I didn’t screw up dinner tonight! So I’m really awesome.

And that is always an awesome thing. Hubby looks so dubiously at me sometimes while I’m cooking that it’s nice to produce something not only edible but delectable. 😉 It was lasagna. You may be thinking, “It’s impossible to screw up lasagna.” But if you think that, you do not realize how terrible of a cook I am. In fact, before I got married I determined to not learn how to cook. I avoided it completely. After all, I was an emancipated woman. *sigh* Annnd here I am…a stay-at-home mommy (SAHM) and wife. At least I can always hold to the fact that I’m a decent shot with a grenade launcher. I’m fairly certain the majority of SAHMs can’t say that. Can you feel the awesomeness I ooze?

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Yeah, that’s me…being AWESOME. Yeah, that’s not a grenade launcher.

Okay, time to be serious. *snort* Anyone else out there addicted to Words with Friends? When I first started playing, I must’ve been having beginner’s luck, because I was trouncing people, but lately…not so much. I blame it on Mr. Stinky Pants. When I started teaching high school, I got stupider. My flawless English syntax and etymological skill disappeared within a few months. The longer I taught, the worse it got. For example, I didn’t used to use the word “got” all the time. It’s a terrible word! Ugh! And then I got pregnant. And then my brain got even dumber. Now I have to use the dictionary to look up the spellings of even simple words. I thought my intelligence would return after I gave birth, but it’s not happening.

Also, Mr. Stinky Pants gave me gray hairs.

Am I alone here? Who’s with me???

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Uhm Yum! The avocado pie I made tastes like kiwi pie!

Doesn’t this look delicious?!

It’s not mine. This is mine:

I have this problem with my food processor where I don’t know how to turn it on, so I had to mix the ingredients by hand.

You can view the recipe I followed (loosely) here.

The ingredients are pretty simple. Pie crust, 3 ripe avocados, 1/2 cup of sour cream, 1/2 cup of heavy cream, 1/4 cup of lemon juice, 1/4 cup of lime juice, a can of sweet condensed milk, and a packet of gelatin. I used low fat versions of the condensed milk and creams to lower the overall calories.

I mixed the juices and gelatin together in a small dish and let it sit while I mashed the avocados.

You can tell if an avocado is ripe by squeezing it in your hand. It should give a little to the pressure. Don’t squeeze it in your fingers, or you may bruise it. I added the condensed milk to the avocado mash, and then added the juice/gelatin mix. I mixed it all together by hand (this is where the food processor would’ve come in handy), and poured it in the pie crust. Then, I placed it in the fridge for about 2 hours to harden.

When my 2 hours were almost up, I poured the sour cream and heavy cream together and began to whip it (also by hand…I should invest in one of those whipping thingies). It was supposed to form stiff peaks. It didn’t. It just stayed liquidy. But fortunately I had some Cool Whip in the freezer, so I mixed it all together and stuck it in the freezer for about 10 minutes. Voila! Look at that!

Hubby said he wasn’t hungry (he’s rather dubious of my cooking ventures), so I scooped myself a generous portion of, er…pie:

After eating it, I announced to hubby how delicious it was and that it tasted like kiwi pie. A few seconds later it hits me, “Uhm…I think that pie crust was raw.”

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The Turon- a delicious but unhealthy way to package an otherwise healthy banana for consumption

We always have bananas in our household. But sometimes we don’t eat them quickly enough before they get overripe. There are three ways I use up our bananas when they start getting to that point: I chop them up and freeze them for smoothies; I make banana bread, pudding, or muffins; and I make turons (or banana lumpia as some people call them).

My husband is Filipino, and my mother in law taught me how to make turons, a very simple but fantastic Filipino banana treat. It’s not healthy; I’m warning you now. But since it has fruit in it, you might be able to enjoy their deliciousness in a state of calorie-denial.

To get started you need several bananas, egg roll wrappers, brown sugar, and oil for the frying pan.

Cut the bananas into fours, and then dip each into the brown sugar before rolling. Start in the corner of the egg roll wrapper and roll diagonally.

After you’ve rolled the banana all the way up, tuck the corners underneath.

I have to admit, my turons don’t look that great. My MIL’s always look fantastic. Hers are perfectly proportioned and smooth. I think mine might look better if I’d used larger bananas here, or if I’d cut the wrappers in half. But mine at least taste good, and that’s what’s important, right?

While rolling your turons, pour some oil into a frying pan, and heat it up. I usually turn mine to medium heat on the stove top. Please be very careful when doing this. Obviously working with hot oil can be hazardous! I use tongs to place the turons into the pan and take them back out again, after they’re fried.

When the turons have started turning light brown, carefully flip them over, using tongs to do so. After both sides have been browned, place them in a paper-towel lined pan to soak up the oil. After they’ve cooled, enjoy!

FYI- that first bite might be a juicy one, so have the napkins ready!

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