Banoffee pie in the sky

Welcome to my first recipe of the week! Since I started this blog in early summer, I have been cooking at home much less than usual and eating out lots, in true summer fashion. As we move toward fall, I am looking forward to more time at home and more time shopping and coming up with great recipes.

I decided to start with dessert first. Banoffee pie is a delicious treat that I discovered while living in Ireland. Other than when I make it myself, I have only seen it in Ireland and the UK. It is NOT healthy, but it is sweet, creamy, crunchy, and as easy as pie (heh).

You will need:

a box of graham crackers or digestive cookies (if you can find Jacob’s or McVities, then get them!!)

a cup of heavy cream

2 bananas

1 can sweetened condensed milk

Taking Zesty Cook’s advice with the natural light!

Pie crust:

About 2 cups of graham cracker crumbs, crushed to your liking. Mine was sort of crumbly which we like. To the graham cracker crumbs, I added 3/4 stick of butter, stirred the crumbs so they were all coated, and pressed into the bottom of a pie plate. The crust was a bit more crumbly than I would have liked, so next time I might use more butter and really pulverize the crackers into crumbs.

Filling:

This is the most time consuming piece of the entire process. Its very easy, but takes about 90 minutes.

The toffee filling is made by boiling a can of sweetened condensed milk right in the can. I just take a big pot, make sure that the can is covered by a good inch or 2 of water, and boil it. Like any other cooking instance that calls for boiled water, I used our electric tea kettle to boil the water as it is MUCH quicker than boiling on the stove. Our kettle still isn’t as quick as the ones we had in Ireland, but it works.

yummy, creamy, toffee goodness

Once you have finished boiling the condensed milk, LET IT COOL. Use some tongs or something to take it out of the water and put it somewhere where no one will touch it. The can is extremely hot. You will want to give it an hour at least and then use a can opener to open it up. Be very careful when opening – when I made this last night, I pierced the can and the pressure caused hot toffee to fly all over me. Ouch.

All over the dress and arms

Once cooled, spread a thick layer of the toffee over your crust. Slice 2 bananas and layer the slices on top of the toffee.

Whipped cream: I took a cup of heavy cream and put it in a tupperware container with a good lid, then I jumped up and down for about 8 minutes. It was a great workout, and made some nice, thick whipped topping for the pie. Once the toffee is completely cool, spread a layer of cream on top of the bananas.

The verdict: this is a very good dessert, but it’s too sweet for me nowadays! I could eat a bite or 2, but that was all I needed. That much was quite satisfying though! The hub loved it, and that’s a good thing 🙂

This is a very easy and unexpected dessert, and it can be altered slightly by leaving the cream off. It is just as delish that way!

I hope my recipe of the week is useful! I am working on a few other things to blog about over the next weeks including Healthy Living A-Z, so be sure to check back.

In other news, I had a BRUTAL run today. Its around 94 degrees out, so instead of my 6 miles plus hills, I only did a 4 mile run home. I had to walk several times because it was hard to breathe and my skin just felt so hot! I recovered when I got home with a packet of chocolate Amazing Grass in cold milk and a handful of Good Health Natural Products avocado oil chips. Nice and salty!

All during my run I thought about quality vs quantity when it comes to running, something I learned a lot about in high school cross country and continue to go by. For example, my 4 mile, somewhat hilly run on a 94 degree day is the same quality as a 6 mile flat run on a cool day. On my run I was thinking of assigning effort points to the factors in my runs, and once I get that together I will post it for anyone who is interested. I know there are many people who only go by time or distance, and that’s great too! But I think this is a time tested way of thinking about running, at least for me.

Finally, today I tried one of my Healthy Living Summit swag bag treats, Peeled dried mango. My intention was to only eat a bit and to savor the bag over the next couple of days. However, these mango pieces were so delicious, chewy, and sweet that I ate the whole thing. I love that these mango pieces had no sugar or anything added. Check out the nutritionals!

I will be working on tomorrow’s post tonight as tomorrow is our three year anniversary! Yes, I will be doing a look back at our wedding, and I can’t wait. Have a good night, and stay cool!