I saw that I had some very ripe bananas lying around as well as an excess of rum. I know the obvious thought would be to just drink the rum, but I’m not much of a heavy drinker these days. My original plan was to make the traditional bananas foster but I didn’t quite feel like dealing with the flambé part of the dish. So I opted for something a bit more simpler and would last longer throughout the week to nom nom on and came up with this. The bars were light and chewy and the rum is very subtle in taste.

- 1/2 cup butter or unsalted margarine softened
- 1 1/2 cup mashed ripe banana
- 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour (or you can use wheat flour like I did)
- 1 cup dark brown sugar (raw sugar)
- 1 egg (egg substitute)
- 1 tbsp dark rum
- 1/2 tbsp Pumpkin Pie Spice (if you don’t have this you can use cinnamon and nutmeg)
- pinch of baking powder and baking soda
- pinch of salt

Frosting
- 1 cup plain cream cheese (Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese) at room temperature
- 1/2 tbsp white sugar (raw sugar or agave syrup)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp dark rum

Topping
- Nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray non-stick spray to a 9 inch pan (or if you want the bars to be a little thicker use a smaller pan). Use one bowl to combine all your wet and soft ingredients and a bowl to combine all your dry ingredients. For wet use a mixer cream together butter and sugar. Once you’ve got a creamy consistency add your remaining liquid ingredients: rum and egg. For dry ingredients combine flour, pumpkin pie spice, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Add to your wet ingredients. Add your mashed bananas and mix to get a batter like consistency. If you don’t mind your bars being a little chunky on the inside don’t worry if there are still chunks of bananas in it.

Pour batter into pan and make sure it’s even on all sides. Place in oven and bake for 22-25 minutes or until passes the toothpick test. Once it’s done remove from oven and allow to cool.

For the frosting, in a bowl combine cream cheese, rum, sugar and vanilla extract. Since I wasn’t handling a lot of cream cheese I just used a spoon to whip all the ingredients together. Once the bars have completely cooled, spread cream cheese frosting over the top. Even though they’ll be tempting to consume right away I put the pan in the fridge for about an hour to allow the frosting to set but it’s really up to you how you want to do it. Remove pan from fridge after about an hour and cut into square bars. I topped each of my bars with a walnut but it’s entirely your choice if you want to top them with anything. Eat and enjoy!

Spoon – Transference

Listen to Written In Reverse:

Charlotte Gainsbourg – IRM

Listen to Heaven Can Wait:

EELS – End Times

End Times is the (quick) follow up to El Hombre Lobo. It’s a bit slower but it helps to calm when you are mad at your oven.

Listen to End Times:

Motion City Soundtrack – My Dinosaur Life

MCS is back with a new album full of pop-rock goodness. Definitely dance around your kitchen worthy.
Listen to A Life Less Ordinary:

Guilty Pleasures

Jason Derulo – “In My Head”

For one reason or another I am absolutely obsessed with this song.  It’s really damn catchy and I love anything that I can dance too.  Plus is it weird that whenever I hear it I imagine Artie from Glee in a dream sequence where he can dance? Yes folks that’s how I think.
Listen to In My Head:

B.O.B. – Nothin’ On You

Another guilty pleasure it’s just a sweet soothing R&B/hip-hop track.
Listen to Nothin’ On You:

From my Mac of the Week blog:

This week I decided to keep it simple, a nice Garden Vegetable Macaroni with Sharp Yellow Cheddar and Mild White Cheddar. It was simply amazing! A creamy delight. It’s very pungent and sharp in flavor and gives a subtle surprise of sweetness thanks to the addition of the grated carrot The best was reheating the next day, the sauce didn’t break and it was just as creamy as the night before. :

- 1/2 bag elbow macaroni
- 1/2 cup chopped broccoli
- 3/4 cup chopped brown mushrooms
- 1/2 cup zucchini julienne
- 1/4 cup grated carrot
- 2 1/2 tbsp fresh fennel
- 1 1/2 cup sharp yellow cheddar shredded
- 1 1/2 cup mild white cheddar shredded
- 1 tbsp dry mustard
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1/2 garlic clove grated
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter or margarine
- 1 tbsp flour
- water
- salt and pepper to taste

Bring a pot of water to boil. Add salt to the water. Drop in elbow macaroni and cook for 7-9 minutes or until the macaroni is al dente. Once macaroni is finished cooking, drain and set aside.

In a sauce pan begin making your cheese sauce. Heat pan on medium-high heat. Add margarine or butter and allow to melt fully before adding flour. Once you add flour, use a whisk to make sure all flour is incorporated with the melted butter. Add milk and grated garlic. Turn the heat to low and allow milk to heat up for about a minute or so and the garlic to flavor the milk. The reason i’m using such little milk is because this will allow the sauce to be really thick and also prevent it from breaking the next day when you want to re-heat. After about a minute or so return heat to medium and add cheddar cheese. Whisk to quickly melt. Then add White Cheddar and continue whisking. Once there are no lumps add dry mustard, fennel, salt and pepper, zucchini, broccoli, carrots and mushrooms and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes to soften the vegetables.

Once vegetables are soft, I like to add the macaroni directly to the sauce pot so I can ensure that everything is covered in cheesy goodness, after all it IS the star of the dish. Fold in macaroni with cheese and vegetables until it is fully incorporated.

Serve immediately