thebabyperks

I vary what I eat after school but just a few days ago I found a recipe I really loved for after school. Although I saw the recipe online, I made the recipe my own.

Also a forewarning, the pictures don't look great but it actually tastes really good.

Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream
Ingredients:
- 1 to 2 frozen bananas
- 1 1/2 Tbs. peanut butter
- 1/4 cup Almond milk, original or dark chocolate flavor
    **You can add more or less for the desired consistency
- 1 Tbs. mini chocolate chips
Directions:
1) In a blender, add frozen banana, peanut butter, and almond milk.

Sorry this photo is crooked. The Silk Almondmilk is my favorite brand of Almond Milk but you can use milk too.

2) Continue to blend until desired consistency.
    ** I used the "Professional Ninja" so it only took a 20-40 seconds

But seriously, look at the blade for the "Professional Ninja"

Blending

3) Put mixture into a cereal bowl and sprinkle chocolate chips over the top and enjoy.

It looks a lot like frozen yogurt and tastes extremely delicious

Besides this being a very simple recipe, it is also really quick and easy to make. It's also healthier than ice cream and the size is just right for a snack.

No. 
Well at least not for me.

Back in my prime years of eighth grade (yes people this is sarcasm), the counselor asked us to lay out our four year high school schedule. And although I can't remember what I wrote down word-for-word, I know it is completely wrong. I remember distinctly that I said I would take ALL AP classes senior year because even as a measly eighth grader, the school forced it down our throats that AP classes would benefit us.

As of now, I have taken AP US History, AP English Language and Composition, and Pre-Calculus (not AP but it's weighted). All of these classes come with a lot of workload, which I knew going into the classes. However, there comes a point where the work and time isn't worth it anymore. Example one, I ended up getting an 83% in AP US History last year but got a 2 on the AP exam. For the AP exam, colleges give credit for a 3 and above. If I got a B, weighted to a A mind you, in the class, I should be able to pass the exam. I loved my teacher to death, he is probably one of my top teachers, but if I can't pass the exam why should I be investing in the test?

The next best example I have is Pre-Calculus. I did not want to be in Pre-Calculus to begin with, but everyone I talked to said I was "too smart to be in the other math classes", when in reality I should have taken the other math classes. Not only is precalculus challenging but I don't care about it. If I EVER have to use Pre-Calculus or Calculus in life, I will pursue a different career. Besides me not liking math, I walk into my class hating the hour without even knowing what we are doing. 

AP English is difficult but in a completely different way. Sorry for my passive voice in that past sentence, if you're in my AP English Language and Composition class you'll understand. In English we take 2 vocabulary quizzes every weekend. The firsts quiz is 7 minutes and the next quiz is 6 minutes, for around 20-30 words. AND the tests are accumulative of all the words we learned the rest of the weeks. Also, every Tuesday we have an essay due and at the end of the quarter all of the essays are graded on an AP scale. Most likely, your grade will drop 6%. 

The description of my pain above all leads to one question. Are these classes worth the credit? Why should I be putting myself through so much stress if it doesn't translate to college credit? I decided that the only AP class I'm taking is Spanish because I've taken it for the past three years. Although college classes in high school could pay off for some, the result for me is not prevalent. I've learned that I need to be able to enjoy high school and in doing so I need to take a breather from difficult classes.


Wooh that was one long blog post. Sorry there wasn't any pictures or captions. I really just needed to vent and this is the place to do so. Sorry it was so long and ramble-y. I hope you all still enjoyed it and you'll see me soon with another blog post.

Until next time,
Taylor xx

I've been wanting to wear this outfit for a while now, but every day I faced the same predicament. I'd lay out a cute outfit the night before and then the morning of, I would wake up and decide jeans and a sweatshirt sounded better. Two days ago I decided to actually try and look nice for school.

This outfit features my jean jacket from "Fall Outfit #1". I love my jean jacket because it actually keeps me warm and I can wear it with almost anything.

 I was able to get a full body shot of my outfit without me awkwardly attempting a selfie.
 This is the view from the bottom of the dress down. I paired my jean jacket and dress with my brown combat boots.

I used to be very anti-dress, however I have learned that dresses can be comfortable, just in a different way. Throughout my day I also learned that this dress had pockets, BONUS! Although I probably will never use the pockets, it still made me happy.

Until next time,
Taylor xx

I am so sorry I haven't posted a blog post in a week! I think eight days is the longest I've gone without posting a blog in a while. It was layout week this week for newspaper and life was pretty chaotic. There was a softball exposure tournament this weekend and as a concession stand worker, I'm required to work every day of the tournament. 

Layout week brings out the best and worst of everyone; by Thursday night we are all ready to be done with the paper and not stare at a computer for eight hours. I think it's time for some self-reflection.

Not all of these relate to newspaper, but they are just general bad habits. 

1. My worst bad habit of all; biting my nails. My New Year's Resolution was to stop biting my nails. It is more of a nervous habit which has turned into a bad habit. I've been biting my nails for so long that I don't even realize I'm doing it.

2. I ramble/mumble a lot. I will go on random tangents but after a while I will start to fade off and not finish my sentences. I know what I want to say in my head but when I actually try to explain it, I make it 5x more complicated than it needed to be. 

3. I'm indecisive. I know this might not sound like a "bad habit" but it's something I always seem to do; or rather not do. In general I know what I like and don't like but there are things that fall in the middle that I just can't decide on.

4. I'm a people-pleaser. I want to make as many people happy as I can. In newspaper I want others to do what they want design-wise. When other people ask for my opinion I want them to do what they like because I want them to be happy (and most of the time, I like what they've designed anyway).

5. I say sorry A LOT. This could be my second worst habit to biting my nails. I say sorry around 70% of the time. Spending so much time with the newspaper staff, they always tell me to stop saying sorry. I don't know why I say it so often because no one has ever made me feel like I needed to, I just do. I've gotten better since freshman year, and I've continued to work on not saying sorry.


This was a little something different for the week. I'll try to post more often this week. Sorry there aren't any pictures corresponding with the post, I hope you still liked reading my blog.

Until next time,
Taylor xx

I've talked about Erica's blog for as long as I can remember, I love her style of blogging so much. I was clicking through some of her archives and stumbled upon her baked donut holes. 

If you do not know what I'm suffering through, it is a little thing called AP English Language and Composition. As much as I love writing and that class, I also despise that class. On Tuesday I had to submit 7 essays, all around 750 words, graded on the AP scale. My stress levels were through the roof. Then my house had NO copy paper so I had to print all of my essays on my mom's old kindergarten worksheets. This was my life on Monday night on 10 pm.

Also if you do not know, I'm a stress baker. Whenever I'm stressed I'll whip together some cookies or brownies. Again, when I saw Erica's baked donuts I was hooked and decided to treat myself Tuesday night. However, I lack a donut tin so I found a different recipe for donut holes. I DID use her chocolate glaze recipe to cover the donut holes.

The original donut hole recipe is here 
The original glaze recipe is here

My take on the recipe:

Donut Recipe:
1 cup flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup buttermilk 
       **Replace buttermilk by mixing 1/2 Tbs. white vinegar with 1/2 cup of milk, let settle
3 Tbs. melted butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 F and grease a mini muffin pan

2) In a large bowl mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix in sugar.

3) Whisk the egg, buttermilk, and vanilla extract in a small bow. Whisk in the melted butter

1/2 Tablespoon of white vinegar mixed with a 1/2 cup of milk to replace buttermilk

4) Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, just until combined
5) Scoop batter into the mini muffin pans, 3/4 of the way full (this should fill 16 cups on average)



6) Bake for 10 minutes or until done

Glaze Recipe:
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 Tbs vegetable oil
2 tsp. corn syrup
1 tsp. water

Directions:
1) Put all ingredients for the glaze in a small microwaveable bowl and microwave for 30 seconds. Stir and heat for another 30 seconds, stirring each time, until melted and combined.
2) Dip the donuts while the glaze is warm

**The only critique I have is that the glaze firmed up extremely quickly so it made it hard to dip. Other than that I had no problems with the recipe

The finished product, and yes they were delicious. 

I try to eat healthy but every day my plan fails at 3:00 when I get home from school and see my pantry. However, I have been trying harder to maintain some healthy eating. I'm not trying to be gluten free, nor do I believe I will ever be gluten free (I just ate a baked donut hole so...) but I picked up this box mix of gluten free brownies for my mom and I to test out.

Ingredients:
Brownie mix
1/2 cup melted butter or oil
2 eggs
2 Tbs. water

Instructions: 
1) Preheat the oven to 350 F. For a dark or metal pan only heat the oven to 325F.

2) Whisk melted butter, eggs, and water until combined. Add the brownie mix until completely combined.

Eggs with butter and water

3) Pour batter into a greased 9x9 or 8x8 pan. 

4) Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until done.


**My mom and I wanted to eat the brownies really badly so we only baked the brownies for 20 minutes and ate them. I forgot I needed to take a picture before eating them so this is the only picture I got.

Obviously, if you couldn't tell, I loved these brownies a lot. They taste like normal brownies and the brownie batter was delicious. I would strongly recommend this gluten free brownie brand.

I have another blog post about baking coming soon about donut holes, so stay tune for that post.

Until next time,
Taylor xx

One year ago Monday, September 29, was my one year blog-aversary. It is insane that I have been on my blog for over a year now and it is even crazier to see how far I have come. If you want to check out my first blog post ever go here.