Peanut Butter Banana Bread

Evening!

I promised you a recipe, and now I shall deliver on that promise.

First, a few notes about it, if you don’t mind.

Light and delicious!

This bread isn’t like a regular bread.

Due to the ingredients, it’s actually slightly spongy and doesn’t have much of a “crumb”.

It’s also low carb, high in protein, and has a nice amount of fat per slice.

I based this recipe loosely on a coconut flour recipe found on Mark’s Daily Apple, but based on the properties of coconut flour, I have found that I can easily substitute peanut flour in its place.

I use a higher fat peanut flour (from Byrd Mill) but a lower fat one would increase the protein levels but decrease the peanutty taste (and, of course, the calories).

Slices beautifully!

Oh, and it’s so flexible!  If you want to use apple sauce in the place of the bananas, go for it.

No added fruit?  Use an oil or fat of choice (I bet avocado would be incredible!  or peanut butter?), or go without.  The choice is yours.

This bread is delicious, m-word (rhymes with “hoist”), and very lightly sweetened.  Feel free to add a sugar of choice, if you wish.

Ready for it?

Here ya go!

Enjoy!

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Banana Bread:

3/4 cup peanut flour (3 oz)

1 tsp baking powder

1 tbs cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

6 jumbo eggs

1-2 tbs honey (optional)

3 very ripe bananas, mashed (about a heaping cup worth)

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Mix dry ingredients.  Puree (or mash) bananas.  Add wet ingredients into dry.  Pour into a 8-by-4 inch baking loaf pan.  (A 9-by-5 will create a more short, squat loaf.)  Bake for approximately 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick poked in it comes out clean.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Thanks for reading!

❤ Kaz

Mischief

Afternoon!

I’m so far behind right now on my commenting that I’m gonna just throw this post up so you guys can verify that I’m still alive, then hop to it.

As I stand (or more honestly, sit), the afternoon is all mine.  Mine!  Mine I tell you!

What do you mean, you hear insane, half-crazed laughter?  Pah.  Your imagination, that’s all.

Until then, can I tease you with the promise of a recipe?

Just use your imagination.

I’ll give you a hint: it’s totally gf/cf/sf and is peanut buttery, banana-y, and yet is light, easy to slice, and chock fulla protein.

I ate three slices for breakfast this morning, with extra peanut butter and bananas.

❤

Recipe coming soon!

Would you mind popping over to my dear sister’s blog and telling her a quick, cheerful hello?  She just started blogging today, and I’m so excited for her.  You’ll love her.  I promise.

Thanks for reading!

❤ Kaz

Squish Squish Squash

Good morning!

Today, I’m going to show you guys the proper way to enjoy a squash.

First, the improper ways.

Get your mind out of the gutter.

Bad squash: too much brown sugar and marshmallow.  Squished into an amorphous paste and offered to a child (or a stubborn grown up).  Sliced and offered plain.

There, we got the bad out of the way.  Now, what’s the right way to eat a (butternut, in this case) squash?

Here’s a fine example:

I gave the jar a second chance.

Yes, I said I wasn’t very impressed with “in a jar” concoctions.

However, you put an idea in my head, and I’m a stubborn old gal.  I’m not going to give up until I know for sure if it’s my fancy or not.

This time, not too shabby.  I had tons more peanut butter on this one, and the butternut squash was melty-yummy-good.

Looks ugly, but so very yum!

It didn’t hurt, either, that I drowned it in a ton more peanut butter and some Peanut Butter Panda Puffs.

I made a simple custard out of my squash with a half a cup of applesauce, a half a roasted squash, tons of cinnamon and vanilla, and one whole egg and enough almond milk to make it thick and creamy.

I poured it into my jar, topped it with peanut butter and peanut butter pandas, and died of happiness.

Another way to enjoy butternut squash?

Filling but not heavy. Perfect!

This would be another batch of butternut squash custard, but made without the applesauce (I was worried it would clash with the bananas).  I added a metric-ton of cinnamon and vanilla, then topped it with banana slices, two heaping tablespoons of peanut butter (2 tbs peanut butter, 2 tbs almond milk, nuke and stir) and Panda Puffs.

When I ate it yesterday, it kept me full for three and a half hours.  Not too shabby!

So, here’s hoping for another day of happy tummy-age.

Sorry for the awful lighting -- 7 am does not make for pretty pictures.

And, I thought you guys should know that my little fuzzy-butt Osito is one year old today.

On October 4, 2009, Amor and I adopted him, and I seriously doubt he was older than a month when we caved in to his plaintive squeaks and let him into our lives.  Hence, today is his tentative birthday.

I should also let you know that he decided to celebrate this venerated day by knocking over his water dish, then promptly began stalking his reflection and pouncing into the huge puddle he created.

Also, I should let you know that heck, it’s 7 a.m.  I’m not cleaning it.  I put a towel down.  For this early in the morning, I deserve a medal for doing that much.

And know you know.

Do you like squash?  What’s your favorite autumn dish to prepare?

Thanks for reading!

❤ Kaz

Not A Morning Person

Good morning, all!

Why am I awake?  Whyyyyy?

I curse this sight:

Already been up twenty minutes at this point.

(Please don’t judge my disgusting microwave.  No, I have no idea why it has cat fur up that high.  I didn’t realize that beast fuzz could travel that far, either.)

And I embrace this sight:

Tons o' peanut butter, banana, brown rice cake.

I could never grow tired of that combination, ever.

I could grow tired of being up at five a.m., though.  Yep, definitely.

Anyway, I gotta haul my tail into the kitchen and scrape up some eats.  The house is wonderfully silent right now, and I’m secretly relishing this “me-time”…but why does me-time have to occur so darn early in the morning?

I hope everyone has a wonderful Friday!

❤ Kaz

Too Hungry

Evening!

I’m gonna have to make this snappy, which is terribly sad, since I most likely will not get to blog tomorrow.

I have a four a.m. wake up, which I may try to bump back to five o’clock, but either way that means I’m getting four or five hours of sleep tonight, at most.

Boo, hiss!

I haven’t gotten around to commenting on everybody’s blog, but I promise, I will stop by soon.  I miss you guys!

Today, I allowed myself to get hungry.

My mistake began with baking cookies to take to school with me, then naively believing that three of them would hold me over this afternoon.

Delicious, high in protein...and not enough to hold me over four hours.

These cookies turned out pretty good, though I would prefer them to be a bit sweeter.  My rough estimate puts them at about 9g of protein for two, which essentially means that each cookie is like a portable tablespoon of peanut butter.

I’ll share the recipe later, perhaps, if I overcome my baking failure shame.

I ate three, then threw an apple and an orange into my purse, then headed out to the mall to find some denims.

I failed, of course.  How hard is it to find a pair of attractive flare-legged jeans?  Evidently, very.  Everything is low-rised and skinny, and extremely unflattering to my very curvy body type.  Yikes.

Noshed on this at about six-ish tonight.

While I did not get tummy-hungry, my body did not like me not feeding it for several hours.

I became headachy, weak, and dizzy, and finally — after pounding a bottle of water and not finding any relief — I realized that perhaps I was hungry.

I ate my apple, and the symptoms went away.

I was still famished, though, and couldn’t wait to get home to eat dinner.  (Fyi: I don’t drive.  That’s why I was milling around the mall in a crazed half-starved state, waiting for a ride home.  Planning fail!)

Was daydreaming about this hummus all afternoon.

I didn’t want my orange.

I wanted veggies.

The thought of eating my orange actually made me a bit nauseous, and I grazed on my arm halfheartedly until I got home.  I threw together a quick meal for Amor, then quickly chopped up as many veggies as I could muster and therw them into the microwave.

Is it weird to admit that I was fantasizing about this hummus all day?  I found it last night at Winco, on sale!  And of course, had to buy it.

Largest veggie bowl ever!

I can’t begin to describe how incredibly tasty and packed this bowl was.

Imagine: most of a head of cauliflower, a head of broccoli, tons of green beans, a half a zucchini, a cup of peas, and about 2/3 cup of black beans.

I topped it with 3-4 servings of hummus, and doused it in hot sauce.

Peas and beans for protein. Delish!

For a bit of perspective, realize that I’ve used this bowl for salads before.

Yes, it was that huge.

It took me almost a half hour to eat, as well, and I was eating rather quickly, as I was very, very ravenous.

Not surprisingly, I was still hungry afterward.

Perfect dessert.

I nuked a half a peach with a ton of frozen cherries, then topped it with a tablespoon of coconut butter.

So good!

And there goes the buzzer on the dryer.  That means my pyjamas are dry, and I need to haul my booty to bed.

Wish me luck for school tomorrow.  Looks like I’ll need it!

Do you have trouble jeans shopping?  What brand of jeans do you wear? I love my Levi’s, I’ll admit it, but it’s near impossible to find a single pair of pants right now that aren’t trapped in some hideous fashion trend or looks too youthful.

Thanks for reading!

❤ Kaz

And, She’s Back!

Good morning!

How is everyone?

School is insane.  Working and going to school at the same time?  Even more insane.  I’m a full time student, like I mentioned before, but I never knew it would be this crazy.  Every professor treats us like his class is the only class, and doesn’t hesitate to assign us 50+ pages of reading each night, plus homework atop of all of it.

Then there’s work, which is great, but exhausting.  I’m up way earlier than I ever thought I would be (around sevenish) and not making it to bed until almost midnight, or later, these days.  I don’t get home until 8 or later on worknights, and 7 pm on school nights, and that’s only with the mercy of Em taking me home after her last class.  If I waited for Amor to pick me up, I’d be getting home around 8-ish, as well.

In other words, I’m “working” twelve-plus hours a day (Fridays have me running around from 5 am until around 8 pm, so that’s a 15 hour  work day), every day, except Thursdays (the only time I can schedule doctors’ appointments, so they’re already spoken for) and Sundays, and my boss has already told me he plans for me to start working Sundays so I can start organizing the office.

Can you tell I’m a bit overwhelmed right now?

And I don’t even know when I’ll find time to study.  That’s not even accounted into my epic work days.  Yikes.

It’s not all bad, though.  My classes are promising, though don’t get me started on the arrogance and hypocrisy of my Environmental Ethics class.  However, the content seems interesting.  If only that racist woman in the back would shut up, and the smelly tattooed guy in the front would stop calling us parasites, I’d be fine.

Work is great, actually.  Like I’ve said before, I get along fairly well with my boss, and the workload, while constant and steady, is essentially routine and easy.  No complaints.  Plus, a bit extra pocket change never hurt anyone, ne?

Porridge makes those early wake-ups easier.

The only major issue I’m having right now, then, is my eats.

First, I tried a lighter breakfast, then planned on having a snack after my first class.  Hah!  My body let me know right away that was not acceptable.  (I’m a chronic bottomless pit, by the way — 2 whole grain rice cakes, 2-3 heaping tbs of peanut butter, and a large banana barely kept my tummy quiet for three hours.)  To keep it from overtalking my professor, I was stealthily stuffing my lunch into my mouth every time he turned away.

Then, I tried a heavier breakfast, and forced myself to eat every last bite to make sure I’d stay full.  Nope.  Was starving again mid-class.  Fortunately, I had planned ahead and packed almonds and raisins, and that definitely helped, but clearly my body is rebelling against this new eating schedule.

Breakfast, as messy as it is, always remains so photogenic, don't you agree?

Since my tummy clearly can’t distinguish between a lighter meal and a heavier meal, I’m going to go back to the lighter breakfast, and pack more snacks to eat in class.

Last night, at the grocery store, I picked up a few dried pineapple rings (doused in chili powder — omg, good!) and some dried mango, and I have tons of almonds (Amor picked up a huge tub at Costco, thinking his fantasy football buddies would eat them all, and no surprise, they didn’t) and tons of ziploc baggies to cram my dried fruit and nuts into.

Lunch has been boring and, sadly, not filling.  I think part of the problem is that I’m having to wait until around 4:30 to eat it, when I’ve been up since seven or eight that morning already and I’m running on breakfast and a handful of nuts and grapes until that point.  Eight hours without a real meal?  Oi, that’s a no-go if there every was one.

So, I’m half-starved, and at that point, my satiety signals are completely broken, and I’m ready to eat my entire arm.  Le sigh.

Melty, drippy almond butter with almond slices. Creamy crunchy good!

My other option is to make my breakfast extra fatty and protein-y.  I’ve been googling the dangers of eating more than one egg a day (me, the eternal paranoid) and can’t find any hard evidence that it’s not safe, so I may try it.  Plus, it’s only three days a week, so that still comes out to six eggs a week.

Anyone have any egg breakfast recipes they want to share?

My wonderful Em bought me some almond meal at TJ’s when she was out of town last week, too.  Do you have an almond meal recipe you’d be willing to share with me?

Ate all of it, then went back for another tablespoon of almond butter. Yummage!

Breakfast was a simple ordeal.  I got smart earlier this week and made a huge pot of quinoa.  All I have to do for breakfast now, then, is reconstitute it.

Basically, I dump a heaping cup of my cooked quinoa into a pot, add enough water to make it creamy, add cinnamon and vanilla, cook, add an egg, add almond milk, cook some more, and top it with whatever I so fancy.  Today, it was a banana and a cup of frozen blueberries, thawed, and two tbs of almond butter as well as a huge fistful of sliced almonds.

Next week, I’m going to cook a huge pot of kasha.  It seriously simplifies things.  Don’t know why I didn’t try it sooner, really.

What do you eat when you know you have to stay full for several hours?

Thanks for reading!

❤ Kaz

Dang. Broke it.

Evening!

I had a night full of delicious meals…and broke my daggum memory card.

Fail.

It was dying a couple days ago, but I was able to wrestle some life back into it.  Somehow, I managed to crack it straight down the middle.  When I try to insert it into the computer now, it doesn’t “catch”.  If that makes sense at all?  It’s not locking into place.

Well, imagine a large chocolate MIM topped with some frozen Nogurt pulsed with a banana in my food processor.  I also ate tons of chocolate, grapes, and rice cakes with peanut butter and applesauce.

School starts tomorrow!  Yikes.  I think I figured out the whole lunch thing, too, but confound it!  A picture would make things so much easier, no?

I’ll see about picking up a new memory card for the ol’ Nikon tomorrow while I’m out and about.

Wish me luck!  I’m so nervous — I’m finally a full-time student, after a year and a half of pottering around, pretending to be going back to school.

Any other students out there starting school last week or this week?  What’s your major? Mine’s psychology.  Of course.

Thanks for reading!

❤ Kaz

Large Appetites

Good afternoon!

I hope everyone is enjoying their Sundays.

Mine is being sorta funny in that I want to be lazy, but I want to be busy, too.  With school starting tomorrow and me being anxious as heck, I can’t sit still — I’m full of restless and anxious energy, but at the same time, part of me is saying, “Take it easy today because tomorrow, you won’t get the chance to breathe.”

I pottered around outside after breakfast, trying to tackle some yard work, but after about five minutes, my stomach informed me that it was about to digest itself and if I didn’t get food in there, stat, things could get ugly.

Funny how hunger sneaks up on you like that, ne?  By the time I sat down with my huge salad beast, my hands were shaking so much that it was hard to snap a photo.

Call Guinness, guys: this is the World's Largest Salad!

I threw in an entire large head of romaine, a couple servings of broccoli and cauliflower, a half a large tomato, a large mushroom, a cup of peas, and a heaping half cup-ish of chickpeas.

I threw on about a quarter to a third of a cup of hummus (didn’t measure, just eyeballed it) and a generous splash of hot sauce.  Or two or three.

I rounded off my lunch with a perfectly ripe pear.  (Yes, sister.  This time an actual pear, not a mislabeled plum.)

Wonderfully ripe and juicy Bartlett pear.

And since my lunch was light in the fat department, I stuffed two dates with a heaping tablespoon of peanut butter and shoved another spoonful into my mouth.

Love dates.  Seriously better than any candy.

That huge two pound tub of them that I got from Costco?  Nearly empty.  Le sigh.  I dread the day I run out.

Oh, and speaking of large tubs from Costco, since Amor bought those epic jars of peanut butter for me a couple weeks ago, I’ve already decimated one 28 oz jar (by myself!) and am steadily working my way through the other.

Clearly dates + peanut butter are an addictive combination.

Can't stop myself, and I don't wanna!

I tried to go back outside to finish up my chores, but alas, the poor hedge trimmer had died.  It’s currently on the charger now, but I’m feeling lazy.

I attacked some of the larger weeds with the oversized scissors designated for that particular chore, but they were dull and I have no idea how to sharpen them.

So I came back inside, and now here I am, vegging on the couch.

Almost out of these, too.

I ate this lemonhead, and now I’m trying to brainstorm on how I’m going to do this whole packed-lunch business.

My first class is at 11:30, and from there, I have three back-to-back classes until about 4:30.

I have a ten minute break between classes, but during each one of those breaks, I’m going to be hauling behind to the next class across campus.

I’m trying to figure out how I’m doing to do this lunch thing.  I’ll be getting up early enough that I can enjoy a large, healthy breakfast, but I get hungry very quickly, and will be starving before my first class.  I don’t know if I could eat in class, and besides, I think snacking down on large, stinky salads would be frowned upon.

What do you pack for meals when you’ll be out and about all day? I can’t eat sandwiches (no gluten, and GF bread is too expensive to eat every day) and I’ve ran out of bars.  What should I pack?

I’ll be at school until late into the evening as well, so I’ll have to pack enough to last me about eight hours or so.

Any suggestions?

Thanks for reading!

❤ Kaz

Of Shoemakers And Breakfasts

Good afternoon!

Okay, so that loud whooshing sound is me letting out my breath.  I was so worried I might offend somebody with last night’s post that I actually forwarded it to my sister for a “sensitivity check” and still fretted I might hurt somebody with it.

I know.  I’m the sensitive one, so worried about upsetting everyone else.  Yep.

I appreciate you guys sharing with me the charities that are close to your heart.  I realize that you shared something with me that was very personal and intimate, and I’m touched that you comfortable enough to share that with me.  Thank you!

Anyway, thanks for the suggestions on haircare!  Surprisingly, that circa-2003 Suave is the best stuff I’ve used before, but another type of Suave made my hair fall out.  You win some, you lose some.

Perhaps I should just look at recipes for making my own shampoo?

Speaking of recipes, while I don’t have an official one for you here today — it’s stuff you’re all familiar with — I had a total win with my breakfast today.

It was so good that I actually didn’t eat it.

Peach Cobbler Breakfast MIM

I threw together a simple MIM — 3 tbs peanut flour, 1/4 tsp baking powder, cinnamon and vanilla, 1/3 cup (estimated) applesauce, and a whole egg — and microwaved it for a couple minutes.

There was a peach on the counter beckoning to me, and I couldn’t resist.  I chopped it into bite-sized pieces (it was an epic Costco peach, by the way) then threw it into the nuker for about two and a half minutes, until it was simmering in its own juices.  I added a sprinkle of cinnamon and vanilla to the peaches, then added a splash of almond milk to round out the flavor.

I layered the MIM into the bottom of my bowl, added the peach, then topped it with an almond butter sauce (almond butter + almond milk, nuked) and a handful of sliced almonds.

It tasted like dessert, seriously.

Omigosh.

Holy yum, but this stuff was good.

I ate a few bites of it, until I realized that there was no way my conscience would let me keep this to myself.  I had to let Amor try it.

He’s generally very receptive to trying new things, but mostly, he tastes my food to be polite.  So, when I offered him a bite, I acknowledged that he accepted it not because my breakfast looked good, but he wanted to spare my feelings.

It even looks delicious! Or not.

He took the bite, and that’s when a curious expression crossed his face.

“Did you like it?”

“It tastes like a cobbler!”

Great.  My breakfast tastes like shoes.  Or rather, a shoemaker.

I'll definitely be making this again.

I ate a few more bites, then asked Amor if he wanted another taste, and was completely floored when he said yes.

What?  He’s actually wanting to eat something that is Kaz-Food?

I was so thrilled that he enjoyed it, that I offered him the rest.  He demurred for a moment, but after confirming that I didn’t mind giving up my breakfast to him, he actually happily accepted it!  Say what?

Then the questions started. “There has to be sugar in this, right?”

Nope.  It was sweetened with applesauce and peach juice.  Really? Really.

“What flour did you use?  That’s peanut flour?”  Yep.  Did I use peanut butter?  Nope, that’s almond butter.

You know it’s a victory when your meat-and-potatoes guy finishes off the entire breakfast and loves it.

Have you ever made something healthful and was surprised when somebody else actually liked it?  What’s your favorite “healthy” recipe? See!  Eating well doesn’t have to be boring!

Thanks for reading!

❤ Kaz

Good Hygiene Is A Must

Good afternoon!

Today has been a whirlwind of working, cleaning, and eating, so sadly, I have no food pictures for you.

Eats were mostly scrounged up between chores, and I have to admit, it’s not my most healthful day of eating.  Too many dates with too much peanut butter with too much chocolate stuffed inside.

Well, no; never too much, but you know what I mean.

So, instead, let’s talk about hair!

I come from a family of beautiful hair.  My mum’s hair is thick and when she was my age, it consisted of luxurious black waves.  My two brothers also have this amazingly rich and healthy hair, with my older bro having straight hair and the kid bro was blessed with little waves and ringlets.

And don’t get me started on my sister’s hair.  Thick, of course, with natural highlights, and a quaint little curl.

You know what I got?

Limp, baby-fine hair that looks oily ten minutes after I’ve washed it.

Yep.

And all my family’s wonderful Irish heritage?  Missed the mark on that one, too.  My beautiful red hue comes from a box marked L’Oreal.

Fail.

But, recently, I switched shampoos to a new brand.  I guess I should have known better than picking up my shampoo at Winco, but I was down to the last dribbles of Suave that I had scrounged up from the depths fo Amor’s medicine cabinet.

I think it expired in 2003.

My hair was falling out in clumps.  I pulled a small rodent out of the drain yesterday.

(Let’s say it together: ewwwwww.)

Now, though?

My hair is so greasy that I’m afraid to take it out of a ponytail.  Smells nice, though.

Finally, it dawned on me why my hair feels like one huge oil slick.

Volumizing? Lies!

Not seeing it?

Look closer.

Just take a gander right here.

Does that logo look familiar?

Are you seeing it?

I feel like I need to dump a bucket of heavy-duty detergent over my scalp to de-skeeve my slicked back ‘do.

The logo explains it all.

Yep. My hair is doomed.

Look familiar?

Sigh.

Time to find a new brand.

(Note: in no way shape or form do I find the oil spill in the Gulf funny.  It’s tragic, and I’m furious that such malignant avarice caused such a terrible disaster, and blatant incompetence prevented it from being fixed sooner.  I’ve already donated to the National Wildlife Federation to help animals that are at risk right now because of this tragedy.  You can choose any organization you like.  Every little bit helps.)

On a lighter note: Do you have a brand of shampoo that you recommend for limp, baby-fine, slimy hair?

On a heavier note: Do you donate to charities?  Which one is close to your heart?

Thanks for reading!

❤ Kaz