Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

You guys, I'm on a cookie frenzy lately! I don't know what the deal is, but I can't seem to make enough cookies. Perhaps I should've named my blog something to do with them at this rate. Because, yes, I've got another cookie recipe for you (and I just typed receipt instead of recipe, so I don't know what that tells you). This time, we take some peanut butter, some oatmeal, and some chocolate chips and mash them together into one delicious little devil. If you're not an oatmeal fan, not to fear, try my Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies instead.

You want to know a secret? You can also make these sans chocolate chips for just a peanut butter oatmeal cookie. These no chocolate chip variety of cookies are pretty much the only thing my boyfriend will eat. He hates chocolate! I know, I know, he is missing out. Because personally, having had both the non-chips and the chips version of this particular cookie, I can say that I like the one with the chips more. They also happened to stay a bit softer longer after a couple days, so there's that too.

Quick story time - I did try to make you all something other than cookies recently. Namely, some strawberry coconut ice cream. Alas, it became a hard popsicle when put into the freezer, so it's back to the drawing board on that one. I just loooove the Trader Joe's Strawberry Coconut Ice Cream (which happens to be Vegan!), so I wanted to give it a go at home. But, I tried doing it without anything fancy like xanthan gum, which I think is probably what went wrong! Anyway, it still tasted pretty good, it was just super hard and not at all an ice cream consistency, apart from when it very first came out of the ice cream maker and was all soft-servy. Anyway! Maybe I will give it another try in the future. Or maybe I'll just buy more of the Trader Joe's variety. Hmm.

In the meantime, have this cookie!

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/4 cups brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup peanut butter
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup old-fashioned oats
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 325F. Mix together the butter and two sugars until well-blended. You can do this with a mixer or by hand, just make sure you get all the butter mixed in there evenly. Then, mix in the peanut butter. Same deal. You can use crunchy or smooth, depending on your preference.
2. Next, mix in the egg, yolk, and vanilla. Then, add in the oats, baking soda and flour slowly and stir until just mixed together. If it's still a little on the too-smooth side, you can add in some more oats or flour, or if it feels too dry, add in some more peanut butter. Not a lot here, people, just enough to make it feel like traditional cookie dough. Then, finally, if you like chocolate, add in your chocolate chips. If you're not a chocolate fan, you can totally forgo them and just have yourself some peanut butter oatmeal cookies.
3. Scoop onto your cookie sheet. I used a silpat-lined one, but you don't have to here. I also use a cookie scoop to make my life easier. Bake at 325F for 10-12 minutes. They won't be super browned or anything. Take those out and let them sit on the sheet for another 5 minutes to finish baking through. You can then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling before starting up another batch.

(Recipe via Averie Cooks)

In photos:

 Mix together your butter and sugars. This can be done by hand or in a mixer.

Add in your peanut butter. I used crunchy.

And then it's time for your egg, yolk, and vanilla.

And finally your oats, baking soda, and flour. Add in chocolate chips at this point if you want all chocolate chip, but I decided to make some just plain peanut butter oatmeal.

These are some plain ones ready to go in the oven at 325F for 10-12 minutes.

And after they're done. Let them cool on the sheet for another 5 minutes.

Stick them on a wire rack to finish cooling.

And here are some with chocolate chips. Both versions are delicious!

SYTYCD Season 11 Auditions - New Orleans and Chicago

Well, So You Think You Can Dance is back, which must mean that summer is starting! I truly cannot believe this show is now in its 11th season on the air, and that I've been watching since that very first season. Egads! Time flies! This year, they've trotted out a new opening credit sequence and have also gone back to the original one winner style. They also are doing some new thing where they have viewers vote via twitter for certain dance crews to come perform on the show, which was for some reason synced up with Justin Bieber? Yes, the Biebs was there in a pre-taped segment introducing the crews and offered nary a vocal inflection.

Anyway! Let's get on to the tryouts. This week featured New Orleans and some of Chicago's auditions. I've just gone through chronologically focusing on those that the show focused on. Not too many dancers featured just to be featured so far, which is nice. We'll see if that holds as these auditions keep trucking!

First up...

New Orleans! With judges Nigel, Mary, and Wayne Brady.

Shelby Rase - Drama face! Contemporary. Not sure how much actual dancing? Certainly graceful. Judges are rather effusive. First bring down of a family member, oy vey. Something called a bottle dance from the dad? She gets a ticket to the next round, which I guess is now in LA instead of Vegas? Now I can't say they make it straight through to Vegas!!

Tanisha Belnap - Ballroom. Nigel goes full smarm before she even dances. Overly sexy dance, perhaps. Not seeing a ton of fast footwork. Cool flip move, though. She's through to the next round.

Shelby and Shane Skipper - New Orleans bounce brothers. Certainly entertaining, but can they do other styles? A lot of leg work, sort of pop and locking but not quite. A lot of positive talk, but only Shelby aka Skip gets to go to choreography. But, he doesn't make it through, deciding he's not quite cut out for it.

Megan Marcano - Homeless for much of her life. Contemporary or would it be jazz? I can't always tell. She's got a cute sort of quirky style to her, so maybe that makes it jazz. Ticket to the next round.

Trevor Bryce - I'm not sure what to call this kid's style. It's like quirky ballet hip hop or something. He's actually pretty good, sort of mesmerizing, though I'm not sure I want to actually tell him that, as I can detect a certain vanity there. BUT, the performance was really well-done and thought out to go with the music. 

Courtney Barnes - Mr. Fabulous. Not sure what to say, he certainly had some some crazy extensions in there. Wayne says what I'm wondering - can he do the choreography? He's more personality than substance, but they'll let him do the choreo. But he doesn't do that great at it, so he's not through.

Novien Yarber - He's got some good moves, but does seem a little hesitant on some of them. Overall a strong contemporary style, and they send him straight through without any discussion.

Caleb Brauner - Dad danced with him during his audition last year, has since passed away. Automatically makes me want to root for this kid, sheesh! I enjoy his kinda off-kilter style, very much a showman nature to his work, and room for growth, which is always good on this show. Judges say he's not quite at the level of other dancers, but let him go to choreography. Alas, he doesn't make it through. Sad!

Jacoby Jimmerson - Zumba instructor with a few extra curves. He has rhythm but definitely not at the level of dancers on the competition. No ticket for him.

Brooklyn Fullmer and Marcquet Hill - Ballroom duo. Honestly they were just okay for me, nothing too amazing. He seemed a bit better than her. Judges are pretty positive, though. They go through to the next round.

And now it's time for the next city...

Chicago! With Nigel, Mary and Jenna Elfman as judges.

Nick Garcia - Latin Ballroom. He definitely seems to know what he's doing, though it is hard to judge him without a partner to dance with. He gets a Mary scream. Through to next round.

Rudy Abreu - BFF with above Nick. His style is different though, more masculine jumps and such, not so much the ballroom. Feel like he's telling a story. These two guys could be that whole thing at the end of the next round where they only have one spot left and have to choose between the two deal. 

Caleb Brauner is back! He seems poised for the story edit on the show now. He does something more serious this time around, and it was a whole other level, in a good way. They send him to choreography again. And this time he makes it through, of course!

In case you were wondering just what the two crews featured on tonight's show were...

Poreotics - Popping and robotics crew from LA.
Syncopated Ladies - All female tap dancers

The ladies were really leading in the twitter votes. I'm a bit confused as to what happens now - do more crews get voted on in subsequent audition shows or is it just between these two groups? Hmm.

Anyway, that's all for tonight! Do you have any favorites so far? Are you looking forward to more Caleb or already dreading the time being spent on him as a sign of things to come? Sound off in the comments!

Previous Episode -- Next Episode

Egg-less Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

What happens when you want to make some kind of baked good, but realize you don't have any eggs? You go looking through the vastness of the internet to find a recipe sans egg, of course. Because who wants to run to the grocery store when you were just there and forgot to get said eggs? Not this girl. The good news? There IS flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, vanilla and chocolate chips in the cupboards. Surely something can be done!

Lo, these egg-less oatmeal chocolate chip cookies! Now, I'm going to tell you straight. These aren't going to be like your normal cookies. They're a bit flatter, a bit easier to break apart. 'Cause, you know, eggs are a binder after all. But if you bake them just long enough, they will hold together okay. And if you don't, and they start breaking up all over the place? Why, just sprinkle those bits over some ice cream, duh!

Using quick cooking oats in this recipe gives these cookies a bit more crunch than using regular old-fashioned oats. In fact, it will make them just slightly reminiscent of these Lacy Oatmeal Cookies, but not quite as crispy crunchy.

These will make about 3 dozen of these flat, chewy, slightly crunchy cookies that have a nice vanilla flavor without being too sweet. And if you can't eat eggs? More's the better for you!

Also? A side note! This is my 500th post on the blog! Wow!

Egg-less Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup boiling water
• 2 cups quick cooking oats
• 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Cooking Directions

1. Beat together your butter, sugars and vanilla until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add in the flour and salt and mix well.
2. Dissolve the baking soda in the boiling water and add to the mixture, mixing until incorporated. Stir in the oats and chocolate chips. Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour.
3. Preheat your oven to 350F. Drop by teaspoonful onto parchment or silpat-lined cookie sheet. Bake for 11-13 minutes until the edges are nice and brown. The middle will still be light in color. Let sit on the baking sheet for an additional five minutes to finish cooking through. Remove to a rack to cool completely.

(Recipe via allrecipes.com)

In photos:

Butter, sugars and vanilla get mixed together.

Then you add in your flour and salt.

Add in your dissolved baking soda/water combo.

And hand mix in your quick cooking oats.

And, of course, your chocolate chips. Cover that and stick it in the fridge for at least an hour.

And then preheat your oven to 350F. Using a parchment or silpat-lined baking sheet, place your cookie balls and stick that in the oven for 11-13 minutes.

As you can see, If it another row in later. They will be browned around the edges, but not super brown in the middle. Let those sit on the pan for another 5 minutes to finish cooking.

They will deflate and compact down into this.

Supernatural 9x23 "Do You Believe in Miracles?"

Well, we're to another finale of Supernatural. Can you believe there have been nine of them? And will at least be a tenth? Truly nutso. I really only hope it will be a tenth and not more, though. Seriously. I know a lot of people based on that poll don't feel the same way, but I know a good contingent that are on my side on this one.

We're suddenly getting a lot of screentime together, huh?

Anyhow, let's get to the finale at hand. As you may recall, the last episode ended with Gadreel coming to Team Free Will to help them in their fight against Metatron. Dean, being blood crazy first blade-y decided the best thing to do was try to stab him to death. Sam and Cas manage to get the blade away from him and lock him up in the bunker while they try to figure out what to do. First on the list? Heal Gadreel. Second? Figure out a way up into Heaven so they can find the angel tablet and take Metatron's super powers away. Because, you know, if he doesn't have super GAHG-like powers, then they can kill him much more easy peasy.

But, Dean is not so happy with being put on the sidelines. He summons Crowley to get him out of the bunker, and to also question him about what the whole blade business may be doing to him. Crowley says that, basically, the Mark of Cain was not meant for a regular human. Cain was a demon, so he could handle it. So basically, if he does not keep up the constant killing, it will eventually kill him. Well, no time to dawdle about that right now, because Metatron is still an issue.

Full metal crazy blade.

Especially because now he's decided to take his shtick down to the humans, performing miracles here and there to gain renown as the next Messiah. Sam and Dean meet back up after they both hear of one such miracle, and it looks like they are perhaps on the same page for once, deciding to leave Crowley behind and work together to find and kill Metatron.

Gadreel and Castiel, meanwhile, manage to get into Heaven by Gadreel pretending Castiel is his prisoner. Only, the angels were expecting this, and lock them away. Gadreel is not content to be locked away yet again, and decides to sacrifice himself in order to free Cas to go look for the tablet.

Back on the ground, the boys track down Metatron. Dean knocks out Sam so he can go in alone, and basically proceeds to get a walloping by Metatron, ending with Sam just waking up and running in just in time to see him stick a blade right in Dean's chest. Well, that will certainly leave a mark. Alas, Dean was not able to try and kill Metatron because it took Cas a little too long to find the angel tablet and destroy it, which he eventually does succeed in doing. They bring Metatron back up to Heaven to sit in the jail, blah blah.

Sam and Dean have some touching moments while Dean is dying, but he does indeed die. Sam decides he's going to summon up Crowley to save him with some deal or another, yet again. But, Crowley is already hanging out with dead Dean. It turns out, he wasn't telling the whole truth about the blade (what a surprise). Cain had also decided that he didn't like what the Mark was doing to him, and decided to take his own life with the blade. Crowley sets the blade in Dean's hand and places it on his chest, and sure enough, his eyes open up all black and demon-y.

And... cut to black. That's your season, folks. Are you going to survive the summer? What did you think of the episode? More of my thoughts below.

Random Thoughts:

- I did like Crowley making a comment about Sam using the same tired idea of bargaining his soul for his brother's, because seriously we have seen that way too many times now.

- But I'm not sure what to think about this whole Demon Dean business. Obviously this sets up what the next season will be about - saving Dean or whatever. I mean, is he actually just a demon, or something else? It could be I don't really remember what Cain was. A Knight of Hell or some such? Who the heck knows.

- The whole Castiel's stolen grace thing hasn't been resolved yet either. If he doesn't replenish his grace, he will eventually die. But replenishing the grace basically means killing another angel, right? Because I guess his grace is gone for good with that Metatron spell?

- The scene of Dean dying in Sam's arms felt very reminiscent of the end of season two with Sam dying in Dean's arms. I'm assuming it was intentional.

- I'm getting a bit tired of all these angel storylines. What exactly are we supposed to feel about the angels at this point? Like, just go back to Heaven already.

- Guess that's another Dean death to add to the list.

Quotes:

Dean: What the hell is happening to me, you son of a bitch?
Crowley: Liquor before beer, bad taco, how should I know?

Crowley: Hell's complicated.
Dean: Game of Thrones is complicated. And shower sex, that's complicated.

Castiel: Wookie.

Sam: I guess one of us doesn't need a demon to follow a clue trail.

Previous Episode -- Next Episode

Supernatural 9x22 "Stairway to Heaven"

Well, only one episode left after tonight. I mean, one episode left of this season, of course, as we all know there will be another season. Anywho, with Abaddon gone, the boys can now shift their complete focus over to the angel saga. And the latest in the angel saga? Why, self-exploding angels, of course!

Hello, goodbye.

Say what? After one angel goes kabluey and kills an agent of Metatron (along with some nearby humans), Cas calls on Sam and Dean to help him figure out just what is going on, particularly after they see a video recording of said angel saying he's doing it for Castiel. Obviously our dear Cas would not ask a member of his flock to go all suicide bomber, so they set out to track down friends of the exploding angel to figure out what his deal was.

Can I be honest? Not very much really happened in this episode, despite it being the penultimate one. Basically, Dean ends up finding Tessa, former Reaper (still Reaper? who knows), who was going to be another of the suicide bombers. She claims that Castiel asked her to do it for him, despite no one believing this could be true. Dean, having brought along the first blade despite Sam vehemently saying he should not, and believing he in fact did not bring it, ends up inadvertently killing her with it. Well, technically I suppose she sticks herself with it, but he did have it so conveniently in his hand. And... another recurring female bites the dust. The other angels aren't so much happy about this development, to be sure.

In a bowling alley, Metatron is trying to convince a rogue angel general to get his flock to follow him, but is interrupted when another angel bomber shows up trying to kill Metatron. He only succeeds in killing the guy Metatron was trying to convince, so poor him.

Work it, Cas.

Meanwhile, Sam and Cas go off to investigate...something? Some other angel thing, and end finding a place where the portal to heaven might be. Alas, it is merely Metatron playing a trick on them. They head back to angel HQ to find Dean in custody. Metatron calls them up and basically says that Castiel is out of control, that he stole another angel's grace (true), that he really did order the suicide bombers (untrue), and if the angels really want to get back into heaven, that he (Metatron, that is) will forgive them for going against him if they re-join him now. Cas' angel buddies are ready to say no, but only if he will punish Dean for killing Tessa. I mean, duh, Cas most certainly will not kill Dean, so the angels defect back to Metatron.

Which was all part of Metatron's plans, he practically gloats to Gadreel. He set up the whole thing to make Cas look all evil-like, which isn't much of a surprise, unless you're Gadreel.

Gadreel decides he's had enough of Metatron and wants to switch sides to Team Free Will. Even though it looks like maybe they will decide to trust him, Dean loses it and slices him with the first blade. Whether it kills him or not remains to be seen.

So, yeah. Metatron has a lot of angels on his side. Gadreel may or may not be dead. Dean is losing his mind a bit on a blood rage. You know, just your average day in the life of the Winchesters.

Random Thoughts:

- It appears all of the angel stuff and first blade/Mark of Cain stuff is going to come to a head in the finale. I do find it a bit odd they hardly ever seem to carry stories over from season to season, because it seems like they could with the Mark stuff. Then again, you don't want to overdo it either, so who knows.

- Despite Castiel knowing a lot of pop culture references now, it's still nice to see he doesn't completely get everything. The prime numbers line actually made me laugh out loud.

- How much are we all sick of Metatron by now? If there's one thing I would like, it would be for him to bite the dust in the finale.

- It's not often we get Sam and Cas going off on an adventure just the two of them. Kind of fun, particularly when they end up having to solve door riddles and kinda go on the last crusade.

- Did I miss something about reapers being angels? And just visible to anyone whenever? It's possible I don't remember this being explained in a previous episode, but I DO remember them making a big deal about Dean needing to talk to Death/a reaper before and having to basically be dead to do so. 

Quotes:

Dean: Nice reflexes. Better hair.

Sam: Spears and Aguilera?
Cas: I noticed your aliases are usually the names of popular musicians.
Dean: Wow.

Dean: Honey, there ain't no other man like me.

Cas: Why is six afraid of seven? Now, I assume it's because seven is a prime number... and prime numbers can be intimidating.
Sam: It's because seven eight nine.
Cas: Wordplay.

Cas: I'm very pop culture savvy now.

Dean: Sure, you're Mother Theresa with neck beard.

Previous Episode -- Next Episode

Brown Sugar Coconut Oil Cookies

This recipe is going to maybe make some of you who know me raise your eyebrows. A cookie, with coconut? Gasp! Yes. It's a cookie, with coconut. But coconut OIL, which makes all the difference. Yes, I am NOT a fan of coconut. I suppose I don't mind the flavor and smell of it so much as the texture. Any kind of coconut flake or shaving? I will steadfastly wrinkle my nose and say no thank you, no sir, not for me. However, coconut liquids baked into things? Not so bad.

Take these cookies, for example. The coconut oil gives them a slightly different flavor than if you used butter, but it's not really distinctly coconut. I'm not sure quite how to explain it, really. These cookies have a depth to their flavor, rich, deep, and, though this isn't a flavor, oh so soft. They get their softness not only from the addition of the coconut oil, but also the addition of the corn starch. Corn starch is really a miracle worker when it comes to soft cookies, let me tell you. Add some in to most any cookie, and you're going to have something that is thicker and softer around the middle.

These disappeared really quickly at my house. Of course, they don't make a ton either, so that's probably a good thing. They're best the first couple of days, then do start to dry out the tiniest bit.

A note on the coconut oil consistency when baking! Now, when you keep it in your cupboard, it can end up in a variety of different consistencies. Maybe it's rock hard. Maybe it's completely liquid. Or maybe it's that magical zone in between. It's that magical zone that you're looking for, but if you are at one or two of the extremes, don't despair. You can give it a quick zap in the microwave if it's too hard, or stick it in the fridge if it's too liquid. I recommend the fridge over the freezer, as the freezer tends to freeze the outer parts to rock hardness while the inner stays liquid. The fridge will firm it up to the right consistency in about 10 minutes-ish.

Brown Sugar Coconut Oil Cookies
Author: Jen @ Fresh From The...
Servings: 20 Cookies
Prep time: 02:10
Cook time: 00:10
Total time: 02:20

Fluffy brown sugar cookies that are slightly healthier by using coconut oil instead of butter.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup coconut oil, softened
• 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 Tablespoons unsulphered molasses
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Instructions:

1. In your mixer, beat together your coconut oil, egg, and sugar and beat on medium-high speed to cream until fluffy and light, about 4-5 minutes. A note on the coconut oil consistency - you don't want it rock hard, and you don't want it liquid. If it's rock hard, just nuke it in the microwave for about 5-10 seconds. If it's completely liquid, put it in the fridge for about 15 minutes (the freezer gives it a hard edge and a liquid center which isn't quite what you want).
2. Add in the vanilla and molasses and beat to incorporate, about 1-2 minutes. Add in the flour, corn starch, baking soda, salt and mix on low until just combined, about a minute.
3. You're going to need to chill this, so to make it easier on yourself, you want to pre-scoop your dough into cookie sized plops. I use a cookie scoop for this. Stick your dough bits, on a plate wrapped in saran wrap if you like, for at least two hours.
4. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line your baking sheet with a silicon mat, parchment, or spray with cooking spray. Put your dough about 2 inches apart on the sheet, and bake for 8 to 10 minutes. They won't be browned or anything, so don't overcook. Let sit on the pan for 5-10 minutes as they will cook a bit longer on the sheet. Keep for later or gobble immediately!

Recipe adapted from Averie Cooks

In Photos:

Mix up your wet ingredients. Sugar, coconut oil, egg. Beat for 4-5 minutes, then add in your molasses and vanilla and beat for another couple.

Next are your dry ingredients. Flour, corn starch, baking soda, salt. Beat for another minute on low.

Scoop your dough out onto a plate, cover with saran wrap, and stick that in the fridge for a couple hours.

Preheat your oven to 350F, then bake up your cookies for 8-10 minutes on a silpat-lined pan.

Let them sit on the pan for another 5 minutes to set up and finish cooking.

Bite in to that baby! You will eat these really quickly, I promise. Even though they last for days and days, they won't really last that long at all.

Supernatural 9x21 "King of the Damned"

Leading the troops, our man Cas.

Well, this turned out to be a bigger episode than I was expecting for the second to last episode of the season. I guess it's not really that unexpected though, because they had to wrap up at least one of the storylines soon, though I confess I was hoping the two would converge in some way rather than being completely separate as they have been. Alas, I did not get my wish. I don't think the boys even mentioned they were going after Abaddon to Castiel at all. Or, at least, not on screen.

Anywho, let's start things off with Crowley and his merry band of demons. Or, not so much his merry band of demons anymore, actually. His demon buddies have sold him out to Abaddon. She wants him to tell her where the first blade is hidden so she can destroy it before it destroys them, they work together before getting back to working against each other, etc. She brings in Crowley's long lost son Gavin from 18th century Scotland to sweeten the deal. Or rather, sour the deal, as she wants to appeal to Crowley's new human side. That is, not wanting to see his son get tortured to death.

Meanwhile, the brothers Winchester are invited to Castiel's new angel bunker where they are trying to figure out a way to defeat Metatron and get back in to heaven. They've managed to capture an angel who was bragging about his connections to Abaddon, but because Cas does not want angel on angel violence anymore, he's brought in the Winchesters to do his dirty work. Dean is all ready to lay the smack down on the angel, but Sam has a more thoughtful approach, basically goading the guy into giving up information of his own accord. Basically, there is another way in to heaven, through some portal that is constantly moving. Metatron is also recruiting some sort of secret squad, purposes unknown. After they talk to the guy, though, he turns up dead. Which means there is an angel traitor in their midst. Castiel also questions Sam a bit on what it was like with Gadreel in his head back in the day, to see if he was really evil or not, basically.

Not so much with the hugs.

Back in Crowley country, father and son have a bit of a reunion wherein Gavin actually thinks it's kind of cool to be the son of the King of Hell. But, he wants to use this information, namely that he can never go to Hell himself no matter what he does, and use it when he goes back to his time. Crowley is less than enthused to send him back to his time because, you know, he ends up going on a ship to the Americas that sinks. But, I digress. Crowley calls up the boys to tell them that he knows where Abaddon is and tells them where to find the blade. All while Abaddon listens in. Hmm. Has he reconsidered her offer to work together to defeat the Winchesters? Oh me oh my!

Castiel meets up with Gadreel on the sly to try to get a sense of his true desires. Basically, Gadreel just wants to be doing the right thing. To rebuild Heaven and whatnot, to make up for his past wrongs. Castiel tries to make him see that Metatron is not the one to be following in that endeavor, as that is not his ultimate goal. They get jumped by some of Metatron's baddies, which Cas says only proves his point. He wants Gadreel to act as spy within Metatron's camp. Will Gadreel do it? Dun dun dun.

Sam and Dean go into mission mode. They find the first blade after some shenanigans with a hell hound, then call up Crowley to get the location of where Abaddon is. He gives Dean the code word of Poughkeepsie so they know that something is up. Dean, however, does not see fit to also tell Sam of this warning, but instead tells him to go off and search the basement while he goes up and deals with Abaddon. At first, things do not look like they are going to go too tell for our Dean, but of course he's got this whole Mark of Cain thing going on, so when she magic hands him against the wall, he just goes crazy mark blade badass and, you know, kills her dead.

Yes. That's right. Dean just killed Abaddon. Right in time for Sam to come in and see him keep on stabbing after she's already gone, all crazy style. Sam wants Dean to hide that blade until they can go after Crowley again (because, you know, he manages to escape with his son and let him loose in the 21st century despite the boys telling him he needed to be sent back), but Dean just straight up says, "no." Yowza.

Random Thoughts:

- This whole ending to the Abaddon storyline felt a bit underbaked to me. As in, we hardly had much of it throughout the season, really. Or maybe the seasons are all blending together to me and there was more than I remember. But honestly I don't think so. And I really did hope it would somehow meet up with the angel story in an organic way, as I previously mentioned. As it is, it felt like a kind of anticlimactic death scene for Abaddon, who, granted, hasn't been on the show as long as Crowley or anything, but has been around for at least a couple seasons now. Another lady bites the dust.

- What exactly is Metatron's ultimate goal anyway? He keeps saying he wants to remake Heaven or something, but into what?

- Will we be seeing more of Gavin in the future, now that he's just roaming around the 21st century all willy nilly? At least he can read now. That would be awkward.

- Will this angel story really be resolved at the end of the season? Because right now it feels very much like there would still be a lot of story to tell, but there are only two episodes left.

- Sam mentioned in a patented end of episode Impala chat that he thinks Dean is being changed by the Mark. I think we can all see this happening as well. What does that mean moving forward? Do you think he'll still have the Mark by the end of the season, or will it be magically removed in some way as well?

Quotes:

Crowley: So all those with me say yo.
Abaddon: Yo. I mean I'm literally with you, not with you, with you.

Dean: Well, you just asked me to dance.

Crowley: And there you were, worried the old man wouldn't amount to much.

Crowley: Squirrel, I hope you were nice to your father.
Dean: What? Shut up.

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Cinnamon Banana Bread with Crumble Topping

You know how you buy bananas sometimes, and then don't get around to eating them, and they become so ripe and soft that they seem inedible anyway? So you stick them in the freezer to use later, and then forget they're in there and eventually have to throw them away because they've gotten kind of gross? Well, don't let that happen! Use those babies for, you guessed it, banana bread. Seriously, why am I not making more banana bread?

Here's the thing about banana breads - a lot of them have nuts in them. And, I don't know, I'm not the biggest fan of nutty breads. I would much rather have this dense, moist dreamboat with a, gasp, crumble topping. Did I just say crumble topping? You bet I did. The stuff dreams are made of. Seriously, what is not made better by a crumble topping? Pretty much everything is made better by a crumble topping, and this is certainly no exception. I mean, just look at it:

Right? But also? Dare I say that this bread tasted better the second day? It was good the first day, sure, but the second day it had seemed to absorb even more moisture and was pretty much amazing. And it stays that way for days after, not that it will last that long. Particularly not when you have some banana bread enthusiasts in the house. Great for a breakfast or a dessert. Get on it!

But? Just a tip - please make sure to use at least a 9 inch size bread pan when you make this. I used only an 8 inch and it, well, let's just say it had a bit of an overflow problem. Things were dripping to the bottom of my oven and burning up and it was just generally not good. The bread, however, turned out tasting just fine despite that, even though I had to bake it longer. But just avoid that in general and use a larger pan. End PSA.

Cinnamon Banana Bread with Crumble Topping
Author: Jen @ Fresh From The...
Servings: 10 Pieces
Prep time: 00:15
Cook time: 00:50
Total time: 01:05

A delightfully moist banana bread that goes over the top with a yummy crumble topping.

Ingredients:

For the Bread:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 2 overripe bananas, mashed
For the Crumble Topping:

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• pinch of salt

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Spray a 9-inch loaf pan with non-stick spray and set aside for now. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon. Set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the sugar, egg, and vanilla until combined. Add in the butter and beat until smooth. Then, beat in the buttermilk and bananas. Slowly stir in the dry ingredients into the wet until the flour is all incorporated. Pour your batter into your prepared loaf pan.
3. For the crumble topping, combine the powdered sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt and melted butter. Using your hands (it's easiest), crumble the mixture over the batter in the pan. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

Recipe via Little Bits Of...

In Photos:

Mash those bananas!

Whisk together your flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon and set aside.

In your mixer, beat together your egg, sugar and vanilla.

Add in your butter and beat until smooth.

Then beat in your banana mash and buttermilk.

And, finally, slowly mix in your flour mixture.

Put that in your prepared pan. I recommend a 9 inch pan. This is an 8 inch and, well, you'll see what happened.

Mix up your crumble topping - flour, powdered sugar, cinnamon, butter, pinch of salt.

Using your hands, crumble that over the top. Bake at 350F for 45-50 minutes until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

Mine overflowed a bit, as you can see! If you use a larger pan, this will not be an issue. I also had to bake it for probably 60 minutes in this smaller pan as well.

 See? Whoops. Still tastes amazing despite the overflow, though!

Cut 'er up and serve!