Banana Cream Cheesecake

On Saturday we celebrated my brother Matt's 24th birthday with a BBQ at Charles Daley Park. My sister-in-law Michelle and I decided to tackle his special request for a Banana Cream Cheesecake - and we were both amazed with how it turned out. I have to say I was a little nervous going into this challenge because I've never even heard of a Banana Cheesecake before, let alone make one for so many people to try! But we went into this task with confidence and thought we would give it a shot. 

When everyone started taking the first bites off their plates - we knew we did good! It was so full of flavor and the consistency of this cake was smooth, creamy, and perfect. You could totally add sliced banana's to this as well but we just went with the old traditional dollop of whipped cream. Divine! 

I will definitely be making this again. It was so easy to put together and it's actually the first cheesecake I've made that had a flawless surface without any cracks. Wooo! High 5 Michelle. Yay for things that turn out exactly how you want them!  Just thought we would share this exciting new recipe with you all! Enjoy! This young lady is off to bed now. Night!

S

Banana Cream Cheesecake

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

¼ cup margarine, melted 

24 oz cream cheese, softened 

2/3 cup granulated sugar 

2 tbsp cornstarch 

3 eggs 

¾ cup mashed bananas (about 2) 

½ cup whipping cream 

2 tbsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Place graham cracker crumbs into a bowl.  

2. Add margarine and mix until you have the consistancy of wet sand.

3. Press crumb mixture onto bottom of 10" springform pan; refrigerate. 

4. Beat cream cheese in large bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until creamy. Add sugar and cornstarch; beat until blended.

5. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

6. Beat in bananas, whipping cream, and vanilla. 

7. Pour cream cheese mixture into prepared crust. Place pan on cookie sheet and bake 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 200°F (DO NOT forget to reduce temperature - very important) and continue baking 75 minutes or until center is almost set.

8. Loosen edge of cheesecake; cool completely on wire rack before removing rim of pan. Refrigerate cheesecake, uncovered, 6 hours or overnight. 

Allow cheesecake to stand at room temperature 15 minutes before serving.

Nutella Banana Bread

Happy Tuesday! Hope you all enjoyed the beautiful weekend as much as we did. Wow, long time no update. It seems like apologies are what we've been starting off each post with when we get around to writing. So I think we'll just say we're sure that you all understand what it's like when life gets crazy - we'll do a shoulder shrug along with a cheeky smile, and move along here. 

I'm very thankful that Landon has finally reached that age where he's accepted the fact that sometimes he needs to play by himself. I can't say he understands this every day that goes by...but yesterday he was able to play quietly by himself for quite awhile and be perfectly content. 

Those days are glorifying ones for me! I knew exactly what I was going to use my time for. I've been wanting to try out this Nutella Banana Bread for quite awhile now so this was the first thing on my list of things to accomplish for the day. We really enjoyed it so I thought I would quickly share it with you all! If you're anything like us and love all things Nutella goodness - we're sure this will be a winner for you too! Enjoy!

S

INGREDIENTS

2 cups flour

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 cup butter softened

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/4 cup mashed ripe bananas

1 tsp. vanilla

1/3 cup milk

3/4 heaping cup Nutella

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 9×5-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda & salt.

3. In a separate large bowl, beat sugar and butter with an electric mixer at medium speed until blended. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. 

4. Add banana, milk and vanilla. Beat until blended. Add flour mixture, beat at low speed just until flour is incorporated (don’t over mix).

5. Spoon Nutella into a small dish and soften in the microwave for about 15 seconds. Add 1 cup of the banana bread batter to the Nutella and stir until blended well.

6. Spoon Nutella batter alternately with plain banana bread batter into the prepared pan.

7. Bake 50 to 60 minutes, it will seem a tiny bit undercooked but that’s what makes it good. Cool for at least 15 minutes in the pan, and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Family Getaway

The day we've been counting down to for months has finally come. With heavy carry-on bags and our passports in hand - our hearts race with excitement. In just a few short hours we will be in the arms of loved ones. 

Face to face after almost a whole year has gone by. You can't completely explain the anticipation of this moment. To see the spark in Ben's eyes sitting beside me on that plane was so special for me. The hours can't go by fast enough. The first embrace brings out so many emotions. Finally being together again after so long apart. You hold on tightly with a big smile, not wanting to let go! 

The tears well up in the eyes behind those sunglasses. Seeing Landon cuddled tightly in his Oma's arms for those few minutes just warms your heart. To see everyone smiling, the laughter, the close conversations, you take in every minute and wish it could stay like this forever. If only this could be a normal thing and we could always be together - to not have the long distance between families. 

But we try to only focus on the positive. The time we can spend together and to savor each day and each moment. One single image can say so much. I love watching this family play games together and I was happy to be a part of it. It was the perfect way to spend most of the evenings and to make these memories.

The days at the beach were so incredible. 

To have the warm sun on your face, your toes in the sand, and the sound of the waves. We couldn't be more relaxed here. To see Landon love his relatives so much was an indescribable emotion. He would wake up every morning calling for Oma and Opa with a big smile. When he would reach the bottom of the staircase and see his Uncles and Aunt he couldn't help but start giggling and giving out hugs. He couldn't get enough of them.

Family is so precious. That comfort of being with your own family is something that's hard to explain and you can't replace it. These are the people that know you better than anyone. The siblings you grew up with, the parents that raised you. To see Ben with his family brings out a different side of him that I love so much. The certain smile that he gets when he's with them. To be able to speak German and to feel that part of "home" back with him again. It's so amazing to witness.

The last day here is bittersweet. It's like that feeling of a Sunday night when you're a child - you know you have school the next day and you dread going. You try not to think about it but it always seems to cross your mind most of the day. But we do our best to not let it sink in too much. 

We couldn't of asked for a better last day. The weather was gorgeous and the smiles were impossible to wipe off. 

We are so thankful we were all able to make this trip happen together. We made some new memories and captured some pretty great snapshots.

Saying goodbye is never easy. That feeling you get when you need to give that last hug for awhile is the hardest thing to overcome. But we stay strong for each other - and say that life must go on. The weekly phone calls and Skype dates continue like before and we pray that the months go by fast until we are together again.

We are still adjusting to trading the nice warm flip flop weather for this fluffy white stuff and snow boots! What a switch! It was hard to unpack the summer clothes and have to put them away for a little while longer. Come on spring! We're more than ready for you...

We will keep pretty busy the next few weeks preparing for our big move to Burlington. Lots of boxes to pack and last minute things to prepare that should keep ourselves occupied for sure. We'll update more on that when we're all settled in. Thanks for reading!

Have a great night everyone!

S

Bumpdate - Boy or Girl?

It's official. As of today we know if Baby # 2 is a Little Miss or a Little Mister! We are overwhelmed with excitement and can't contain it. We want to shout the news from the roof tops! Well, not quite - it would be quite icy and slippery up there and would most likely result in a fatal injury. But we figured this would be the best way to share our news! I think once we booked this gender ultrasound appointment, the weeks began to go by slower...

Isn't that always the way!? So we've been doing the countdown day by day - with the hopes that Baby D would co-operate with us and hopefully be sprawled out like a starfish in there. Well we did get some co-operation today from the little wee one (with some convincing from Mama of course) and they were able to get a pretty clear shot of "the goods" I guess you could say! Thankfully I didn't have to get up and do jumping jacks like they had me do with Landon...

Once they did the whole anatomy scan and everything looked great, my extremely nice ultrasound tech called out to the waiting room to invite the boys in. Landon was pretty occupied with the Lego blocks and Winnie the pooh books but he seemed to be anxious enough to see Mama again when he walked in with a huge smile. 

The woman was showing us everything on the screen and she looked at Landon and said :

"So you're going to be a big brother!" 

Landon just staring at the screen said "Baby!" 

Followed by a few moments of silence...

And then a very clear "UH OH!" followed...we all couldn't help it but to burst out in laughter. It was once of those priceless moments we'll always look back on and laugh about. 

I'd say he looks like a pretty excited big brother though! 

Word's can't describe what an exciting/surreal/scary/happy time this is for us. Our 2nd child! We do feel more prepared for this wonderful gift this time around and it's very special to us to watch our family starting to grow. We both feel so blessed and we're happy we can share some snip bits of this exciting time!

I know we've been keeping people in suspense all day with this question...
He or She - what will it be????
So thank you all for your guesses and your patience! It has been a very fun day for us! Haha. And for those of you that know already - thanks for not sprinting to the phone to make those phone calls just yet! You are free to now though!

I'm trying to think of more stuff to blabber on about to keep the suspense alive but that would be cruel right? So with that being said...

                                                                   

We're excited!!!!!

OH SO EXCITED!!!!

So here it is!!!!

(drum roll)

Eeeeek! It's a Boy, It's a Boy, It's a Boy! We're having another little boy!!!...So crazy!

Ultrasounds always open the flood gates of emotion for me. Just to see that little heart beating away, the tiny little hands and feet...Life is truly Amazing. 

Just like his big brother always did - this little guy loves his hands right up close to his face and had the hiccups during most of the ultrasound.

We can't wait to meet you sweet little BOY!!! 

Especially your big brother! We happen to think he's pretty cool;)

For those of you that guessed right : Wooo!

And for those of you that guessed wrong : Maybe next time! ;) 

Thank you for all of your love and prayers during this pregnancy! It's hard to believe that it's half over already...The time is flying by.

 I'll definitely try to post a few more bumpdate's before June! 

We hope you all have a great week!

S&B