About Me (Mama Monkey)...answered by Little Monkey

This week has been stressful. Not a busy stressful, more of an 'Oh my God I'm never going to pop out Baby Monkey, I'm miserable, life sucks,' sort of stressful. My typical dessert of the week post even went to the wayside in the midst of my Tuesday being spent in total agony. (I made Rice Krispie Treats, for me, if that counts for anything though). 

So, fast forward to Thursday. I'm feeling pretty good, not so much in pain, and am just trying to take it easy and avoid over-doing it again, at the risk of feeling like total crap. Whilst trying (emphasis on TRYING) to sit on the couch and catch up on a couple of blogs, I came across a link over on Crappy Pictures. Honestly, if you haven't checked this blog out, you should. She is amazing! So the post was about interviewing your kids, and I am totally going to do this in the coming week or two. I'm quite certain that Little Monkey can come up with some...um...interesting answers. But as for now, I want to go with this post, an 'About Me' (Mama Monkey) as answered by Little Monkey. Yeah, this should be fun...

Here goes nothing:

About Me:

How old am I?
"I don't know." 

Smart answer, very smart answer.

What's my favorite things to do?
"I don't know...um...go to the grocery store, something, something, something." 

Well, possibly. At least it gives me a break. 

Why do I have this blog?
"So you can talk about all us monkeys!" 

Spot on!

What do I do to have fun? 

"I don't know...you tell me." 

Yep, typical Little Monkey answer. I swear he is the King of Avoidance. 

All told, at least he didn't give away all my secrets. I'm sure I could have came up with a few more questions, but he was more interested in asking me questions ("Mama when are you going to have 4 kids?" Never...the answer is never) and trying to grab Cutie-Toobie (our Betta) out of his tank. So there's that. I'm hoping he'll be a little more cooperative when it comes to his interview, because honestly, what 4 year old doesn't love to talk about themselves? And, maybe by next week's post, we'll have Baby Monkey here too! She can't stay in forever...I hope.

Dessert of the Week: Ferrero Rocher Brownies with Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting

So, if you haven't noticed, I tend to experiment a lot with recipes that pop up on my Facebook newsfeed or that I randomly find on Pinterest. This week's dessert is no different. All weekend I was trying to decide just what to post for the dessert this week. Luckily, this recipe popped across my newsfeed. AHA! There it was.  Mama Monkey is a HUGE fan of Ferrero Rocher. So much so that Santa doesn't get milk and cookies, he gets FR's and a bottle of wine on Christmas Eve (seriously).

No, they don't look spectacular...but man, they are AMAZING! 

The only way to describe this recipe is sinful. These, I do believe, hold the title of most decadent dessert I have ever made. Daddy Monkey said he'd take 2 of them and skip supper. That says a lot, considering in the summer, he's not huge on desserts or anything sweet because it tends to upset his stomach.

The original recipe (linking again, because I'm not posting it) called for these to be made in the mini-cupcake pans. Yeah, that wasn't happening. Mini-anything food in my house is a no-no. Daddy Monkey and Little Monkey like to eat. I really don't know how they don't ever gain weight.

Also, I fully intended on trying out the crock-pot caramel technique that made its popular rounds a month or so ago, but I just really wasn't feeling up to leaving the crock pot sitting on the counter for 8 hours while I was madly cleaning today. It would have just annoyed me, so I ended up using Nestle La Lechera. You can find it stocked with the international foods at the supermarket, and let me tell you, that stuff is like heaven in a can. This is the first time I've ever used it, but its going to be a staple item around here now!

Really, these are all the ingredients. Super simple! My kind of recipe.

When I say that this recipe is easy, its an understatement. Seriously, I think I had all the prep work done and the brownies in the oven in less than 10 minutes. When you use the muffin tins to make the brownies, make sure that you use liners or grease the pans EXTREMELY well. I lost 3 brownies to sticking.

I added 2 tbsp. of extra caramel to my frosting too (I used an entire block of cream cheese though, since I made the larger ones). The frosting is silky smooth, and I piped it on (something I never do) because the color and consistency was just too pretty to mess up by spreading. I can definitely see this being used on a cake in the future.

Little Monkey stole the bowl as soon as I snapped this pic! 

 I also used about 1/2 a tablespoon of caramel to top off each candy underneath the frosting. I am thoroughly convinced that there is no such thing as too much caramel. To each their own though.

No, they aren't quite as pretty as the original recipe, but what ever is when you're as busy as I am? These are certainly a re-make and will probably find their way to favorite family Christmas dessert status. As for now, I'm NOT sharing with anyone! The rest are mine until further notice!

Dessert of the Week--Banana Split Cake

So, I'm going to try something new. I'm going to try to post a new dessert recipe each week, as long as I have the time to do so. With Baby Monkey being so close to her arrival, things may be a little slow on here, but I'll do my best!

This recipe was shared with me by my stepmother. I know that she found it browsing online, but I can't find the exact one to save my life right now. So I'll post it in its entirety as it was given to me, then make a note at the bottom of the changes that I made, and the changes that I will make in the future.

Banana Split Cake

Ingredients: 
2 c. graham cracker crumbs
1 stick butter or margarine
3/4 c. granulated sugar
16 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
4 large bananas, sliced
1 (15 oz.) can crushed pineapple, drained well
16 oz. whipped topping, thawed
16 oz. maraschino cherries, drained well
1/4 c. chopped peanuts

Directions:
In a large bowl, melt butter. With fork, mix well with granulated sugar and graham cracker crumbs. Press mixture into bottom of a 10X13 cake pan. Chill in refrigerator while preparing other ingredients.

Beat together cream cheese and powdered sugar on medium speed. Spread mixture onto crust. Layer with bananas and pineapple

Banana Layer

Pineapple Layer

Top banana and pineapple evenly with whipped topping. Top cake with cherries and peanuts. Chill until ready to serve. 

Now, for my thoughts and changes:

This cake was great! Daddy Monkey did NOT want to share, but hey, Mommies are sneaky, and well, since he goes to work pretty early, I managed to slip a piece through for breakfast yesterday. Normally, I don't like banana splits, but this hit all the same notes and the different textures throughout it worked together and it has a great flavor. That said, I didn't go exactly by the recipe. Our family loves pineapple, so I used a whole 20 oz. can, and we aren't so big on cherries, so I only used 10 oz, and halved each one (note: they WILL dye your fingers, horribly). We also aren't big peanut eaters so I used a small jar of the pecans in caramel ice cream topping. In the future, I think I would also use the French Vanilla whipped topping, to give it more of an ice-creamy flavor, and top with chopped fresh strawberries instead of the cherries. By all means though, it is very good the way it is. Give it a try, you won't be sorry!

Also, if anyone can find the source of this recipe (in its original form), I will be more than happy to post a link to it. Whoever came up with this, thank you for a new summertime hit in our house!