Dan + Shay Concert

The cross comes into play A LOT.

I bought tickets MONTHS ago to see Dan + Shay in concert at the MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheater. Then of course a few months later the venue started selling two tickets for $55, so I overpaid. And then it rained earlier the day of the concert and I thought my lawn seats would be ruined.

BUT it all worked out! Only 7,000 of 20,000 seats had been sold, so they closed the lawn and upgraded all of us to seats. And ours were great! We sat in the fifth row behind the pit, so we could see EVERYTHING. And we got that for free!

$30 is a little steep, BUT I will say this was a lot of food!

After settling in with a huge Rebel Hen chicken tenders and fries basket (box?), we were ready for the show. Josh Ross started things off. I didn't know who he was, but then he stayed singing and I thought, "Wait,  I know that song!" 

Here are a few of the songs he performed:

Single Again (this one I recognized)

Hate How You Look (definitely his biggest hit)

Drink Things Through

Leave Me Too

Drunk Right Now (I knew I recognized the song; it's from Akon!)

The second opener was Tyler Hubbard of Florida-Georgia Line fame (I saw FGL in 2014. Geez, was it that long ago?!). I thought the story was that he left the duo for a solo career, but it actually sounds like his band mate, Brian Kelley, was the impetus to try solo careers. I've never heard anything from Kelley on the radio, so I guess that plan backfired!

Hubbard sang a mix of his own songs and did a little medley of FGL songs. He's a songwriter and wrote a lot of the songs, too; he's very talented! He also has a good sense of humor, joking about how hot it was even though it's October and should feel like fall. It was a hot night, but he put on a good show! Here's a mix of the songs he sang:

5 foot 9

Dancin' in the Country

Park

Back Then Right Now

And of course I still love the FGL stuff (he only sang the chorus of most of these):

This is How We Roll

Sippin' on Fire

Cruise (one of my favorite songs, period!)

And then it was time for our headliners! Dan and Shay are best friends, and they must have the best time of their lives getting to perform together. They seem like genuinely nice people. During the set, someone fainted in the first row, and they stopped the show to make sure she was okay before they started up again. They walked through the crowd taking pictures and signing autographs, and even after the concert was over, they stayed on stage to talk with people in the front row. How cool is that?

They have so many great songs, but here are a few:

All to Myself

Speechless

How Not To

From the Ground Up

Nothin' Like You

Alone Together

10,000 Hours

I Should Probably Go to Bed

Good Things

19 You + Me (I had never heard this song before, but I liked it!)

Dogs in Our Twenties (I never heard this song before, but it's very sweet!)

Say So (They wrote this song after their friend Ben committed suicide. Before the concert, we were all handed tiny pink pieces of paper that said "you matter" on it and were told to home them up during this song.)

Bigger Houses

Tequila (their encore song. I hadn't heard it in years, but it's funny how you remember the lyrics!) 

The crowd went wild when Dan took his shirt off!

Amanda and I had SUCH a great time at this concert! We both agree that we would see Dan + Shay live the next time they're back in town. We look forward to more country concerts in the future!

PS: I have seen Dan + Shay in concert previously, just two years ago at this same venue! Read that blog post here.

Recipe: Upside-Down Apple Tart

 

A little anemic looking, but not bad!

Now you already know about my pineapple upside-down cake, but what about an upside-down apple tart? Steve found this recipe from Well Plated by Erin on Instagram after watching a video (see below). He suggested I make this for the Yom Kippur break fast, so I thought I'd try it.

Ingredients

• 4 to 6 tablespoons honey
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter sliced into 6 even pieces
• 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
• ½ to 1 teaspoon flakey sea salt or kosher salt
• 2 medium Crisp apples, sliced 1/8 inch thick (I used 1 Honeycrisp, 1 Granny Smith, and just a portion of a Gala apple)
• 1 sheet puff pastry thawed according to package directions (I used the Jus-Rol kind.)
• 1 large egg beaten to create an egg wash
• Powdered sugar optional for serving

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper (make sure it’s rimmed because the juices will flow!).
2. Drizzle the honey onto the parchment in 6 evenly spaced “squiggles” creating 2 rows of 3. For each, draw a straight line with the honey that is about 2 inches long, then swirl the honey back and forth over the line in an “S” shape (see video). Set a pat of butter in the center of each. Your goal is to create a “grid” to lay the pastry on.
3. Sprinkle each pat of butter with a pinch each of brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt (exact measurements aren’t necessary; just eyeball it).
4. Fan the apple slices over the pats of butter to create 3 long columns placed side by side. Start with the right or left side, running the apples evenly over the 3 pats of butter. Tuck the apples snugly against each other so no parchment peeks through (they will go up and over the pats of butter). Arrange the apples so they are fanning either directly towards or directly away from you.
5. Once you’ve finished the first column, complete the middle column, nestling the apples between the 2 columns of butter so they are directly on the parchment. For this column, lay the apples in short rows with the fans pointing left, then right (it will be slightly narrower than the other 2 columns)
6. Then, do the final column, arranging it over the remaining pats. You’re aiming for a rectangle roughly 8×10 inches.
7. Unfold the puff pastry on a lightly floured work surface. Roll it into a rectangle that’s about 2 inches longer than the apples on each side. Drape the pastry over the apples like a blanket. With the tines of a fork, press all the way around the edges of the pastry to create a border.
8. Brush the pastry lightly and evenly with the egg wash. Dab up any pools with a paper towel.
9. Bake for 30 minutes on the center rack, until the pastry is deeply golden and puffed.
10. Let rest for 5 to 10 minutes (some juices will have escaped and browned; simply scoop them away with a spoon and discard). Set a large cutting board over the pan and with one big, confident motion, flip it over. Lift away the pan and peel off the parchment. Dust with powdered sugar as desired and slice into squares.

This recipe was marketed as "easy," but I do NOT think it was easy. Here were a few of my hiccups:

• I did not understand AT ALL about the honey squiggles. I read those directions multiple times and still could not figure out what I was supposed to do. In the video, it just looks like she made small puddles of honey, so that's what I did.
• A pat of butter is an inch thick, and apple slices do not simply drape over them nicely. So my rows of apples weren't nearly as neat and tidy as they are expected to be. And I don't know if this was because of the way my apples were laying down, but when I first put them down, you could see how I alternated between red and green apples; when I flipped them over, you couldn't even see the apple peel, just the insides.
• Maybe it was the size of the pan, the puff pastry, my fork, who knows, but there was no way to press down the edges with the tines. I kept hitting the edge of the pan, and the puff pastry kept sticking to the fork anyway. In the end, I just kinda pressed the edges down with my fingers and hoped for the best. 
• Again, with the edges of the pan, there was no way I was going to scoop the excess juices out. After I flipped the tart onto a new pan, all the juices just stuck to the parchment paper and the original pan. A little messy, I'll be honest. 

I made this recipe the day before so that I wasn't actually baking on Yom Kippur. This is probably a recipe that is best right then and there. While it reheated okay (I just stuck the whole pan in the oven), the apples were already a little too mushy. I didn't bother with the powdered sugar. If anything, I would have added vanilla ice cream!

This was before I flipped it over. I left it a little too long in the oven...oops!

Not a total waste, but probably not worth the hassle, especially when I've made other apple desserts that really ARE easy, like these:

• Apple Fritter Loaf Cake
• Caramel Apple Cookies
• Apple Peanut Butter Cookies*
• Easy Apple Dump Cake*
• Apple-Honey Bundt Cake
• Impossibly Easy French Apple Dessert Squares
• Apple Pie from Betty Crocker
• Apple Bread
• Apple Crumb Pie

*These are ESPECIALLY delicious!!! Like, some of the best desserts I've ever made!

Recipe: Banana Cottage Cheese Ice Cream

So I just made banana "ice cream" a few days ago, but we still had more very ripe bananas, and I needed to do something with them. I didn't want to make banana bread,* but since we had some cottage cheese in the house, I figured I would try making another "healthy" ice cream alternative. I found this recipe on the Recipes Green blog, and since I already had all the ingredients, I got to work.

Ingredients

For the basic recipe (Serves 4):

• 2 large ripe bananas (frozen for best texture)
• 1 cup full-fat cottage cheese (or low-fat for lighter version)
• 2-3 tablespoons pure maple syrup or honey (adjust to taste)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Pinch of sea salt
• 2-3 tablespoons milk of choice (if needed for consistency)

Optional add-ins:

• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder (for chocolate version)
• 1/4 cup chopped nuts or seeds
• 1 tablespoon almond butter or peanut butter
• Fresh berries for swirling

Dietary substitutions:

• Vegan: Use cashew-based cottage cheese or silken tofu
• Keto-friendly: Replace maple syrup with stevia or monk fruit sweetener
• Dairy-free: Substitute with coconut cream-based cottage cheese alternative
• Lower sugar: Use only banana sweetness and skip added sweeteners

Directions

1. Prepare the bananas: Slice ripe bananas and freeze them for at least 2 hours or overnight. Tip: The riper the bananas, the sweeter your ice cream will be – don’t be afraid of those brown spots!
2. Blend the base: In a high-speed blender or food processor, combine frozen banana slices and cottage cheese. Pulse initially to break up the bananas, then blend continuously until smooth and creamy.
3. Add flavor elements: Pour in maple syrup, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and salt. Blend again until fully incorporated. Common mistake to avoid: Don’t over-blend at this stage, or you’ll melt the frozen bananas too much.
4. Adjust consistency: If the mixture is too thick, add milk one tablespoon at a time until you've reach your desired consistency. For a firmer ice cream, keep it thicker.
5. Final touch: Taste and adjust sweetness if needed. For immediate soft-serve consistency, serve right away. For firmer scoops, transfer to a freezer-safe container and freeze for 1-2 hours.

I think I added too much milk. When I made the previous recipe, the mixture was really hard to blend, so I thought I should add more liquid. I may have also over-stirred the recipe. Maybe heavy cream would have been better. Whatever I did wrong, this ice cream was icy/crunchy and not creamy like the first one. It also didn't help that I microwaved it too long (once frozen, this is VERY hard to scoop), so then I was eating ice cream soup. But I will say that I think this could be a good milkshake as opposed to an ice cream. So not a total failure, but the first recipe definitely came out better.

*I have made SO many banana breads! Here are some of those recipes:

• Double Chocolate Banana Bread
• One-banana Banana Bread
• Eggless Banana Bread
• Cream Cheese Banana Bread
• Easy Banana Bread
• Dark Chocolate Chip Raspberry Banana Bread
• Chai-Spiced Banana Bread
• Banana Peanut Butter Bread
• Strawberry-Banana Bread

Recipe: Banana "Ice Cream"

Years ago, my friend Amanda told me about making "ice cream" that is banana-based, so it's a healthy alternative. I've tried different frozen banana desserts before (like this banana cottage cheese frozen mousse), but I had never actually made this before. So I found this recipe from the Wholesome Farmhouse Recipes blog, and since it touts only using three ingredients, I was definitely IN.

Ingredients

• 3 Large Bananas peeled, sliced, and frozen
• ½ Cup Whole Milk or heavy cream, coconut milk, almond milk (your choice)
• 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Directions

1. Slice the ripe bananas into small pieces. Arrange the banana slices in a single layer on parchment paper and freeze for a couple of hours until solid.
2. Add the frozen bananas, milk of choice, and vanilla extract to a high-powered blender, blender jar, or mini food processor. Blend the banana mixture until smooth, pausing the blending process to scrape down the sides as needed. A good whirl will help achieve the perfect creamy texture.
3. Freeze for scoops or serve soft. For soft-serve consistency, enjoy immediately. For traditional scoops, transfer the ice cream base to a freezer-safe container or airtight container and freeze for 4-6 hours.

This was VERY easy to make, and I added peanut butter to mine (obvi). The Ninja was having a hard time with the frozen banana slices (which surprised me, because you'd think those are softer than ice cubes). So a couple of times I had to stop the machine and mix things around. But the time I could smell metal (like the metal is having a hard time moving), I just stopped the whole process and let some of the banana chunks remain. I made the ice cream while I was making dinner, so I froze it and tried it the next day as "scoops."

I really liked it! Now it helps that bananas are my favorite fruit. But I thought the creamy texture did mimic that of ice cream pretty well. I also had some Hershey's syrup on top, so that definitely made the whole dessert taste like ice cream! I appreciate having a healthier alternative, and it's simple! And certainly cheaper than investing in a Ninja Creami.

Recipe: Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

I wanted to bake cookies for a friend, and then I had a team retreat coming up, so I figured I had multiple ways to hand out these cookies (so that I don't eat them all!). This recipe was from the Family Cookie Recipes blog, and it looked easy enough.

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• ½ cup butter softened (1 stick)
• 1 egg
• ½ cup sour cream
• 1 box 3.4 oz instant vanilla pudding mix
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp mint extract
• 3 drops blue coloring + 10-15 drops green coloring
• 1½ cups chocolate chips

Directions

1. Start by preheating the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or spray with non-stick cooking spray, set aside.
2. Begin by creaming together the sugar and butter, in a large bowl, until nice and fluffy. Then add in the egg, sour cream and dry pudding mix, stir well to combine.
3. Next, in a separate small bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking soda. After that, incorporate the flour mixture into the butter and pudding mixture and stir until well combined. 
4. Now, add the mint extract and food coloring until desired color is achieved. Lastly, add in the chocolate chips.
5. Drop the cookie dough by the rounded tablespoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes.
6. When done baking, transfer to a cooling rack.
7. Serve fresh and warm, enjoy! 

I didn't have any food coloring, hence why my mint cookies aren't green. But I figure it's probably better for you anyway not to have those chemicals. I used mint chocolate chunks as my "chips," so I did get a little bit of green in there. I only had a family-size pack of pudding, so I used about a third of the powder and then just made pudding with the remainder. 

These cookies are easy to make, and while the dough started to turn into one big clump towards the end, I was easily able to scoop the dough with the tablespoon scoop. They were a big hit, so I might need to make them again. You could easily turn this recipe into many different flavors: vanilla or lemon with white chocolate chips, hazelnut extract with crushed up peanuts... so many combos!

Recipe: Vegan Lemon Olive Oil Cake

The ladies on my street were meeting for book club earlier this week, so I knew I had to bring something. I always like to bring a vegan dessert: lots of people bring dips/hummus with veggies or chips, but I'm known for bringing something sweet (and since one of the ladies is vegan, I want her to be able to enjoy it, too!). I found this recipe on the Rainbow Nourishments blog, so I thought I'd try it.

Ingredients

Vegan Lemon Olive Oil Cake

• 2 ½ cups all-purpose plain flour spoon and leveled (note 1 for gluten-free option)
• 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• Pinch of salt optional
• 1 cup dairy-free milk room temperature (I used soy milk)
• ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
• ⅓ cup lemon juice (note 2)
• ~2 tablespoons lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract optional

To decorate (optional, see note 2 for alternatives)

• 1 ½ cups powdered sugar / icing sugar
• 2-3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 cup fresh berries

Instructions

To make the cake:

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line an 8-inch loaf pan with parchment paper.
2. Add all the dry ingredients (all-purpose flour, sugar, baking powder and salt) to a large bowl. Mix until there are no lumps. Add all the wet ingredients (milk, oil, lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla) and mix until just combined.
3. Pour the lemon cake batter into your prepared pan. Smooth the surface if necessary.
4. Bake the cake for 1 hour or until you can insert a toothpick in the center of the cake and there's no wet batter on it. As this is a moist cake, some crumbs on your toothpick are fine. If the surface of your cake is browning too quickly, carefully tent the pan with aluminum foil.
5. Allow the cake to cool in the loaf tin for 10 minutes then let the cake cool on a cooling rack.

To make the icing:

1. Add the lemon juice and sugar to a medium bowl and mix until smooth. Add more lemon juice or non-dairy milk for a thinner icing (like a lemon glaze) or more powdered sugar for a thicker icing.
2. Drizzle the icing over your cooled cake. If desired, top the cake with berries just before serving.
3. Store the cake in an airtight container at room temperature for a day or in the fridge for up to 3 days. The cake can be stored without the icing in the freezer for up to 1 month.

Notes

1. This lemon cake works well with King Arthur's gluten-free measure for measure flour. If using, I suggest baking the cake for 5-10 minutes longer. Other gluten-free flour blends may produce different results.
2. You'll need around 2-3 medium lemons to yield the amount of lemon juice and zest for the recipe.
3. Alternatively, you can enjoy the cake plain, topped with fresh berries or a light dusting of powdered / icing sugar.

This was a very easy recipe to make, especially because I used Duncan Hines lemon icing (which is "accidentally vegan," says the internet). I did forget to line/spray the pan, but luckily because of all the oil in this cake, I was able to get it out without a problem. While my friends at book club were very complimentary of the cake (and even asked for the recipe!), I did not think it was my finest work. I thought the cake was far too dense, which also seemed to make it dry. I wanted to dunk my whole piece in icing instead of just having the drizzle on one part. But I'm happy everyone else liked it! 

*Note: Upon writing this blog post, I realized I had ALREADY MADE THIS RECIPE. Tammy and I had made it together last fall! I seemed to like it more that first time... I wonder went wrong here!

Recipe: Peanut Butter Chocolate Banana Bark

I forgot to take a photo before I cut the bananas in half!

Steve found this recipe on a Crowded Kitchen's Facebook, and he sent me the video knowing this would be right up my alley. We had two over-ripe bananas, so no better time than now to try it out! I just followed the video*, but I couldn't find the written recipe on their blog. I found a similar one from Graciously Nourished, so that is what I have listed here.

Ingredients

• 3 bananas mashed
• ⅓ cup peanut butter
• ½ cup chocolate chips (melted)
• Optional: sea salt or crushed peanuts for sprinkling

Instructions

1. Mash the bananas and spread them out into a ¼-inch thick layer on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Freeze for at least 30 minutes so the bananas become slightly set. 
2. If your peanut butter is not a thin consistency (like natural peanut butter often is), warm it in the microwave in 5-10 second increments until it’s slightly drizzly and smooth. Pour and spread on the banana layer. 
3. Freeze the banana and peanut butter for at least an hour so the peanut butter is set. 
4. Microwave chocolate in 10-second increments, stirring in between until the chocolate is melted. Spread the chocolate on top of the banana and peanut butter layers and sprinkle with your desired toppings. Freeze for at least 4 hours or overnight. 
5. Break the banana bark apart into roughly 2-inch pieces. Store in the freezer for up to 3 months in an airtight container and enjoy frozen!

It doesn't really matter how many bananas you have. I would say one banana makes two dessert servings (2-in pieces?! I don't think so!). And you don't have to measure out the other ingredients, either. You just kind of spread/pour peanut butter and chocolate on top of the bananas, sprinkle toppings as needed, and voilà! 

I like the technique of mashing the bananas between two baking sheets, separated by parchment paper. I recommend just pushing down once. I thought mine were still too thick, so I pressed again, and then the bananas got too thin! I was going to microwave the peanut butter, but I guess there was still part of the metallic paper that covers the peanut butter when you first buy it, so my microwave starting sparking immediately (oops!). So instead I just spread it on the bananas; luckily it's a natural peanut butter with plenty of oil, so that was okay.

I froze that first part and then started melting the chocolate. I used a double-boiler method to be fancy, and I had a bunch of little chocolates from a while back, so I thought I would melt those. This was almost a failure. The chocolate got very clumpy, the opposite of melted! But Steve saved the day by looking up how to fix this, and after adding a couple tablespoons of butter (i.e. fat), the chocolate melted enough so we could pour it over the (now frozen) bananas covered in peanut butter. After adding the chocolate and sprinkling a few peanuts on top, we froze them one last time.

We left these in the freezer for about 24 hours before trying them, although I am sure we could have eaten them that same night. But this stuff is GOOD! The banana defrosts quickly, so it does get a little messy/mushy in your hands. But this is a yummy, "healthy" dessert, and it might be my new go-to recipe for over-ripe bananas!

*Here's the quick YouTube short if you want to watch it!