Pasta Parchment Parcels

The other night after my kids went to bed, my wife was feeling frisky and she grabbed the video camera and we...

cooked pasta.

Check it out...
Yummy Summer Grilled Veggie Pasta in Parchment Paper!

Banana Chocolate Chip Struesel Muffins

My wife is away for 3 days taking a very deserved break leaving me to be super daddy and to not go crazy while she is gone. This should not be hard. Joanna cares for our 3 children by herself all the time as do millions of women and single moms all over the world. It is not like I am looking for a medal or anything here. The only issue is that I am night weening my son cold turkey and I lack the female bits necessary to give him what he really wants. And so far, things have been going great.
So in order to keep my girls occupied and to stop them from turning on each other like caged rats I thought we should make some Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins! I found this recipe on Epicurious.com and it rules.

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 large)
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1/4 cup milk
• 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line twelve 1/3-cup muffin cups with foil muffin liners. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Mix mashed bananas, egg, melted butter and milk in medium bowl. Stir banana mixture into dry ingredients just until blended (do not overmix). Stir in chocolate chips.

Divide batter among prepared muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full. Sprinkle streusel topping on top of each muffin. Bake muffins until tops are pale golden and tester inserted into center comes out with some melted chocolate attached but no crumbs, about 25 -30 minutes. Transfer muffins to rack; cool.

For streusel topping:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon packed dark brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

Of course there is absolutely nothing healthy about these muffins, nor should there be, so they make very effective single parent bartering chips. Consider yourself warned and distribute freely to your children to buy yourself a few minutes of sanity.