Non Ice Cream Sandwiches

You know what makes everyone happy? Ice cream sandwiches. You know what makes me even happier? When there's a healthier version of them- it helps me feel better about eating several of them in one sitting ;)

I had seen somewhere on Pinterest that if you blend frozen bananas, cocoa, and peanut butter, you end up with an alternative to ice cream that's shockingly good. What if you omit the cocoa and put the 'ice cream' on chocolate covered graham crackers? Blam! You have these.

 I think frozen bananas are going to be pretty excited about serving another purpose besides banana bread.

Because I forgot to pin the banana 'ice cream' there wasn't really a whole lot of measuring that went into this, but I'll give you some estimates.

In a food processor, blend 2 frozen bananas and a 1/4 c. of peanut butter. If it seems too runny, put it back in the freezer to firm up.
Meanwhile, melt 1/4 c. of chocolate chips in a saucepan on low heat. Remove from heat and spread chocolate on graham crackers.
Scoop banana mixture on to a graham cracker and top with another to make a sandwich (obviously). Once assembled, wrap in plastic and keep in the freezer.
This should make 8-10 sandwiches depending on how much of the banana mixture you use.

I Love This City

Wow. I'm at a loss for words when it comes to describing my sense of pride for this city and province. It's too bad that it sometimes takes a disaster for people to show their generosity, but in the same breath, it's so incredible to see people in action.

from @NTNL17

 I went to pick up some stuff for donations yesterday and as I was buying several pairs of assorted women's underwear, the woman next to me smiled. Sure enough, her cart was full of the same things. So what can we do to help? It looks like yychelps.ca has the most up to date list of immediate volunteer opportunities. Aside from that, once things start getting back to normal, remember to support local businesses. They're the ones who will be affected the most and yet have been the most generous. Restaurants are supplying food trucks who are feeding emergency service personnel. Local pubs are having free BBQs for evacuees and volunteers. Neighborhood coffee shops are giving coffee to those cleaning out their home. These are the people who care about our city, so next time you're grabbing coffee, or wine, or gifts, think about the people who strive to make our city a better place.

Bless it's collective heart, Calgary is an incredible place to call home.

Stay Safe

It certainly doesn't look or feel like the first day of summer. Calgary and surrounding area has been experiencing major flooding since yesterday afternoon.

Canmore

High River

Inglewood Golf Course, Calgary

@cityofcalgary and @CalgaryPolice are doing an incredible job of keeping everyone informed.

Stay safe out there!

All images from Calgary Herald

Ahh the Weekend...

Wedding Projects

Dinner at Anejo

Beer contests at Wurst

Finally, a new living room color!

Happy Father's Day!

Reading these Rules for Dads of Daughters got me all choked up today. My favorite was the one about buying your daughter a puppy. I remember begging my parents to get a dog for years when finally one day my Dad, much to my Mom's chagrin, said 'Hey, there's a beagle for sale about three hours from here. Maybe we should go take a look." My Dad and I took a little road trip and ended up getting our much beloved family dog, Buster.
Best. Day. Ever.
My Dad loves to BBQ (and collect BBQs it would seem), so here's a quick gift guide inspired by him.

BBQ sauce and rubs from Holy Smoke and a growler of Village beer
BBQ Branding Iron
Ben Sherman Plaid Shirt
iPod Speakers

Happy Father's Day to my Dad and my soon to be Father-in-Law, Bruce.

Wedding Plans- the Invitations

Our invitations have gone out and RSVPs are starting to come back! We ordered our invitations online from minted.com. There are so many beautiful designs to choose from. I think we ordered about 17 samples before we narrowed it down and picked these ones. The process could not have been easier and we absolutely love them.

The best part of getting the RSVP cards back is reading the song requests! We may have to exercise veto power on some of them ;)

66 days!!

Game of Thrones and Princess Bride

If you're not caught up on this season of Game of Thrones, DO NOT watch this video. If you've watched it and are still somewhat devastated by last week's episode, this might ease the pain a bit ;)

Black Bean Brownies

Well, I was hoping to keep it a secret, but based on the last couple of weeks I think I have to admit that I'm totally losing it. Do you ever have so many thing going on that it feels like you never complete a full thought in an entire day- it's just a constant flow of random, scattered bits and pieces? That's my whole life right now. I can't remember anything. ANYTHING.

I bought my Mom cards for Mother's day and planned to take them to her last weekend. I went to work and realized I had forgotten them. No big deal. I'd just run home and grab them and be on my way. I came home, hung out for 20 minutes or so, and completely forgot them AGAIN.

It should come as no surprise that while making these black bean brownies, I blended up all of the ingredients (or so I thought) and thought the batter was a bit too thick. No matter- even though I've made them 3 times in the last month and know what the consistency should be- I'll just add some water and throw them in the oven. About 5 minutes in, I look at the counter and there's the honey I forgot right in front of my face. Ugh. At least there were brownies at the end of it all :)

Technically, there should be chocolate melted on top of these, but after pulling them out of the oven and adding the honey, the chocolate chips ended up mixed in. They're still delicious though.

Black Bean Brownies
1 15oz can of black beans
1/2 c. oatmeal
1/4 c. coconut oil (I usually use half coconut oil and half peanut butter)
1/4 c. honey
3 tbsp. cocoa
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 c. chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.
Blend all ingredients except chocolate chips in a food processor. Pour batter into a greased 8x8 pan. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top. Bake for 25 minutes. While the chocolate chips are still warm, spread them along the top of the brownies. Allow to fully cool before cutting. If they're still soft, keep them in the fridge to make them easier to cut and remove from the pan.

Wine Shower

After living together for over three years, there isn't a lot of stuff that Eric and I need for our home. Knowing this, my Mom threw me a wine shower. Each guest brought a bottle of wine along with a tag telling us when we could drink it. Everyone was so creative! We've got a bottle for after a hard day of skiing, a night when we don't know what to have for dinner (that one won't last long), a picnic in the mountains, and the list goes on. It was so fun reading them all and making mental notes of when our next bottle of wine is due.

My sister also made me this hilarious armadillo cake a la Steel Magnolias. One of my all-time favorite movies.

For those of you unfamiliar with the reference...