Kitchen Island

I do not have my blogging act together yet.  One (me) can hope that will happen very soon.  Until that time, please forgive me for the brief posts.  I still pinch myself when I walk into our new kitchen.  I really can't wait to snap pictures of the space and share it with you all, but it awaits a back splash, which is imperative for this reveal.  For now, just a little sneaky peek of the sink and faucet, which I am obsessed with.  The sink is large and deep, which is perfect for stashing the biggest load of dirty dishes, when I get in over my head in a bake sesh...you feel me? 

Large under mount sink and industrial steel faucet are just the

right size for this large work surface covered in the super white

quartzite stone.  Obsessed.

Deluxe Banana Bread

I am so happy to be blogging again!!!  So much to catch up on.  For instance, WE HAVE A KITCHEN AGAIN...wooo hoooo!  It is totally fabulous, and the transformation still gives me goosebumps (promise the before and after will be shared soon!).  But, most importantly, I CAN GET MY BAKE ON, again.  Finally.  Phew, this has been a long couple of months! I wasn't planning on blogging this recipe, just yet...but it turned out perfectly the first go (yay) so many apologies on the lack of pictures/picture quality.

I decided to make banana bread because I had some ripe bananas on hand.  As soon as I grabbed the bananas, I decided I wanted to add some more goodies to the quick bread, to kick it up a notch. Here's the recipe:

• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 cup butter, room temperature
• 2 T. coconut oil (if you don't have coconut oil, canola would work just fine)

CREAM THE ABOVE INGREDIENTS, THEN ADD:  

• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
•  4 ripe bananas, mashed
• 2/3 c. grated carrot (I used a fine microplane, but a standard grate would work as well), set the wet mixture aside.

IN A SEPERATE BOWL, SIFT TOGETHER THE FOLLOWING:

• 4 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon 

SLOWLY ADD THE DRY MIX TO THE WET INGREDIENTS.  WHEN FULLY INCORPORATED FOLD IN:

• 3/4 cup quick oats
• 3 T. flax seeds
• 1/2 cup dried blueberries

Divide the batter into OILED AND PARCHMENT LINED loaf pans (I made 5 medium size loaf pans, with this recipe).  Then sprinkle a mixture of  2 PARTS OATS AND 1 PART BROWN SUGAR on top of each batter loaf.   I used old-fashioned oats, because I like the look and thought a touch of crunch on the top would be delish.  Quick oats would work just fine though too. 

Bake at 350 degrees (if you are doing small loaves, start checking at 25 minutes, if you are doing a large loaf pan start checking at 45 minutes).  Add additional time until the center of the bread is cooked through.

Here you can see how the parchment paper peeks out

the 2 long sides of the loaf pan.  Makes bread extraction,

after cooling, very simple.  Just run a butter knife along the

2 short sides of the pan and use the parchment like handles

to lift the bread out.  Easy Peasy!

I packed up the loaves for a daddy/daughter camping trip that Zac and Logan
were heading out on this weekend with friends.  So, I labeled a piece of parchment
with the add-in ingredients, and slipped it under the loaves in the storage container. 
 

Enjoy!