets home)

Dogs

Posted on April 7, 2015 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

I love my dogs so much and I cried this morning because I realized that pretty soon there’s gonna be a baby in the mix and I won’t have as much time to give these guys puppy snuggles.

In other news,

I’m now on season 4 of Parenthood (yes, holy shit I did watch an entire season yesterday)
The guy cutting my blinds to size at Home Depot this morning was getting a little too chatty about my pregnancy. Awkward.
OJ is really expensive but so so so worth it
The ‘barista’ at Starbucks this morning had the HARDEST time understanding someone’s iced coffee order. It was painful to witness. And if you don’t understand how to pour coffee in a cup with ice, you probably shouldn’t be working at Starbucks
My parents get here in 2 days!!!! And my mom and I have pedicures on Friday because y’all know a gal’s gotta have decent toes when giving birth. I kid, I kid…I’m only in it for the massage chair and potential Five Guys burger for lunch.
Anyone in upstate NY need a large unused dog crate? I bought one for Layla 5 years ago and she never used it and it has been sitting in my parent’s house since I moved to Calgary and I need to get rid of it. Let me know!
Calgary has the worst drivers ever. Like the WORST. I’ve subjected my poor unborn child to entirely too much swearing when I’ve gotten behind the wheel. No one knows how to back out of a parking spot. Or merge. Or use their turn signals. Or just the freaking speed limit. Gahh, I’m getting worked up just thinking about it!

What’s something random you’d like to share?

Weekend Recap

Posted on April 6, 2015 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Well sleep is officially no fun anymore because I am super uncomfortable. At least Layla got up with me at 4:30 this morning and joined me for a few handfuls of multi-grain cheerios in the kitchen.

So this weekend was fun. Again, it’s pretty hard for me to jog my memory on what the hell we actually did, so I’ll do my best!

Thursday: Had my weekly doctor appointment, picked up a pump at the wine store (to de-gas our pinot grigio) and napped a lot. It was super exciting. I also watched SO MANY episodes of Parenthood. As of right now, I’m halfway through season 3 already. Hashtag I need to get a life. Hashtag this is my life and it’s pretty friggin awesome considering I haven’t put a real bra on in about a month or so. I picked up some wine from the nearby liquor store (I saw on twitter they were having a huge sale, so of course I needed to check it out) and we had an awesome steak dinner. PS: The more butter in mashed potatoes the better. We rounded out the night with a few episodes of Bloodline and some popcorn.

Homemade kettle corn: 1/4 c coconut oil; 1/2 c kernels; 1/4 sugar, sprinkling of salt. NOM NOM NOM

Oh, and I did some creeping online and found the Medela breast pump that we wanted was available at Target (in the US) for $150 less than Canada (I think there was an advertising error because I just checked again and it’s marked back up in price) AND my mom’s friend got her employee discount since she works there so my mom ended up getting the pump for $200 less!! Also, the final price is still a TON of money, but um….yeah I have no reason to justify it but we are REALLY excited about it. Unreasonably excited considering it’s a BREAST PUMP.

Friday: Let’s just call this a wasted day. More napping and Parenthood while Tyler replaced the spark plugs on his truck. And I think that’s about it.

Saturday: We picked up new baseboards to replace in the living room/kitchen then I made carrot cake cupcakes and Reese’s pieced cookies to bring over to Susie and Frankie’s. (recipes for both can be found here and here). We had a DELICIOUS dinner over at their house and ended up staying and chatting until way too late! Sidenote: I’ve HAD to shower before bed every night this whole pregnancy- which includes nights we come home from friends houses at 1am. Woof.

Sunday: Parenthood. We finished Bloodline (anyone else watch it?). Laundry. Painting. Napping. Smoothies. Eggs benedict. Puppy snuggles.

(the beagle couldn’t be bothered- he was napping)

That about sums it up! Lots of house-stuff to do before my parents get here on Thursday!

How was your weekend??

Humpday Bumpday

Posted on April 1, 2015 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

You guys, you guys, you guys. Do you know what is the absolute most adorable thing in the whole wide world? Baby Moccasins. Seriously. I previously hadn’t given much thought to the baby’s coming home outfit but as soon as baby moccs came on the radar, I knew I had to have a pair for him to rock home from the hospital. (I know, I know as if a newborn baby actually needs shoes. Pff. It’s his first outfit EVER so it needs to be cute. I’m banking on a warm summer so I can just have him naked for a few months. Should save us a few $$)

I posted last week some of the moccs I’ve been lusting after (you can see them here) but there is one vendor in particular that I went with because A) she’s local in Calgary, and B) several other mamas in the blog world have raved about her. So when I saw Danielle was running a spring sale on custom made moccs, I ordered right away. PS: I may have even ordered them while I was sitting in the doctor’s office ;).

Her Etsy shop can be viewed here.

Genuine leather moccs made just for my kid? Sign me up. I can’t wait to get these on our little guy! I ordered the light brown leather in size 1 and the cream in 2 (here’s to hoping he doesn’t grow out of shoes as fast as his mama did!) I’ve been told they’re pretty durable and stretch a bit with wear- both indoors and outdoors.

Layla is my shadow, so of course she had to get in on one of the photos 🙂

I’m super excited to have our baby wear these as he grows (sizes range from 1-7) so I will definitely be ordering more in the future. And guess what? Danielle has been kind enough to offer a 25% discount for readers! How awesome is that? Just use the promo code FAB25 at the time of your order.

On another note, his actual outfit should be delivered tomorrow, and I’m anxious to share that Etsy shop with you next week!

And on a third note, Tyler and I had our maternity photos taken on Monday with the wonderfully talented Whitney Cowan (yet another highly raved about person from fellow local blogging mamas). She immediately got us a sneak peak on Facebook- way faster than our wedding photographer *cough cough*- so I thought I’d share that here as well! I can’t wait to see the rest of the pics. We really did luck out with a sunny, warm March day in CALGARY of all places.