Lilyʻs "Deliciously Donut" 8th Birthday Sleepover [w/ Corn, Edamame & Black Bean Salad]

In our family we donʻt have birthdays.  No, weʻre more birthday week kind of people.  In a family of six I really enjoy being able to focus on one person and remember why they in particular are so special to our family unit.  Last week our oldest child turned eight.  I still canʻt believe it, I feel like Iʻm still in a little bit of shock.  Like I gave birth 8 years ago and forget everything up until today and how do I already have an eight year old? Breathe.

For Lilyʻs birthday she really wanted to have a sleepover with her best girl friends.  They had a blast playing dress-up, shrieking and running in circles and watching movies into all hours of the night.  Literally, all hours, I got the last one to sleep around 2am.  Mom life is hardcore sometimes.

The theme for her sleepover was Deliciously Donut!

Cake by Mom!  I used this awesome Wilton cake pan that can do any number or letter.

Happy Birthday to Me shirt from Childrenʻs Place via Noni of course! 

Chocolate Milk and Sprinkles for breakfast, what else could a little girl ask for?

Lilyʻs birthday "cake"! 

Happy Birthday Lily Pax!  You are loved. 

Teaching Daddy how to make a bracelet, her new favorite hobby. 

Pre-sleepover spaghetti dinner with friends!  

In addition to her birthday sleepover we had; cupcakes at the beach with friends (twice!), went to see the new Planes: Fire & Rescue movie and went to the annual Midsummerʻs Night Gleam at Fosterʻs Botanical garden.  All in all a great week to celebrate a rad little girl.

On the night we saw Planes we had dinner at a friendʻs house in Waikiki and since I had a random bunch of corn I decided to make this salad.  Super light, fresh, and fast it was great on a hot day.  I took the pictures before I added the cilantro but I really like the flavor with it included. 

Corn, Black Bean and Edamame Salad

2 ears of corn, cooked, with kernels cut off

1 can of black beans, rinsed

1 jalapeño, diced 

1 cup shelled edamame, cooked

1/4 cup cilantro leaves, chopped

For the vinaigrette:

2 limes, zest & juice

1/4 cup Apple Cider Vinegar

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup olive oil

salt & pepper

• Combine corn, black beans, jalapeño and edamame in a large bowl.
• In a separate jar combine all ingredients for vinaigrette adding salt & pepper to taste,  mix dressing well and pour over salad ingredients. 
• Add fresh cilantro and toss to combine.
• Cover dish and refrigerate at least one hour.  

The Nutella Chronicles: Nutella Swirled Banana Bread and Nutella filled mini donut muffins.

I am one of those people that grew up on Nutella.  I don't know how and I don't know where but we have always been a home with Nutella.  My Mom is a junk food junkie, not in a bad way [I love you Mom!] so this was just one of those things, her favorite way to eat it is with Walker's Shortbread cookies.  Sigh.

So I didn't go on a magical trip and discover it as an exotic treat, Nutella is a thing of memories & my childhood.  I hope my kids have those same memories. :) 

I bought a big 2 pack at Costco of the stuff a few weeks ago so I've basically been baking anything that has it, cause really why wouldn't you want a surplus of Nutella and baked goods?  

This is also my first lesson learned in blogging.  I found both of the recipes on Pinterest and like almost every recipe I make I tweaked it to fit what I thought would be better or for what I personally had on hand.  When I went to write this blog I hadn't pinned the exact recipes I used so I had to go through pages of recipes to try and find them so I could reference them here. Errr.  Ok blogging world, lesson learned.  I will start writing my recipes down!  There, you happy?

Nutella Swirled Banana Bread

adapted from www.barbarabakes.com

 

1 Cup mashed very ripe banana, about 3 medium bananas

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 plain Greek yogurt

1/4 cup butter, melted

2 eggs

2 cups AP flour

1 t. baking powder

1/2 t. baking soda

1/4 t. salt

1/2 cup Nutella

 

[1] Combine mashed banana, brown sugar, Greek yogurt, butter & eggs in a stand mixer and mix on medium until well blended.

[2] In a separate bowl whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

[3] Note: I made these into mini loaf pans, cause I had disposable ones and didn't want to clean up but you could use one big standard loaf pan here. It makes 4 mini loaves.

Slowly add flour mixture to wet mixture.  Mix until it just comes together.

[4] Grease pans, I make my own Pam type spray, and spoon batter into bottom.  About halfway up.

[5] Use about 1/8 cup of Nutella per pan, a little more won't hurt anybody.  Kind of layer the Nutella between two layers of batter and then put a big scoop on top.

[6] Use a butter knife or skewer to swirl the Nutella through the layers, I made the mistake of not swirling enough which gave my bread kind of a crispy Nutella top which I kind of liked.

[7] Bake at 350 degrees F, or 300 degrees if your using a Convection oven, which I am while my oven is out of order.  For about 35-40 minutes.

[8] Let cool on a rack, if you can wait that long!

Nutella filled Mini Donut Muffins

adapted from www.mochithoughts.com

 

   3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 egg 

1 1/2 cups AP flour

2 t. baking powder

1/4 t. salt

1/4 t. Nutmeg

1/4 cup Veggie Oil

3/4 cup low-fat milk

1 t. Vanilla 

Nutella for filling

 

[1]   In a large bowl whisk together sugar, egg, veggie oil, milk & vanilla.

[2] In another bowl whisk together dry ingredients, flour, baking powder, salt & Nutmeg.

[3] Whisk the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined.

[4] Grease a mini muffin pan with cooking spray and fill each one halfway.

[5] Using a teaspoon add a dollop of Nutella to each muffin.

[6] Cover Nutella with a little more batter each, try not to fill too high, I did and they came out ok but it could be a mess.

[7] Bake at 350 degree F for 12 minutes.

[8] When the muffins have cooled down for a few minutes run a butter knife along each edge.

Pop muffins out while they are still warm and then roll in cinnamon sugar! 

[1/4 cup sugar & 1 t. cinnamon]

Makes about 36 mini muffins.

Have a Nutella-licious day!