Recipe: Super Easy Banana Ice Cream

 

 Today I have for you a recipe anybody can make. Now that I'm a mom, I love recipes that are extremely simple with only a few ingredients. Something that tastes yummy but takes mere moments to whip up? Yep, I'm all in.

This recipe I am calling "Super Easy Banana Ice Cream" - it's something I actually saw on Facebook, and decided to give it a try today since I happened to have bananas on hand. My husband loves ice cream, but I'm not a fan of all the sugar and calories, so it isn't something we buy often. I figured I would make this slightly healthier version.

This isn't your traditional homemade ice cream, which can be somewhat cumbersome to make. All you need is:

- Bananas

- Toppings/flavorings of your choice

....that is IT. See, I told you it was easy! I used 3 bananas because I didn't want to make a huge batch just in case I didn't like it (I will definitely make a bigger batch next time). I chose peanut butter and Planters Salted Caramel peanuts as my flavors.

Step one, cut a hole in a box...

Kidding, I'm kidding. This isn't that type of recipe.

Step 1: Slice Bananas

 Peel and slice the bananas.

Step 2: Cover & Freeze

 Cover the banana slices in an air-tight container (I'm really fancy so I used an old Chinese food container). Freeze the bananas until they are solid, about an hour or two should work.

Step 3: Process Bananas in Blender 

 Put your frozen banana slices in a blender/food processor and process until creamy. I added a splash of skim milk at this point because my blender needs a little liquid to get going.

Step 4: Add Stuff...Blend Again

 

Add your flavorings of choice to the creamy banana mixture. I added a glob of peanut butter (how's that for super specific measurements? Ha. I don't really measure things when I cook, I pretty much just eyeball; I would say I used maybe 1/4th cup...maybe less than that). As for the salted caramel peanuts, there wasn't much left in the container so I used the rest. Probably just a few tablespoons. Those peanuts are crazy amazing, by the way. Try them.

 

Blend it all up, pour the mixture back into your container, cover, and freeze.

Step 5: Freeze & Enjoy!

 And that's all there is to it!

I thought this came out pretty good. It isn't quite like real ice cream, it has more of a frozen yogurt type consistency, but it hits the spot when you want something cold and sweet. My husband really loved it and wants me to make it again soon, so, that's a plus!

I think it would be fun to come up with all kinds of combinations, I bet strawberries and chocolate would be awesome with it.

Let me know if you make this recipe and if you come up with any interesting combos.

Have fun!

Mommy Stress - Ear Infection

So...the past week or more has been pretty stressful. My son is 7 months old (almost 8) and he has several teeth already, so I'm used to a little fussiness regarding teething. The woes of teething usually lasts a day or so, he may fuss and cry a little, and just overall be a little grumpypants, but then he goes back to normal and he's his usual sweet self.

This time...not so much. The fussiness lasted for days straight. Instead of getting better, it got worse. It progressed to fits of crying that lasted hours, refusing to eat, fighting to go to sleep, and being extremely clingy (crying hysterically if I left the room or put him down for a second) and overall just acting miserable. I was worried about my poor guy.

For me, the stress was getting bad. He is normally super sweet, happy, giggly, and just in general a laidback baby. Nothing I was doing was helping - he didn't want to nurse, didn't want a bottle, didn't want any solids (even his usual favorites like bananas or sweet potatoes), he was clearly exhausted but wouldn't sleep. He was refusing to eat, not sleeping...I just felt so bad that something was clearly wrong and nothing I was doing was seemingly helpful.

I wanted to cry every time he cried.

And housework? Impossible. I'm seeing the dishes pile up, dust collecting everywhere, piles of laundry - and I'm just itching to get to work. But my son needs me, and just like in his newborn days, I haven't been able to put him down for a moment. He wasn't acting like his usual self at all.

I noticed him tugging at his ear a few days ago, but I had read that ear-tugging can be a teething symptom, so I just wrote it off as that. But as I noticed he was tugging his ear more often (something he had never done before) I thought perhaps we were dealing with something more than teething, perhaps an ear infection. I googled his symptoms (good old Dr. Google) and an ear infection did seem likely.

I took him to the pediatrician this morning, and sure enough, he has an infection in the right ear. Now he is on antibiotics for the next 10 days, so hopefully this will be what he needs to start getting better. I'm relieved that my "mommy instincts" were correct, that I wasn't overreacting, and that now he's on the road to getting back to normal.

I miss his sweet little laughs and his shy smiles. He's finally asleep right now, thankfully...let's see if I can get something done around here before he wakes.

Grieving and Trying to Get Back to Normal

So... I haven't posted anything in several months.

The last thing I posted was in February. Life was getting along pretty well at the time; I had a two month old baby, and I was getting into the swing of figuring out how to be a mother. Sure, my husband and I were pretty sleep deprived and may or may not have resembled zombies, but we were so blissfully happy with our new little one.

A week later after I posted my last update in February, I got devastating news that my brother had died. It was unexpected and all at once, it felt like my world was crashing down around me.

Understandably, my life has not quite been the same for me since. Grieving for my brother, while trying to juggle my daily life and being a new mother, has been extremely difficult. I haven't felt much like doing anything, and no, blogging was the last thing on my mind.

I decided getting back into blogging might be a good idea for me, perhaps it will be therapeutic to put my jumbled thoughts into words. I often feel like I have so many thoughts and feelings threatening to explode in my head and I don't know how to express them. Sometimes my thoughts make little sense even to myself.

Nobody understands a loss like this unless they've gone through it themselves.

Sure, everyone experiences death at some point - usually a grandparent or older relative passes away, and it's sad and hard to get used to them being gone. However, it's not exactly unexpected in that case - they're older, and death is something that happens to older people. But when death comes for someone who is younger, someone whose time has been cut short, it's tragic. You don't see it coming...but it comes, and the pain, and suffering grips you in a horrible, suffocating way.

Yes. That is one way I would describe grief... it's suffocating.

It's so hard, trying to put all the pieces back together, trying to find some sense of normalcy again. I can't quite say it's gotten easier over the last 5 months since he's been gone... grief is like a cycle for me. There are times when it's like life is going along relatively normally, and then something reminds me, something happens and I remember all over again that he's gone. Then the grief hits me fresh all over again, and I feel so horribly hopeless. It's hard to explain; mentally, I know he's gone, but have I accepted it? I guess not really.

I miss him so much and I feel so alone sometimes with how I feel. My husband is amazing, so loving and kind, patient, and supportive. But the pain feels so private, like I can't quite convey how I feel in a way that makes sense to another person. My husband tries his best to help me through this. He's there for me and listens to me, he helps me get through the worst times and I'm so thankful for him.

And my son... there's been times I have a hard time "hiding" my pain around him. I try very, very hard to be happy and act upbeat around my son. When he sees me upset or crying, I know that it upsets him too... and I don't want him to see me like that. There's been times I wondered, "why now? I can't deal with this loss and be a good mom at the same time! He deserves a better mom than me!" But honestly... if I didn't have my son, and my husband to help get me through this, I don't know if I'd still be here today, to be honest. They are giving me a purpose to continue going even when I don't feel like it. They give me a reason to try. They give me hope and happiness.

Anyway... I am rambling. I'm writing this half-asleep. I will continue some other time... I imagine I will be blogging about my thoughts quite a bit. I don't care if anyone reads it; it's for me, for me to express how I feel and what I'm going through. Hey...blogging is free and cheaper than therapy, so maybe this will help me in some way.

Review: Wet N Wild Fergie Lipstick - D'Vinely Chilled

Long time, no post!

Wow! I haven't posted in months. Pregnancy and being a new mom really zapped most of my free time. It's been a huge life change and my son has brought me a lot of joy (and sleeplessness).



My days mainly consist of diaper changing, sitting on the couch nursing, trying to find some sleep, and occasionally doing some dishes or something. Hmm.



While sitting on the couch nursing I also binge watch Netflix to help pass the time. My husband and I have been watching Breaking Bad. What an amazing show. It is totally not something I would normally like, but we've been drawn in and have been racing to finish the series. I haven't been this into a show since LOST.

I've really been missing blogging lately and decided I would post something. I actually meant to post this a long time ago - I've had these swatch pictures ready to go but never posted them.

So, today I'm going to talk about a Wet n Wild lipstick in the Fergie range. The shade is called D'Vinely Chilled. I loved the way the color looked in the tube - a warm shimmering wine shade.

D'Vinely Chilled

Oooh. Sparkly.

I'm not going to front. This is frosty. Frost has a bit of a bad reputation these days as being too dated or cheap looking. Well, call me cheap (it wouldn't be the first time), but I like a bit of frost sometimes - in the right amount, I think frost can be pretty and feminine. In astronomical amounts, you're veering into powdered donut lips territory. Not cute.



It definitely swatches frosty as well. It's got good pigmentation and you can layer the color if desired. I like the way it looks as a swatch. On me, though...



I don't like the way it looks on me. I don't know, it feels matronly or something. It feels very dry as well. I feel like it ages me in an unflattering manner. I bet it would look great on someone with a deeper skin tone, I can see it reading as a gorgeous shimmering berry. On me...I'll pass.

I haven't even touched it since swatching the product for this post. Now that I think about it, I bet it would look and feel much nicer with some lip gloss on top. I'll give it a shot.

How I Henna My Hair

First, let me be clear that I am NOT an expert on henna. Though I have spent a lot of time reading, researching, and watching tutorial videos about henna, I cannot claim to know everything there is to know about it. This is just my experience and results with using henna on my hair.

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Henna is something I have always had an interest in - but I had some reservations about it. I would research it on and off every so often, then something would make me hesitate: it takes a lot of preparation time, what if the henna I get isn't pure, it's super permanent so what if I hate it? Then I would think, "yeah, maybe I shouldn't. I'll just stick to my regular drugstore dyes."
In the last few months, my interest in henna began to grow. I started spending more time researching and reading all I could find about it. I was starting to really feel like hey, maybe this would actually work for me. It's all natural, there's no crazy questionable chemicals in there, I don't have to make an appointment at a salon, it's supposed to be good for my hair and not damage it, and it's permanent.
After reading and watching enough videos, I finally felt like I was ready to take the plunge and try it out. So far I have henna'd my hair three times, for the first two times I used Reshma henna, and then I used Jamila henna. Both worked very nicely for me, and I didn't see a huge difference between them. I got good dye release and staining power from both of them.



Now, I am the type of person that does not measure anything when it comes to recipes. I cannot tell you for sure how much I put in there, or how much YOU should put in your henna. I just eyeballed the measurements until I felt that the consistency was right.

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This is my method. Keep reading, it's a lot to go through...

Bun in the Oven

I have definitely let this poor blog grow cold in the last few months. For that, I am really sorry! But... I promise, I actually have a reason.

Some exciting news...

My husband and I are expecting our first baby!

That's right! We are so excited!!!!!

We had been trying to conceive for a while and it was a very trying, emotional time whenever Aunt Flow would show her ugly face. I am currently in my 4th month, or 17 weeks pregnant. My husband and I are beyond excited and so happy.  I'm due in mid December! :) We will be finding out the gender in a few weeks. I'm counting down the days!

So, yes... that is why I haven't been posting very much. I had some pretty nasty nausea for the first trimester - morning sickness? Yeah, no. More like all day sickness. Also, unbelievable fatigue and exhaustion hit me like a train and my energy plummeted to below zero. I could barely muster up energy to shower and cook a meal, and even though I thought about blogging, I just didn't have motivation. My little nugget was zapping all of mama's energy!

Thankfully, the nausea is mainly gone. I'm still fairly tired and low energy most of the time, but I have occasional bits of energy that appear now and again. In those bits of energy, I plan to come up with a blog post here and there. :)

Review: Coppertone ClearlySheer products

Coppertone ClearlySheer

Okay, I am guilty of something: I don't wear sunscreens. I honestly can't remember the last time I used them, because I use them so infrequently. I know, that's really bad for the skin.

Why do I dislike sunscreens, you may be wondering? Well, first of all, I hate how greasy sunscreens tend to feel on the skin. I don't like that slimy residue they usually leave behind. They feel heavy on the skin, and they tend to smell really strong. I hate that "hey everyone, I'm wearing sunscreen!" scent they all have. Yucky.

However, I received some samples from BzzAgent of the new ClearlySheer sunscreens from Coppertone. These just may have changed my mind about sunscreens.

First, let's talk about the ClearlySheer "For Sunny Days" lotion, Broad Spectrum SPF 30 - this stuff is great, honestly. It's a lightweight lotion that absorbs into the skin super quickly. I was pleasantly surprised that it didn't feel greasy or sticky at all like most sunscreens do.
I feel it would be perfect to wear underneath makeup for added protection.

Also, the scent - it's so light and soft, and barely there at all. Just a slight "clean" scent. No obnoxious Sunscreen Smell. Thumbs up!

Second, Coppertone also released a ClearlySheer Sunscreen Continuous Spray. It's basically sunscreen in an aerosol spray form. It's Broad Spectrum 50 and protects from damaging UVA/UVB rays, and it's also water resistant. It's a light mist, similar to a body mist. I love that it has a "locking" cap - you can turn it on/off so that it won't leak or accidentally spray itself inside your bag (you know what I'm talking about - I hate that).

The scent, though... I cannot lie to you. The scent of the spray is disgusting. It reminds me of hair salons - all those chemicals, ugh. It made me have a flashback of the time my grandmother talked me into getting a perm when I was 9 years old.  Have you ever smelled those perm chemicals? Yeah, that's how bad it smells. SO, I just had to mention that, because I know some people are sensitive to smells. Thankfully, when the mist dries, it doesn't smell bad anymore and leaves a soft nice scent behind. It's a nice alternative to slathering on a lotion, and it's perfect for tossing in a purse or beach bag for quick SPF.

So, if you're looking to start stocking up on SPF for the impending summer, I would recommend the Coppertone ClearlySheer line, in particular the For Sunny Days lotion.

Disclaimer: I received the items in this review as a sample from BzzAgent.