Vegan Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins and Brownie Cookie Recpes.

So on Friday I spent the afternoon baking treats to send with my Mom up to Lawrence for my little bro Logan (she was headed up for his frat's Mom's Day.) I made an old favorite and tried a new recipe and both turned out great! Wanted to share them both with you all...

I made my famous (at least in this house) chocolate chip banana muffins (I used to make it as bread, but now we like the single portion muffins)...they always are delish! I also sent him some of Bethenny's brownie cookies from The Skinnygirl Dish, they turned out great! They are little and light which is great when you just want that little bite of chocolate after dinner. Here are the recipes...

Chocolate chip banana muffins~

Ingredients:

    -1/4 cup chocolate chips

    -1 1/2 c sugar

    -2 tsp baking soda

    -1 tsp vanilla

    -4 1/2 small bananas, mashed

    -2 cups flour (I use whole wheat)

Mix everything but flour well, then add flour. Grease pan and bake about 30 min. at 350 degrees.

Brownie Cookies~

    -1/2 c non-dairy butter, softened (or oil- I use sunflower oil)

    -1 1/2 c sugar

    -1/2 banana mashed

    -2 tsp vanilla extract

    -2 c oat flour (again, I used whole wheat)

    -2/3 c cocoa powder

    -3/4 tsp baking soda

    -1/4 tsp salt

    -2 c chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar, banana, and vanilla with a hand mixer until light and fluffy (can be done without a mixer, but it's tough- trust me...I may or may not have had help from Dave...) In a separate bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture until well blended. Stir in the chocolate chips. Drop teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake for about 8 or 9 min. Let cool.

 The finished products, hope Logan enjoyed them, I know we did! :) ENJOY! ~Mal

100 things about me {part 1}...

Ok so the adorable Mrs. Stephanie Thigpen started a link-up for "100 things about me" and I just couldn't help but join in (check out her blog here), so for the next few Mondays I'll be posting 25 things about me, here goes nothing...

1. I graduated from University of Kansas: I’m a Jayhawk, I bleed crimson and blue, and all of that good stuff…

2. …also loving college basketball comes with the territory, I’ll never forget our senior year of college when the Jayhawks won the National Championship, gives me goosebumps just thinking about it…it really was magic being in Lawrence for it all

Mass street after we won, you couldn't see where the people stopped...amazing

3. I am extremely competitive, sometimes this comes in handy, and sometimes it’s a huge flaw…my poor husband has learned not to tell me to go faster at the end of our runs because I tend to get a little angry…sorry love!

4. I am a chocoholic! Chocolate is my biggest downfall, if I were to give it up for life (this could never, ever happen) I would probably be lighter and healthier…but alas I just love it too much :)

5. Ever since senior year of high school I’ve donated my hair to Locks of Love every couple years(now Pantene Beautiful Lengths, because Locks of Love isn’t as great as it sounds…) which means I go from extremely long hair to pretty short hair (for me)…

March '10

April '10

6. My little brother (who will be 20 this summer, what?!) is one of my bff’s…he’s hilarious and we used to fight like cats and dogs when we were little (we got along too, just liked to push each other’s buttons), which we get to laugh about now

7. @mamaramsey (who you all should follow because she’s witty and a lot of fun) said to add “always gracious” to my list of things…this made my day because it’s definitely something I strive to be

8. I am really shy when I first meet people, but then once you get to know me I won’t shut up…

9. …part of being shy means I hate public speaking, HATE it, and I’m the maid of honor in my best friend’s wedding two months from today and I have been freaking out about the speech for awhile now…

10. …but she’s totally worth it :) Jen and I have been besties since the 2^nd grade, it all started with us having to carry desks up to the classroom on the first day and laughing a little too hard and we’ve been inseparable ever since…I don’t know what I’d do without her, she’s the best friend any girl could ask for and I am so blessed to have known her for almost 20 years now

11. The Real Housewives are my guilty TV pleasure, seriously I can’t get enough…I love all of them…Beverly Hills is my new fav, with Orange County and NY close behind

12. I’m adopted and I wouldn’t have it any other way :)

13. …Although people (even random strangers while we’re out and about) are always telling my Mom and I how much we look alike, I think it has to do with our mannerisms…but I take this as a compliment because she is gorgeous :)

14. Seriously though I am the luckiest girl in the world to have the most amazing, supportive parents anyone could ask for (3 of them to be exact)…they are my role models and my bff’s…

15. …because I’m so blessed in the parents department I got to have TWO wonderful Dad’s walk me down the aisle on our wedding day…how lucky am I?!

16. I have the cutest nephew ever

17. My favorite color is red/pink

18. The only time I’m not in comfy pants is when I’m outside the house (and sometimes I wear them outside the house, shh!) …as in, the very first thing I do when I walk in the door is run upstairs and change into my comfy pants…I even have Dave doing this now too (he’s not as extreme as I am) but I gave him some scrubs that he wears all the time now :)

19. Oh and my new fav comfy pants are the ones he got me for Christmas last year, the set from VS with the zip up hoodie to match…this I love to wear out bc it’s cute AND comfy…someday I’d like to get more, then I’ll dress like Gabby on Desperate Housewives hehe

20. Love, love, love little kids! They are adorable and hilarious because you never know what they’re going to say…

21. …I’ve always wanted to be a teacher, I even have a “note to the parents” I wrote as a little kid

22. My birthday is February 6^th and Dave’s is February 9^th :)

23. I married my favorite person in the world on March 21, 2009 and love every minute of being his wife!

24. My hubby is an independent musician, he just recorded an album and I couldn’t be happier for him… the album turned out amazing and I am always in awe of his talent

25. Since Dave is an independent artist, my job right now (which I volunteered to do because I believe in him so much, not because he asked me to) is helping him in any way possible…I’m pretty much his photographer, manager, social media person, etc.

Mani excitement...

I would just like to share how excited I am that I've had this mani for 2 weeks now and NO chips, not one. I went to the Paul Mitchell School here in town because they are cheap and they just happened to have a special on the axxium manicure (same thing as the new shellac manicures.) I have to be honest, when the girl said it would last for about 2 weeks- a month I had my doubts...but for $10 I didn't care. She was right!  I love not having to worry about my nails and they look great! I'm usually pretty hard on my nails, so I was worried about getting my mani on Thurs. and having it last through the whole wedding weekend (see previous post), they have definitely exceeded my expectations so I thought I'd share...

Introducing Mr. and Mrs. Makens...

So in case you haven't heard me say it yet, I'll say it again...I LOVE my iPhone! Especially when I am in certain situations where I can't carry around my big Canon SLR, like when I'm a bridesmaid in one of my best friends weddings :) Between the Bachelorette party, rehearsal dinner, and the big day I got some great shots with my iphone that I have been able to do some simple edits to and capture some great memories...ok enough about my phone, on to the important stuff!

This weekend one of my best friends from high school, Hillary, got married! This was my first time being a bridesmaid so that was special too :) We had a blast this past week celebrating our bestie and the love she has found with Matt. Since they just moved to Colorado, scheduling her parties was a bit hard to do, so we had the Bachelorette party on Thursday. Because it was the day before the rehearsal she wanted something low-key but fun...we went out for a nice dinner and some wine at Yia-Yia's and then went back to Jen's (the maid-of-honor) house for cosmos, cake balls, and games. It was so much fun just hanging with the girls and later in the night Hillary, the other bridesmaids, and I looked through old high school albums and laughed about what we used to look like and things we used to do.

The next night was the rehearsal/dinner, we practiced our bit of walking down the isle and met the groomsmen and flower girl (who was ADORABLE!)

We then headed to the Pfeiffer's for some food, drinks, and fun...they just re-did their patio and the weather was wonderful so an outside rehearsal dinner was perfect :) The other bridesmaids (aka my other high school bffs) and I, along with our significant others sat together and enjoyed the night. Hillary gave us our bridesmaids gifts and she got the three of us these beautiful necklaces from Tiffany's with our first initial on them, I've worn it every day since, love it! Later on they lit the fire pit and it was a great way to relax the night before all of the wedding day craziness began.

Then came the day we were waiting for, luckily my Mom is a hairdresser and she did all of the bridesmaids hair while the bride was getting her hair done. We then headed to the brides parents house for some yummy Barn'rds for lunch and to do our makeup. It took all three bridesmaids to get the bride into her dress (doesn't it always?) and then we were off to the country club for some pictures :) Us girls got to ride in style in the vintage car that they rented for the day, it was so neat!

At the country club Hillary and Matt had their "meet-and-greet" out on the golf course (so sweet to watch, and yes Hill we were all spying), we posed for the photographers, and then headed off to the church for the ceremony!

The ceremony was beautiful and I may or may not have teared up when the gorgeous bride walked down the isle ;) We then headed back to the country club for cocktail hour followed by delicious dinner and all the fun stuff that comes with wedding territory. We had a great time dancing with the bride and groom and it's always nice to hang out with great friends...I'll leave you with this picture of the brides fab shoes...