Zuchinni Banana Chocolate Chip Bread

You want your kids to eat zuchinni? Here's the way, but it into this delicious, moist Zucchini Banana Chocolate Chip Bread, yummy! And it's healthy.

Zucchini Banana Bread

 (adapted from http://www.healthyeatingforordinarypeople.com/2011/07/zucchini-banana-bread_11.html#)

Ingredients:

3 very ripe bananas

2 eggs

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 heaping cup zucchini (1 small to medium), shredded

3/4 cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350*. Lightly grease a standard sized loaf pan.

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl, beat the banana for a minute or so till well mashed. Add the eggs, honey, sugar, and vanilla and mix for another minute or so, until smooth.

Add the baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Mix to combine and then add the flour.

Stir in the zucchini and chocolate chips.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for a little under an hour until a toothpick comes out clean from center. Cool for about 1/2 hour before turning the loaf out onto a wire rack to cool some more.

Here's the center cut view for you. It's really delish! You have to try it.

More Family Fun and Discovery

We continued to have so much fun just spending lots of time in the pool/sun and easting all of my sweet and gracious parents food! So all the cousins got to know each other, gently, and carefully, Lola touching he baby cousins face.

 Gentle, Gentle, holding on tight, with a lot of coaching, it was a warm and cuddly moment.

 Some people decided to discover the baby pool... so cute eh!

I think maybe Julie was having more fun than Stephanie.

 Charles showing his 'guns'- Usain Bolt Style!

Ok, here is a shift in the mood. Aaaaaah, such love and sweetness.

 Elsewhere in the house... Stephanie and I have lunch... she prefers a rubber friend...

 Sophie the French Squeaky Toy Giraffe. P.S.- check out her awesome eyelashes!

Still, elsewhere in the house, much of the chasing around in my parents' house was around the kids playing in the stairs... this photo just says it all- Safety first! Like monkeys in a zoo behind bars... but cute, nice smelling monkeys.

Nice Nails- Golden Olympic Tribute

To get into the Olympic spirit recently, I thought I would add some gold sparkles to my life. Here's my ode to the gold medal winners- Congrats to all the athletes who participated!

Kinda like the flames, kinda like the gold medals... and kinda fresh and fun with the white.

I used my little white polish "I do" and some gold sparkle by Nicole.

Peach and Strawberry Stuffed French Toast

I have decided that making breakfast/brunch food brings me the most joy! I love the soft, sweet and fruity in the morning kinda love. So whenever I can... I try to make a recipe a little healthier. With fresh peaches and strawberries and a fresh baked loaf from the farmer's market, I knew I had to create a masterpiece in the kitchen!

I found this recipe on the Internet and decided to spoil my family... the only thing I asked in return... Brent had to take the action shots below! Blogging about this makes me want to make some right now!

Strawberry Peach Stuffed French Toast

(adapted from http://gourmetfood.about.com/od/breakfastrecipe1/r/peachstuffrench.htm)

Ingredients:

•1 Large Ripe Peach, peeled and pit removed

•1 Pint Strawberries, stem removed and diced small

•4 Ounces Light Cream Cheese, soft

•1 Tablespoon Sugar

•1 Loaf of Brioche, Challah, or White Bread, unsliced

•3 Large Eggs

•1 1/4 Cups Skim Milk

•1 Tablespoon Sugar

•1 Teaspoon Vanilla

•1/4 Teaspoon Cinnamon

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Filling Cut one half of the peach into 1/4 inch slices and set aside for topping later. Dice the other half of the peach into small cubes (about 1/4"). Mash together with a fork or mixer the diced peach and strawberries, 1 Tbl sugar and cream cheese.

Cut the bread into 1 inch slices. Using a serrated knife, cut a pocket in the side of each slice of bread. Try to make the pocket as deep as possible without cutting through the other side.

Place 2 tablespoons of the cream cheese mixture into each pocket.

Batter In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla, cinnamon and 1 Tbl sugar.

Heat up a large skillet over medium-high heat.

Place two or three slices of bread in the batter and let soak for 5 seconds. Flip over and soak again for 5 seconds. Remove the bread from the batter and place on a plate. Let the bread stand for 1 minute so the batter can soak in. Add a tablespoon of butter and a tablespoon of vegetable oil to the pan.

Place the soaked bread into the hot pan. When you have all the slices in the pan, start soaking the next three pieces as described before.

Cook each side until a light golden brown.

Place on a cookie sheet or wire rack. When all the pieces have been fried, place the cookie sheet in the oven and bake for 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and top each serving with sliced peaches. Serve with maple syrup.

Ok folks... sorry I didn't calculate the calories here... it's a definite 'fresh food treat'.  Enjoy!

Ikea Dreaming with my Daughter

Today is my little girl's birthday, so I thought I would share with you how my little girl is growing up. I absolutely love Ikea. Since I was a little girl heading off to University (way back in 1986), it's always been a symbol of fresh new beginnings for me. And this time Melanie and I were on a mission to get her a desk chair.... but we made a few stops along the way through the fantasy dreamland of 'pretend' rooms all over the top floor before we had to go to the big warehouse and pick out her pink chair.

This is my little baby pretending that she is in her own apartment- student, studying and loving the white and red... funny thing about the drapes. In my University Bed, I had a duvet cover exactly like those.

This is me pretending to visit my daughter at University and siting on the L part of her coach (don't get this couch-the back is too low).

 This is Melanie pretending to be in her condo, once she graduates and has a real grown up job. Notice the soft drink in this picture too. Relaxing at her big table in her fluffy dining chairs.

 ... and here is the other side of her condo, with the couch and TV of course.

 This is real nice, notice the soft drink again... this could be another condo moment... I love that black and white flower print.... I think it would look nice in my little house.

 Look at this room, full of dots and stripes, bold in deed and the soft drink... of course.

 This would be her room when she's in her condo... we love the LOVE heart with arms! And look Mom... no soft drink!  I just love dreaming at Ikea ... and even better when Melanie comes with me and plays 'imagine if' with me!

L.O.V.E.

And there was so much LOVE when our family was all together. I got this idea off Pinterest. To take a picture with all the grand children holding a different letter, spelling out the the word LOVE. Well Julie found the frame with 4 spots for pictures and I printed the letters and brought the clipboard and I was in charge of rounding the girls and taking the photos.

 I decided that the girls would hold the letters in order of their age... so Melanie was a great model and posed beautifully for me.

 Estelle was also a great model, smiling pretty for me.

Ok, with Lola, it was a little more of a challenge to get her to pose, we had to get her mom and dad involved, Charles might have cracked a rib too!

And last, but not least, little Stephanie, she was a great model too, just laying around, but we had to still keep an eye on her, she started to eat the clipboard... that's just how 5 month old babies have fun... they put everything in their months.

We put the frame together and presented to my parents.... guess what... the desired effect was achieved... tears and smiles of LOVE.

Here is Lola pointing at the finished product. Such a sweet, loving moment. I made a frame for myself too. Funny how the smaller the girl, the bigger the letter eh?

Really Tiny Burgers

Remember I showed you the tiny little red indoor burger grill we got for Brent for his Father's Day present? Well, here is the result! Tiny, and I do mean tiny, baby hamburgers.

I had 2, but in fact, I made mine a double and used one bun... they are so tiny.

Brent used the little burger maker attached to the grill flipper it came with and made lots of tiny baby burgers (do you think I should stop saying tiny?)

Here's the little sligder thins mini burger buns we used, Whole Grain to boot!

2 little buns are 110 calories and 2g fibre.

Doing 6 at a time... that's all it could handle!

Look at those little tiny grill marks! It was a fun adventure for sure!

The Beginning of some Australian Fun in the Sun

Guess who was just here???? That's right my lovely little brother and his family came all the way from Australia and stayed with my folks for a wonderful 3 weeks. We had such fun with all our kids and the pool and the running around, oh and I mean running around. His little girls are 3 1/2 and 1 1/2.... so that equals Olympic strength running around because of the pool... well, that is unless we are all in the pool together!

 Here's Handsome Charles and his little Estelle.

 His beautiful wife Rebecca- a real Australian- and their little Lola.

 Check out this action shot... ok, jump!

 Not so much for this pair, just 'cheesy' grins!

 Lola preferred walking in the grass and collection specimens between her toes.

 Here's a little Canadian cousin too- Stephanie's first meeting with her Australian family! Oy!

Playing with the retro Fisher Price boat- too cool! And so was Estelle with the cutest little Australian accent, and so polite, always starting her sentences with 'excuse me'.

Playing with more retro Fisher Price - Hickory Dickory Dock Clock.

Everyone's gotta a baby! Such cousin love eh! It was so sweet seeing Lola getting upset when her mommy was holding her little polka-dot niece... so they had to play switcheroo and everyone was happy in the end!



Things you do in Cookstown on the way to an afternoon of baby love!

Melanie and I took a nice vacation day to go and visit my friend Kemeshia who just had the cutest little baby boy... but on the way, we had to stop and visit the Factory Outlet mall on the way.

I have always wanted to visit the outlets and we were on a mission, I wanted a summery 'on sale' Coach purse and Melanie needed some sneakers. Well, we found Melanie some sneakers and we found me the most appropriate, colourful summer purse ever! and more...

Here's the cute purse... If you know me, you knowit screams ME!!!!

Do you know how many of my shirts these colours with???? All of them! I just love it and it was like 70 % off, so it was a congrats on making this awesome life change present to me!

But guess what else I found- the most amazing shoes. I was looking and seeing what was available in the shoes and nothing was exciting me... well, I didn't really need more 'walking shoes'. But check out what I found...

... staring right at me in the 'sale' section, regular $180 for $60, in my size 8 and purple too! It was meant to be. I was actually wondering how I would continue walking in winter and that I needed some new footwear. The clerk explained that these were made of Goretex and are completely waterproof.

... so waterproof indeed, that they have these totally athletic looking shoe lace bungie thingie!!! and they are cool Adidas, that's right, All - Day - I - Dream - About - Sports  ! That's me now, I can't wait to wear these, bring on the cold/snowy/rainy weather because I am gonna kick it's ass!

Oh, did you want to have a look at the cutest little baby boy ever ... and his mommy too?

AHHHH?????

OMG, LOVE HIM!!! I have to set him and Stephanie up one day so that they can get married and we can all become family!