Tag Archives: banana

Smooth Sailing

Hi friends!

Happy Humpday.

Hope your week has been smooth so far. Mine has been drama-free thus far and I have been able to get up to the gym the last couple nights which was always good for me and seems to make life smoother.

Last week I {invented} a little breakfast smoothie with one of my new finds via Instagram. A friend posted some {Cookie Butter} from Trader Joe’s during Lent and I immediately fetched a jar to enjoy on/after Easter! It is fabulous alone on a spoon, on bagels, Ezekiel toast and graham crackers, but I thought I’d incorporate it into a smoothie in place of peanut butter and see what happened!

{Cookies & Cream} and Banana Smoothie

You will need: 2 cups crushed ice, 1/2 cup almond coconut milk, 1/2 cup plain low fat yogurt, 1 banana, 1 tbsp ground flax {flax meal} and 1 tbsp. TJ’s cookie butter

Place all into a blender and blend ’til smooth!

Pour into a glass, add a straw and enjoy!

*****

And speaking of {sailing}, we plan to take a quick little trip to the beach this weekend.

Last time we went to the beach {in January!} Jay captured some cute pics of the kids just frolicking in the sand…this time I wanted to plan a little better with their wardrobes and hair and have a little Nautical inspired photo shoot at the shore.

I had originally picked up the anchor tee for a gift for a little girl….when the guy rang it up, it came up as boy’s. I thought it’d be cute on Holden so I set out to find something complementary for Elliott and stumbled upon this little striped number with the big bow on the shoulder. Both of them will wear rolled up jeans and bare feet ~ I think it’ll be perfect for some fun photos to get us excited for summer.

*****

Make the most of the rest of your week…Saturday and Sunday will be here before you know it!

XO

Monkey Business

Today is my friend and neighbor, Hollie’s, birthday. I baked up a special loaf of peanut buttery banana bread for us to nibble on with our coffee this morning to celebrate.

{banana bread recipe from my best girlfriend, Denise, a million years ago}

Peanut Butter Studded Banana Bread

I decided instead of the normal walnuts or chocolate chips, it needed a little something different…

2 cups flour, sifted

1 teaspoon baking soda, sifted in with the flour

1/2 cup butter, softened to room temperature

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon salt, sifted with dry ingredients

3 bananas, mashed

1/2 cup milk

3/4 cup Reese’s peanut butter chips

Preheat oven to 350*.

Cream butter and sugar.

Add in all other ingredients and mix.

Stir in peanut butter chips.

Pour into a greased and floured pan.

Bake for 60-70 minutes.

*****

Warm banana bread with unexpected little pockets of peanut buttery goodness?

Yes, please!

The happiest of birthdays to you, Hollie!

*****

What kind of monkey business are you up to today?

Linking up with Lady Behind the Curtain ~ Cast Party Wednesday

Whipped Cream, Nuts & A Cherry

Last weekend we were supposed to bring the Cuisinart out of hibernation and make ice cream for Father’s Day.

Didn’t quite happen…sorry, Babe!

Tonight we made Pioneer Woman’s Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and boy, was it worth the wait!

Banana Splitinis it was…

Sliced bananas, freshly churned soft vanilla bean ice cream, a drizzle of Hershey’s syrup, a swirl of whipped cream, some rainbow sprinkles, coconut {for me}, peanuts {for Jay} and the proverbial maraschino cherry on top.

These would also be fun served in small mason jars!

*****

The slip n slide also came out this afternoon after a brief hiatus…

Last week was filled with necessary errands in the beginning of the week and a couple pool play dates at the end.

Tomorrow this guy starts summer camp thanks to his grandparents and sweet friends…for his birthday in February, we decided in lieu of {more} toys a nice gift would be a 3-day a week summer camp at his preschool. Three of his best buds chipped in and gave him a week as well! It’s a win/win situation ~ a fun 3 hours for him and 3 hours for me! We’re so grateful….thanks again.

This girl is going to gymnastics camp mañana. Same thing…for her b-day, the grandparents generously gave her the same 3 days a week to tumble and jump this summer. Again, it gives me a little time to myself and his preschool and the gym are right near each other so it’s perfect.

It’s a GREAT way to break up the summer.

I’ll say it again ~ thank you Lolo & Lola, Gramma, Popsi, Emma, Landon & Dylan.

This gift is truly the cherry on top of this mama’s banana split!

Have a great week everyone!

French Toast Friday ~ Coconut Banana

Elliott doesn’t have school today.

Staff Development.

It was SO nice to know that we didn’t have to rush, rush, rush this morning.

Get up. Go potty. Get dressed. Eat breakfast. Pack lunch. Get backpack ready. Brush teeth. Brush hair. Wipe face. Put shoes & socks on. Dash out the door. Walk to school.

I decided to declare it “French Toast Friday”.

Since I love all things coconut, I recently picked up a bottle of coconut extract {emulsion} at Ross of all places. I normally don’t buy food items there, but I saw this and thought it’d be great for summer recipes in place of vanilla extract. And it was cheap so if it didn’t work out, no biggie.

So, this morning I decided to give our french toast a tropical twist.

I just added about 1 tsp. of the emulsion to 3 eggs and a touch of milk and scrambled with a fork before dunking the bread.

Here she is naked before syrup…

There was a little more egg mixture so I took the butt of the bread and soaked that, too.

Good thing French Toast Friday only rolls around once in awhile.

Um, it was amazing…..would be excellent with some toasted coconut on top or some chopped pecans, too.

*****

Hope you have a syrupy sweet Friday!

Bargain Banana Find

My “Pops” came to visit last week to celebrate Holden’s birthday.

Somehow he ended up with a credit at Banana Republic…

While here, he was kind enough to pass it along to yours truly.

He kept an eye on the kiddos while I browsed. How I love BR, but in all reality, it’s not in the budget these days.

I spotted this fun yellow handbag for Spring, but even with my $50 credit, it was a little too much.

However, for $1.44 out of my own pocket I picked up two beautiful pieces.

This cute cargo tee in black and…

this gorgeous flutter sleeve dress in plum!

I’m saving the dress for either my BIG birthday dinner this year or Jay’s Christmas party…I have several months to find the perfect shoes and accessories to go with. (The dress was originally $130 and I picked it up for $16.97….um, that’s a savings of almost 90%!!!)

Thanks, Pops! So glad I could take that credit off your hands. {Hugs!}