Vagabonana Mini Muffins Recipe

My favorite room in the house, the kitchen! Had this been years ago when I was in High School it'd be a different story. I may or may not have started a grease fire in my Grandmother's kitchen. My friend that was over may or may not have ran upstairs to get her stuff instead of helping me put the fire out and I may or may not have thrown water on the grease fire. To make matters worse, I grew up in a super small town and when I called 911 the firetrucks had to leave their show at the local fair and rush to my house. Needless to say, times have changed and I've learned my way around a kitchen quite well.

Believe it or not, from time to time people actually pay me to bake them cakes - who would have ever thought?!!?

Anyway, I'm constantly cooking, whether it be for me or others, so I've decided to start sharing my recipes with you. I generally eat gluten-free/vegetarian/dairy-free but don't cook that way for others so I will be posting a variety of recipes but will be sure to label them for you!

Now let's get to the good stuff! First up...

Vagabonana Mini Muffins

(This recipe will make 48 mini muffins)

Ingredients:

• 5 brown bananas (The browner, the better)
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup all-purpose flour (If gluten-free substitute 1 cup white rice flour)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 stick softened butter or 1/2 cup of vegetable oil
• 48 mini cupcake liners
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar (used for glaze)
• 1 tablespoon milk (used for glaze) (If dairy-free substitute water, lemon juice or almond milk)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F
2. In a large bowl, mash bananas. 
3. Add eggs, cinnamon and vanilla to bananas and mix well.
4. In a separate bowl cream together butter and both brown and white sugar.
5. Combine the the two bowls.
6. In a different bowl sift together flour, baking soda and salt.
7. Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture.
8. Mix, mix, mix.
9. Line your mini muffin pan with your cupcake liners. (Each pan can make 24 mini muffins)
10. Add a teaspoon of batter to each liner. 
11. Bake for 10-15 minutes.
12. Earn some brownie points by letting your roommate/significant other/random neighbor lick the bowl.
13. Put muffins on a cooling rack.
14. While muffins are cooling create your glaze by mixing the powdered sugar and milk together.
15. Once muffins have cooled, ice em up baby.
16. ENJOY & STAY FABULOUS.

*If you think 24 mini muffins is plenty then you can take the second half of the mixture, still pour into the baking cups but instead of putting the pan into the oven, place it in the freezer. Take it out after about an hour once your batter has froze and place the frozen muffins in a ziploc bag and freeze until you are ready to make more. YES, this DOES work! You can also do this with pancake batter! If you want to make a big batch and use for next time! When you go to make the frozen muffins, bake them at 325°F for an extra 10 minutes so the muffins have plenty of time to rise. 

XOXO,

Lizzie

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Tis the season... for a TUTU

So it's Christmas time and every girl big or small, should always have a tutu lying around for whatever reason! Now for me this just happened. In my closet you can find:

• A purple tutu - Mainly used for any and all of my Ravens outfits
• 2 pink tutus - Used for my amazing Honey Boo Boo costume and also used just because
• A black tutu - Just because

Up until last week I always paid $20-$30 per tutu and it never crossed my mind to JUST MAKE MY OWN! I needed a tutu for yet another costume, my Elf on a Shelf costume (which I will be posting daily pictures of on Instagram: @thevagabondrecords and Facebook: www.facebook.com/thevagabondrecords ) Anyway, I headed to Hobby Lobby and bought all the materials for a whopping $10. I guarantee you, I will now have a tutu for every single occasion and so will my daughters and grandbabies :)

Below I've listed how you can make your very own special occasion or no occasion tutu.

MATERIALS:

• Ribbon
• Tulle
• Scissors
• Soft measuring tape (not pictured)
  
  

DIRECTIONS:

1.  Measurements. Measure your waist around the area you'd like your tutu to sit once it's finished. Next, figure out how long you'd like your tutu to be by measuring from your waist to the spot you'd like it to end on your legs. Write these down or put in your phone so you don't forget.
2. Materials: Decide on ribbon and tulle color(s). For ribbon you will need your waist measurements plus 18inches. Tulle you will need anywhere from 3-8 yards. I used 6 yards, 2 of each color and my measurements were 26 waist and I wanted it to fall 15 inches below my waist.
3. Music: Put on your favorite Pandora station. Music sets the tone for everything. My personal fav is the Florida Georgia Line station. 
4. Create your waistband: Take the waist measurement you got earlier and add 18 inches (9 extra inches for each side.) The reason you add extra length is so that you can tie a bow at the end and you have plenty of length to work with. You can always cut excess ribbon off but I wouldn't want you to put all that work in and for some reason it not be long enough! You can also knot an area as a marker for you to stop adding tulle.
5. Cut your tulle: Remember the length measurement you wrote down earlier? I'd like you to double that number and that will be how long you are going to each strip of tulle. For instance, I wanted my tutu fall 14 inches below my waist, so I cut my tulle strips 28 inches long. I wanted my skirt to be extremely puffy so I cut very small strips. If that isn't the look you are going for you can cut your strips in larger pieces.
   
   
6. Wrap your tulle: Now it's time to wrap all those pieces around your ribbon! You can take 1-3 pieces at a time and fold them in half. This should make it so that one end is looped and the other has 2 loose ends. Place the looped end over top of your ribbon and then bring the loose ends in through the middle. Pull down so that the tulle then creates a knot around the ribbon. Repeat this until the tulle has covered the full width of your desired tutu. Don't forget to knot where your 9 extra inches on each end are.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. Model: Put on your tutu. Tie your bow. Model it around. Wear it just because. And as always, be fabulous.

XOXO,

Lizzie

*The picture shown above is in the window display of Bombshell Pinups.

Be sure to check her out, her work is amazing and if you make an appointment,

tell her I sent you!