Report + Recipes

I haven't had much reason to take pictures lately so here's to another wordy post!

Dan and I have been diligently trying to get well the last couple of weeks. If I wasn't hacking my lungs up Dan was, and in an effort to not spread whatever ill we had we haven't been out or had anyone else in much. To any friends we may have neglected, sorry, but you should probably be thanking us!

Being sick has also slowed my project-progress. Grrr! But I'm getting back in the swing of things and hope to have some things to report on by the end of the week.

Dan and I attended our last childbirth class last night. Our instructor was great and I feel like I know a lot better what to expect now than I did before. I'm the kind of person that typically is over confident about things, assuming that I know more than I really do. Those classes were a HUGE eye opener and reality check for me. So although I feel a little more nervous now than I did before this class it's only because I know it's not going to be all peachy-keen and lovey-dovey. Having babies is a messy, painful, long and sweaty business, but in the end it's totally worth it. And since there is no backing out now, "press forward saints" and bring on the epidural!
On another note, I made banana bread yesterday and was reminded of how yummy it is. I use the recipe my mom uses which I think she got out of her old church cookbook (It's one of those good ol' basic pioneer type recipes). We make it with applesauce to reduce the fat and it ALWAYS turns out good, so I thought I'd post the recipe.

Banana Bread
3 very ripe bananas
1/2 cup applesauce
2 T. cooking oil
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1 t. salt
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. soda
In a mixing bowl, mash the bananas well then mix in applesauce, oil, eggs and sugar. In a separate bowl mix the flour, salt, b.p. and soda. Mix together wet and dry ingredients. Fill greased baking dish to 2/3 with batter and bake at 350 degrees.
If you are doing muffins they bake for about 20 minutes.
Mini loaves take 25-30 minutes and larger loaves take up to 40 minutes, check with a toothpick.
Tip: to check done-ness of muffins just press the top lightly with your finger. If it springs back it's done. Otherwise, leave it in for a couple of minutes and try again.

And there you go, easy, yummy, and low-fat. This is also yummy with half whole wheat flour (if you use all whole wheat they are pretty heavy).


I also made cinnamon rolls this past weekend and I tried a new kind of icing. Everybody knows (or should know) that cream cheese frosting is the way to go with cinnamon rolls. However, my dear husband liked the plain old powdered sugar glaze and wouldn't allow anthing else on his beloved cinnamon rolls, until...A couple of weeks ago we were watching TV and stumbled upon America's test kitchen making cinnamon rolls. They didn't use cream cheese frosting, but they didn't use a plain old glaze either. These brilliant chefs had come up with a new breed of topping for their cinnamon rolls (drum roll please)...CREAM CHEESE GLAZE! So I had to try it out and let me tell you, it is perfect. I doubt these people have any idea that they just healed a rift in my marriage by creating this frosting hybrid. So in cellebration of this wonderful discovery I will share this recipe with all of you.

Cream Cheese Glaze
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 T. milk
1 t. vanilla
1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
Blend until smooth. This amount will cover a 9x13 pan of cinnamon rolls.

Thank You America's Test Kitchen!