Banana Pudding...Made with Ice Cream!

I'm almost as big of a fan of banana pudding as I am of chocolate cake. Here's the only way I make mine:

Ingredients:
One 1/2 gallon of Blue Bell French Vanilla ice cream
Two 3.5 oz packages of instant banana pudding
Sliced bananas to taste
Mini vanilla wafers to taste

Instructions:
Allow ice cream to thaw in the fridge. Mix ice cream and pudding mix until combined. Layer into a bowl (or the ice cream carton, but it won't hold all of it) with sliced bananas and mini vanilla wafers to taste. Refrigerate and enjoy!

Favorite "Ships": A Series - The Finale

This is a continuation of this post.

I thought about stretching this series out and doing a separate post for each of my top five, but that seemed a little excessive. Instead, this post will just have more videos than the others. 

It's really, really hard to rank my top "ships," but here it goes.

#5. Gilmore Girls - Luke and Lorelai

From the pilot, there was always something special about the relationship between Luke and Lorelai. They were great as friends and even better as a couple. Thanks to the power of Netflix and the Gilmore Girls revival, we were able to see it through to the, spoiler alert, wedding so many of us fans wanted.

Now, numbers 3 and 4 were a bit of a toss-up, but the ending of Chuck was ambiguous, so it takes the #4 spot.

#4. Chuck - Chuck and Sarah

What's not to love about the mix of action, adventure, comedy, and romance that is the show Chuck? Even more, what's not to love about the combination of nerdy-yet-cool boy and super-spy girl that is Chuck and Sarah? My only complaint is the way the show ended. Hopefully, Zachary Levi will make a Chuck movie and remove the ambiguity once and for all.

#3. Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman - Lois and Clark

Dean Cain will always be the best (and best looking) Superman in my book. (And Terri Hatcher the best Lois Lane.) I rediscovered this show in my '20s and loved it even more than when I was a kid. 

#2. Rookie Blue - Sam and Andy

I watched the pilot of Rookie Blue because it starred the girl from Stick It and the guy from Everwood. I don't usually like crime shows, but I was hooked from the beginning. We see Sam and Andy interact for the first time on the pilot, and I'm pretty sure I shipped them from that moment on.

#1. NCIS: Los Angeles - Kensi and Deeks

I discovered this show during the premiere of the seventh season because it came on after Scorpion and I happened to leave the TV on without changing the channel. Kensi and Deeks are well-established as partners and a couple by that point, and I loved the chemistry and witty banter between "Densi." I proceeded to binge watch seasons 1-6 while watching season 7 as it aired. The best thing about "Densi" is that the show is still in production, and, spoiler alert, season 8 ended with a proposal.

This is the episode that started it all for me:

It occurs to me that my top four "ships" are couples who 1) have a strong female who is made even stronger by working with her guy and 2) repeatedly save the day together. It appears I have a type--and a dang good one at that.

Favorite "Ships": A Series - Continued

This is a continuation of the series that began with this post.

As I grew older, my list of favorite shows--and, therefore, ships--expanded.

Friends
Yes, I'm one of those girls: I loved Ross and Rachel on Friends. They're each other's lobsters! [I have since seen Buzzfeed posts about how Ross was not all he was cracked up to be in the boyfriend department and I tend to agree.] These will always be two of my favorite scenes.

  

Wildfire

One of my all-time favorite shows around high school/college age was Wildfire, a show about a young woman who discovers her love of horse racing when working on a family's farm after parole from juvenile detention. And one of the biggest draws of the show was the will-they-won't-they dynamic between Kris Furillo and Jr. Davis.

 

My Boys

This show was far too short-lived in my opinion. The seasons had very few episodes compared to most shows and you always had to wait a year for it to come back on. There was a lot I liked about My Boys, but one of my favorite things was the relationship between PJ and Bobby. (Although, to be honest, I probably would've been just as happy with PJ and Brendan.) Unfortunately, this was just about the only clip I could find on YouTube.

The Office
Jim and Pam are the whole reason I was drawn to The Office. It's a show that I discovered in syndication and eventually binged just to see what would happen with them. Though the overall show went a little downhill toward the end, Jim and Pam's "ship" made it worth watching.

Parks and Recreation
Parks and Rec is the newest addition to my list of favorite shows, and because I discovered it after the series finale, I already knew about Leslie and Ben. But I still shipped them. They're just so cute and so perfect for each other.

Scorpion
I've wanted Paige and Walter together since the beginning of the series, and it finally happened at the end of season three. Quite frankly, I got a little confused in season two about why they weren't together. The best part about this "ship" is that it is still in production.

Favorite "Ships": A Series - The Beginning

Have you heard of "shipping" a TV couple or being a "shipper"? From what I understand, it's a term that started with fans of the The X-Files, and I take it to mean that the ship is the main draw of the show. Oh, boy, am I a shipper. I even have a playlist on YouTube full of my favorite ships.

As I created said playlist, I realized that I have always been a shipper. Let's look back on what I now realize were the favorite ships of my childhood.

Full House
As a kid who grew up in the '90s, of course I watched Full House. The show introduced us to one of my original favorite ships, Uncle Jesse and Becky.

Thanks to Netflix, we now have Fuller House and the continuation of this match made in TV heaven.

Saved By The Bell
I also watched (and loved) Saved By The Bell in syndication. Zack and Kelly were my #relationshipgoals for high school, which, at the time, was years away. I couldn't find any videos on YouTube that I liked from the high school show, unfortunately. However, we were blessed to continue their on-again, off-again relationship into Saved By The Bell: The College Years. This was always one of my favorite scenes:

Boy Meets World
And, again, of course I watched Boy Meets World as a kid--it was a staple of entertainment for kids my age. Cory and Topanga were one of the it couples of my generation.

Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
I can remember watching this show in syndication, and I think it may have even been in the morning as I got ready for school. While this was definitely one of my original ships, I have since revisited the show on DVD and love it so much that it will get its own post. For now, here's a clip:

Stay tuned...

I Built a Pallet Chair

Oops. I went a long time without posting anything to this blog.

I like to undertake woodworking projects alone to see what I am capable of accomplishing by myself. This is one of my favorites.

I had a few pallets in my garage just waiting for me to decide what to make from them. I knew I wanted a seat for my patio, so I started browsing Pinterest. I saw a few I liked, and I already had a seat cushion, so I set out with a general idea in mind and no specific plans.

I'm happy with the result.

Dang Good Chocolate Cake

I'm a big fan of dessert--that's even the name of my dessert board on Pinterest. Chocolate cake is definitely my favorite of all, and I consider myself a connoisseur. My favorite cake in the whole world is what I know as the "El Chico cake" but is actually the big chocolate cake from Sweet Street.

Side note: the day my local El Chico took the cake off of the menu was a sad, sad day for me. They subsequently closed the restaurant a few years later. I'm convinced it's because they no longer offered the cake...

But back to the big chocolate cake. As delicious as it is--and believe me, it is the best--$89.95 plus shipping is a lot for a cake. (I've yet to buy one but am planning to splurge for my next big birthday.) So, I've been working on perfecting an alternative, and I think I finally got it.

One of the key components of the recipe, the semi-sweet chocolate ganache, is adapted from this recipe for milk chocolate ganache.

So, here we go:

You'll need a springform pan and a saucepan that are about the same diameter.

Ingredients:
For the ganache:
12 ounces of semi-sweet mini morsels
2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons of butter (I used vegetable oil spread)

For cake:
1 box of chocolate cake (I prefer devil's food or dark chocolate)
1 cup of water
1/3 cup of canola oil
3 large eggs
8 ounces of semi-sweet mini morsels
1 can of chocolate frosting

In the saucepan, combine all ganache ingredients and heat over low heat until chocolate has melted. Allow to cool then refrigerate.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix cake mix as directed and stir in about 6 ounces of mini morsels. Pour into greased springform pan.

Bake for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Allow to cool, then remove the side of the pan and allow to cool completely.

Place a paper plate over the cake and flip it over to remove the bottom of the pan. Then flip the cake onto a round cake holder.

Cut the top half of the cake off in order to make layers.

Remove the saucepan with the ganache from the fridge. Place the bottom of the saucepan into a larger container filled with warm water until the ganache is loosened from the pan. Flip the saucepan over to drop the ganache onto the bottom layer of the cake. Adjust the ganache as necessary to be centered on the cake.

Flip the top layer of cake onto the ganache.

Microwave the can of frosting for about 20 seconds. Pour enough frosting to cover the top of the cake and spread with a spatula. Frost the sides by scooping frosting from the can with the spatula. Allow to cool completely. Microwave frosting can for another 20 seconds and pour remaining frosting over the cake then top with remaining mini morsels. Allow to cool completely. Refrigerate until serving.

Enjoy!

If This Were TV, It Would Be The Pilot

I reserved the name of this blog years ago with the intention of sharing recipes, DIY projects, my opinions on shows/movies/music, and any other random things I fancied to write about. Fast forward a few years and it remains a blank slate. I'm finally going to do something about that.

Here's a little background on me: I'm a small-town Texas girl who grew up playing sports, raising show pigs, and being very active in church. My family and my faith are the most important things in my life, and my dogs are probably next. I earned my bachelor's and master's degrees from Sam Houston State University--eat 'em up, Kats--and work in marketing with a small crafting business on the side. I love chocolate, country music, and TV shows with couples I can "ship."

Stay tuned; this won't be regularly-scheduled programming, but I'll try to post here and there.