its been awhile

It has been a really long time since I really blogged, but I'm thinking about starting it up again. So, when I was thinking about what I should post about, a few things came to mind:

1. Wedding pictures-everyone is waiting to see them but I still don't have digital files of the photos except for a slideshow.
2. Rant about how amazingly beautiful my nephew, P-man, is. He visited us over Easter weekend, isn't he cute?3. A description of my master's thesis that has been devouring my life for the last five months.
4. Photos of Chicago and or discriptions of fun things to do here.
5. How awesome the first 134 days of marriage have been, but I think I'll spare you all that.


Instead I decided to post a random photo and tell the story behind it. I think this might become my blogging habit.

This is the story of banana-chocolate-chip muffins that went oh so wrong and oh so yummy at the same time. Once upon a time in a land called G-5, Emily and I decided to make banana-chocolate-chip muffins from a recipe we stole from an old roommate. The roommate turned out to be slightly insane (as an excuse for her butt always hanging out of her pants, she would always claim that she had an extra-long butt crack) and we ended up kicking her out of the apartment.

That is besides the point. We decided to make the muffins and since it was christmas time, we decided to dye them red and green for the occassion (okay, so it was my decision and Emily had no part in it). I had never used this food coloring before. When my family decided to remodel the cabin I took all the spices and other kitchen gadgets. So, I ended up owning some really strong food dye that my grandma used to use for cake decorating. I didn't realize that they were stronger than the liquid stuff at the supermarket. This explains why our muffins ended up looking like aliens. I kid you not, some had faces. I'm serious! You still don't believe me? Well, see for yourself:


To some degree, it made me cringe to eat them, but I got over it and they were so yummy! Here is the recipe if you want to make them:

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
1 3/4 c all-purpose flour
1/3 c sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg, beaten
3/4 c milk
1/4 c cooking oil
3/4 c mashed banana (you probably will want more banana. i tried this amount and they were a bit dry and not very banana-y)
1/2 c chocolate chips

Grease twelve 2 1/2 in. muffin cups or line with paper bake cups; set aside.

In a medium bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Make a
well in the center of flour mixture; set aside.

In another bowl combine egg, milk, oil, and banana. Add wet
ingredients to dry ingredients all at once. Add chocolate chips. Then add a bunch of food coloring (at this point I split the batter into two bowls and dyed one red and the other green.
Stir just until moistened (Batter should be lumpy).

Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling each two-thirds full.
Bake in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes. Cool in muffin cups on a
wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove from muffin cups, serve warm.