blueberry banana bread

As I sit, staring out the window at the pouring rain. A Vancouver winter tradition, that no one looks forward to. I’m thankful of my mother in law, who purchased, froze, and bagged 30 pounds of blueberries in the summer for me.

I added these blueberries to one of the 14 thousand bananas I have in my freezer. Cause you know, when your husband questions you about them, you always respond, I’m gonna make banana bread.

In yo face husband, I actually did use them!
blueberry banana bread
{ from Damn Delicious }
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup blueberries, if frozen, do not thaw

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a standard loaf pan. Set aside.

In a large bowl combine, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk to combine and set aside. In the bowl of your stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla, beat until well combined. Add mashed banana and buttermilk, beat on medium until combined. Gradually add in flour mixture until it is just combined. Using a rubber spatula, fold in blueberries.

Pour mixture into prepared loaf pan, bake for 65 – 70 minutes, or until a tester inserted into middle comes put clean. Let cool for 10 minutes before removing from loaf pan. Let cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.

brownie granola bars

For the last 7 or so months, I’ve been looking forward to my time off. By time off, I mean my maternity leave.

My job has been crazy stressful for the past year. The company I work for grew very quickly, and has enjoyed a tremendous amount of success. That being said, it fell on the shoulders of the people who were there. Trying to hire the right people, while working at a frantic pace has been challenging. I started my pregnancy very, very ill and the added stress didn’t help.

I would say for the last 3 months, my body has been running on fumes. I’ve been working full-time, being a mom, and trying to be a good wife. Without the help of wine. Needless to say, when my time off finally came, I was extremely happy and gracious.

I’ve been off for a week now. My last day was May 30th, but I agreed to work from home for a week, so I didn’t really start my leave right away. But this week has been glorious. Avery’s school runs their year from July 1st to June 30th, so she’ll be in full-time care for the month of June. It’s been great. I’ve gotten lots of naps in, taken walks, cleaned basically every surface in my house, caught up on laundry, and cooked / baked an obscene amount of food.

I’m trying to call it nesting, or keeping busy hoping it’s not another month before the baby comes.

In part of my cooking / baking frenzy, I wanted to make sure I put away some snacks for my family for the first couple of weeks after the baby’s born. I remember getting up in all hours of the night, starving, looking for food when Avery was little. I also wanted things that could be eaten with one hand ( nursing / chasing after a 2 year old ), and are healthy.

These bars taste like the fudgiest brownies on the face of the earth, but are actually full of healthy items. Toasted oats, walnuts, almonds, dates, peanut butter.  They are no bake, vegan, and take no more than 20 minutes to throw together.

Brownie granola bars 

{ from the Minimalist Baker }

1 1/2 cups regular oats (not quick-cooking)

1 cup raw nuts (I used almonds), roughly chopped

1 cup raw walnuts

2 cups pitted dates, soaked in warm water for 10 minutes, the drained

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1/4 cup agave nectar, maple syrup, or honey

1/4 cup natural peanut butter

Optional step – Toast your oats for 15 minutes in a 350 degree oven. It was recommended in the original recipe, and I’m glad I did it. I like the toasted flavour.

Add your walnuts to the bowl of a food processor and pulse until you get a coarse meal, about a minute. Remove from bowl and set aside.

Add the dates to the food processor and process until only small clumps remain and it looks like a ball of dough, about a minute. Add back the walnut meal and the cocoa powder, process to combine. Pour contents into large mixing bowl.

Add the oats and nuts to the mixing bowl, mix until well combined. I used my hands for this, much easier than a spoon. You kind of have to squish the ingredients together.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, heat the peanut butter and agave/maple syrup/honey for 2-3 minutes until thin and pourable.

Pour over oat date mixture and stir to combine.

Line an 8×8-inch pan with plastic wrap or parchment. Press the mixture firmly into pan. Freeze for 15 – 30 minutes. Remove and cut into 12 squares. Wrap individually in plastic wrap and store in freezer.

 

chocolate coconut milk ice cream

 

It’s almost summer, it’s time for ice cream.

We received an ice cream maker for a wedding gift, and it’s a rarely used kitchen appliance. It shouldn’t be, because who doesn’t love homemade ice cream.

This is an easy recipe to throw together, a few ingredients, no chill time. Just whisk and throw into your frozen ice cream maker. Great for little hands to help with.

* 2 year old on counter not required.

 

 

Chocolate Coconut Milk Ice Cream

{ from Take a Mega Bite }

 

1 14oz can coconut milk

1/3 cup sugar

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

toasted coconut for topping (optional)

 

In a large bowl, whisk together all the ingredients. Try and remove all the lumps. Alternatively, this can also be done in a blender, but when you have a toddler, whisking is funner.

Pour ingredients into the bowl of any ice cream maker and churn as per manufacturers instructions. Freeze for at least 4 hours after churning before serving.

*Note : This ice cream is dairy free, so the consistency will be much icier than dairy ice cream due to the lack of fat. Let it sit out at least 10 minutes before scooping and serving.