Going Bananas

I promise this post has something to do with bananas, but first, I want to update you all on our lives. This week Jer dislocated his patella (knee cap) at his church league basketball game. I was having dinner group with my friends Lauren and Danielle and my sweet downstairs neighbor and good friend Alison called me and gave me the bad news. He went to the instacare and was promptly directed to the ER where they basically charged us a lot of money for some pain-killers and an ice-pack. I'm exaggerating but sometimes I just get so frustrated with the emergency room. Anywho, here is a picture of my sweet boy with his knee immobilizer on. He has been on crutches since Wednesday but he has recently been able to bear weight on his right foot which is good progress.

We are both sad because Dancesport Nationals are coming up this weekend and Jer was going to be dancing two events. It is looking less than likely that he will be able to dance. :o( On that note, my partner Caleb and I have been working and practicing very hard for nationals. We won pre-championship Ballroom in November and hope to maintain our title on a National level this week. The competition will be stiff and we are nervous but all we can do is our best so we will see how we do. We will also be dancing Amateur smooth again. Last comp we placed 3rd. We hope to at least maintain that title as well. Because this is a national competition, everything carries more weight. I will keep you all posted on what happens.

We have had lots of fun spending time with our friends on the weekends playing games and doing other fun things. I was able to go visit Mollie and her sweet twins Paige and Grant this weekend with my sister Katie. Mollie calls us Auntie Tina and Auntie Katie. We love those precious children! Jer took his little bro Cam to the BYU basketball game vs. Wyoming yesterday for his birthday and even bought him a Jimmer t-shirt. Cam also got a picture with the cheerleaders :o). Jer's little sisters and I went out to lunch during the game for Taylor's birthday and went to Forever 21. (Gotta be careful in that store, lots of cute, inexpensive things) We had a wonderful adult session of stake conference last night with a question and answer session with Elder Jensen of the Seventy and then a great meeting today with the sustaining of a new Stake Presidency. Our lives are very busy with work, school, dance and sports. We are getting very excited for our month-long trip to Asia coming up in the end of April. We will go to Thailand, Vietnam, and finally, Taiwan to visit Jer's mission.

Jer and I are so grateful for the many, many blessings in our lives and all of the wonderful opportunities that are ours. We consider ourselves very blessed. :o)

Now for the good part: Bananas.
I made banana bread today because I had some ripe bananas I needed to use, not to mention it's Jer's favorite, so I went back to my trusty and absolute favorite recipe. A couple years ago, I was experimenting with lots of different recipes to find a REALLY good banana bread recipe. I had found one that had a streusel topping that was pretty good, but then my room mate Lauren opened my eyes to her mom's DELICIOUS and wonderful recipe. I have never made another recipe for banana bread since. It has a glaze that is to die for but its good without it too.
Sharon Anderson's Banana Bread with Glaze
Bread:
1 c shortening
2 c sugar
4 eggs
6-7 bananas (reserve 1/2 a banana for glaze)
4 c flour
2 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1 t vanilla
Shake of salt
Pour into two bread pans and bake at 350 for 40-50 mins (I often cover it with foil halfway through so the top doesn't get too brown)

Glaze:
1/2 cube butter (needs to be very soft)
1/2 banana
1-2 c powdered sugar
splash milk and vanilla

Once bread has cooled cover top of loaves with glaze.

As I was flipping through my recipes to find the one above, I came across another banana one I love. This one is from my lovely mother-in-law. These are really hard to stop eating.
Sour Cream Banana Bars
1 1/2 c sugar
1 c sour cream
1/2 c butter
2 eggs
3 mashed bananas
2 t vanilla
1 t salt
1 t soda
2 c flour
Pour into greased jelly-roll pan and bake at 375 for 20-25 mins (keep an eye on them) until barely brown.

Frosting:
This recipe calls for like a vanilla frosting but I really like doing a cream cheese frosting. You can also do a vanilla frosting but add banana.
1/2 c butter melted
2 t vanilla
6 T milk
4 c powdered sugar
(I have found that this makes a LOT of frosting, it depends on how thick of a layer you like but I may decrease the amount a bit)

It's a Boy!

No, I am not pregnant. I threw a shower with help from a few friends for my dear friend Sally Duffin and her sweet baby boy Bennett who I haven't actually seen yet because he will be born in three weeks-ish but I know he will be sweet just like his parents. We had a blast at Sally's shower, played fun games and ate some great food.

 I got these little baby feet and toy shaped lollipops for the favors and made a little arrangement of them for the food counter. Of course I forgot to tell people to take them as a favor so now I'm stuck with lots of baby boy favors.

 Some of the group eating. We had creamy tomato basil, chicken noodle and broccoli cheese soups, sourdough bread and crescent rolls. For dessert we had lemon raspberry bars and butter bars. Yum Yum. Recipes to follow. :o)

 More fun friends and relatives.

 Ballroom girls!

 We played a fun game I had played at a shower a long time ago. You put small safety pins in a bowl of uncooked rice and you have one minute to pull out as many safety pins as you can with your eyes closed, it is much harder than you think! The other game was guess the size of Sally's belly. Each girl guessed her belly size in inches and whoever got the closest got a prize.

 Opening gifts. I realized I wasn't very crafty when gift after gift came out and I kept asking, "Did you make that?" And of course the girl would always say, "yes". Good grief, I guess I need to gird up my loins and just whip out the old sewing machine.

I'm so grateful for the help of Kylie for doing the games, Carly for making the delish Broccoli cheese (I'm still waiting for that recipe ;o)) and Callista for bringing rolls. It really helps when others contribute. I can't wait to see Bryan and Sally's little man and I am so excited for the three of them!
Recipes:
From cjaneinthekitchen.blogspot.com

Gooey Butter Cake

AKA Butter Bars

Crust:

1 yellow cake mix

1 egg

1/2 cup butter (1 cube), melted

Filling:

1 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 stick butter, melted

3 cups powdered sugar

Combine crust ingredients and pat into a 9 X 13 pan. Beat cream cheese, eggs, and vanilla until smooth. Add butter and sugar. Mix well. Pour over crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Variations: use lemon cake mix and add lemon juice and zest to filling, use chocolate cake mix and add 3/4 cup peanut butter to the filling. I have never tried any of these, if you do, let me know how you like it!

Lemon Raspberry Bars

Lemon Raspberry Bars

For the crust:
1 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
6 tablespoons salted butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar
Zest of one lemon
For the filling:
2 large egg yolks
1-14 oz. can fat free sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
6 ounces fresh raspberries
Preheat the oven to 350F. Spray a 8 by 8 inch baking dish with cooking spray. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, sugar, and lemon zest. Stir until graham cracker crumbs are moist. Press crumbs into the prepared pan, pressing the crust mixture one inch up the side of the pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool to room temperature.
Once the crust is cool, combine the egg yolks and condensed milk until well mixed. Stir in the lemon juice and lemon zest. Stir until mixture begins to slightly thicken. Gently fold in the raspberries. Fold carefully so you don’t break the raspberries.
Pour the lemon raspberry filling evenly over the graham cracker crust. Bake for 15 minutes, or until just set.
Cool to room temperature, then chill for at least one hour before serving. Cut into bars and serve. Keep bars in the refrigerator-up to five days.
*Note-use fresh raspberries and make sure you gently fold the berries into the lemon filling or you will have pink bars.

Chicken Noodle Soup
From Lion House also courtesy of Rachel Neeley
Here we go - I only know this from memory when I am putting all the ingredients together.
2 cans chicken stock
1 bouillon cube - start boiling and melt the cube
add veggies -
chopped, carrots, celery, onions
let them slow boil until they are getting softer
add1 can cream of chicken soup
add 1 can corn
add chicken (for this I use the cans(2) of chicken from costco)
put stove on low - and let simmer

while simmering - boiling noodles (I use egg noodles for best flavor)
then add soft noodles to mixture
stir and bada bing
Oh - add pepper for taste

(I would recommend adding more chicken stock if there isn't much liquid)

Cinderella's Glass Slipper

So, Caleb and I did a little preliminary competition at a local High School this weekend to get some floor time before Nationals in two weeks. We danced Amateur Ballroom which means it was a 5 dance event: Waltz, Tango, Viennese Waltz, Foxtrot, Quickstep in a row. The first two dances ran smoothly. As we were dancing VW, the clock struck midnight, one of my good friends on team and fellow competitors accidentally stepped on my foot as I was in motion completely ripping my shoe open exposing my whole foot, like so-

Immediately following this tragic event I stood there and stared at it for about a second which is a long time when the music is still running, kicked off the ripped shoe, thought another second and kicked off the other. I danced the rest of VW and the whole foxtrot barefoot. The MC finally asked if anyone had a pair of 7 1/2 pumps I could borrow for the last dance, QS. Someone did but they were huge on me. I hobbled through the last dance and ran to my car to grab an older pair of pumps I thankfully had handy. Maybe the judges simply felt bad for me, but we made it to the final.

I learned two important lessons from this experience:
1. I am hardcore
2. My shoes were cheaply made. How embarrassing.

My All-Time Favorite Cookie

Peanut Blossoms

I honestly can't think of another cookie I like better than this one. My mom always made these growing up and for the past few years I've been trying to make them as good as she does. This weekend I think I got pretty close. I made a few very slight adjustments to the recipe since I'm in a high altitude area. Here's the recipe:

2 3/4 c flour
1 1/2 t baking soda
3/4 t salt
3/4 c butter (I don't believe in margerine but you can use that too)
1/2 c peanut butter
3/4 c white sugar
3/4 c brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 t vanilla
1 pkg Hershey Kisses (This time around I used the caramel-filled ones, pretty delish.) Make sure to unwrap these before you put the cookies in the oven because the baking process happens quickly.

Preheat oven to 350, (I adjusted this from 375 because it just was too hot for my oven) Mix wet ingredients, add sifted dry ingredients. Mix well.

Shape dough into one-inch balls, then roll balls in a bowl of granulated sugar to coat. Cook on ungreased cookie sheet for 6-8 minutes (I lean toward 6 minutes).

When cookies are done baking, quickly (and gently) press a kiss into the middle of each cookie. You can return to the oven for 1-2 more minutes to warm the kiss. Be careful, its easy to eat about ten of these in one sitting. Enjoy!

Be My Valentine

This is the first time Jer and I have been together on Valentine's Day in 4 years. We decided to go low key on actual Valentine's Day since we knew it would be too busy to try and go out that night. I packed Jer's lunch for that day a little differently- I cut his sandwich into a heart, put a heart shaped peanut butter cup and wrote reasons why I love him on each baggy, I also made some banana muffins in heart shapes.

During my Latin ballroom class, Jer brought me a rose and balloons (as pictured below) Very sweet. When I got home I set the table nicely for our dinner at home.

 This is our meal, I got Jer his favorite drink and made artichokes, steak, mashed potatoes and gravy and delicious french bread.

 The night after, we went to PF Chang's for dinner. It was delicious. Afterward, Jer surprised me with a couples massage! We went to a place called Solase. I have never had a massage before. It was so awesome, I felt so relaxed. I may become addicted.

Below is a little something I left for Jer when he got home from work. It is a trail of candy kisses, leading to a Nerds rope and sign that says, "Now that I've roped you in by kissing the ground you walk on, will you be my Valentine?" He said yes. :o)

Recipes

OK, I admit it, I have become somewhat of a blog stalker, but not just any blog. This is a blog completely devoted to listing delicious recipes! It is cjaneinthekitchen.blogspot.com and I frequent it daily for new ideas for meals and treats. I found out about this blog only about a week and a half ago and guess how many of the recipes I have made?! Six. That's right people, six recipes in about 10 days. This is how obsessed I am with it. I have ABSOLUTELY loved every single one so far except one which I found to be average. Here are the names of the recipes so you can look them up on her blog. The best part is, she has a google powered search so you can quickly find the recipes you want.

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes (To Die For)

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Pure Evil Cookie Bars (Really, you feel like you're sinning when you eat them)

Winter Salad With Lemon Poppyseed Dressing (LOVE this dressing and the combo of fruits and veggies in this salad is phenomenal)

Sugar Cookie Truffles (I made these for Valentine's Day to give to Visiting Teachers etc. and I made my own variation on them, I wrapped the sugar cookie in brownie before I dipped them in chocolate. Very time consuming but worth it. I bought some cute treat bags and ribbon at Michael's for like a dollar and wrapped them up.)

And finally, the Chicken Pasta Salad (like I said, kind of average for me but that may be because I have had some other really good and different pasta salads, I will post these recipes asap)

Anyway, I hope you can find as much joy from this blog as I have and continue to find. Let me know what you think if you happen to check it out!

Why I Love Teaching Dance

On Wednesdays at 4:30 I teach the Tiny Tots, most of them are 3 or 4 years old. One of my students that I have had for the whole year named Kyla handed me the cutest "Valentime" she had cut out and wrote "Love Kyla" in her cute 3 year old handwriting. I often get little drawings and tokens from my 3 year olds. They are so sweet.

My BYU ballroom students had their waltz critiques due today. One critique particularly stuck out to me. This student is one of my "class clowns" I guess you could say, but I love how he truly wants to be a better dancer and wants to learn. Here is what he wrote:

My response to my dance performance filmed in class is really positive. I just have to start off saying how amazed I am that I danced the waltz. At the same time I know that it was not perfect.

             Three things you pointed out that I should work on is keeping my head up while I am dancing. This is kind of hard for me because I really like to see where I am stepping before I step somewhere. The next improvement is with the fluidity of the dance. “Your dance moves are clunky,” Christina.  This is something I really want to practice. I thought I looked like a robot out there on the dance floor. I am going to improve by bending my knees and raising to my toes. The third thing is keeping my should relaxed and at the same time in dance position.

            Things that I saw I should work on include being a leader. When I dance I need to have confidence so that I can keep my head up and lead smoothly. The other thing is I have to listen to the music. By letting the music into my heart I will be able to better express my Waltz skills. The last thing I saw was that when I come to bring my feet all the way together in between the different moves.

            What I saw that I liked was that I danced the whole Waltz. I never would have thought that one day I would dance.