It's GIVEAWAY time

So it has been a little like Christmas at my house.  I have won a couple of giveaways on blogs and the goods came in.  I just wanted to share them because they were such fantastic items:

2 cookbooks and a spatula from Jacqueline at The Dusty Baker (i.e. the gluten free goddess)

A gorgeous hand carved cutting board from Camille at My Fudo (this quickly has become my favorite)

Well I just wanted to give a quick shout out to those two ladies and their awesome giveaways. 

Feeling good about getting these things has made me decide that today should start a giveaway as well from My Naturally Frugal Family.

And what am I giving away you ask?

How would you like 32 oz of Tropical Traditions Virgin Coconut Oil?

I have had the pleasure of reviewing Tropical Traditions coconut oil and I have to say I love the way it performs.

I have been doing a lot of baking since Thanksgiving and for my baked goods (cookies, cakes, and pies) I have been substituting coconut oil for vegetable.

Most recently I made my vegan banana bread in muffin form and used the coconut oil.

To me it seems that the muffins were a bit moister.

Now in this post here I put up one of my all time favorite snacks which is a toasted peanut and coconut butter sandwich.  Do you know that Tropical Traditions makes that product? 

So if you didn't want to whip it up you can get theirs ready made.

I must say the large size canister really does last a long time and the price is right.

Tropical Traditions does a great job of offering deals and coupons on their goods.

But don't just take it from me check it out for yourself.

Special Price! - 2 pints - Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil 16 oz. - Buy 1 get 1 FREE!



Disclaimer: Tropical Traditions provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product.

Now on to what you have been waiting for...The Giveaway.

To enter use the Rafflecopter below and I will select a winner in my post on Tuesday (December 20th).

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Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Banana Bread

That is a mouthful to say and when you try this bread you will want to get a mouthful.

I have been thinking about banana bread a lot, as it is a popular snack/breakfast/after lunch/after dinner/anytime snack at my house.

I make mine healthier, at least from my perspective, by making it vegan (recipe here).

However I thought there has to be a better...sort of dessert version that I could put together.

I love chocolate (more then just about anything) and the combination with peanut butter is often quite heavenly (yes we are still talking about food).  So I continued with this line of thought and decided I could eat those two things with bananas and have an excuse to have chocolate for breakfast.

Welcome the birth of Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Banana Bread.

How do you make this deliciousness?  It is stupendously easy.

Ingredients

3 medium bananas
1 C unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 C cocoa
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 flax egg
1/4 C peanut butter melted
3/4 C sugar
1/4 C chocolate chips
1/4 C peanut butter chips

For starters get your flax egg prepared by combining 1 Tbsp ground flax meal and 3 Tbsp water. Whisk the ingredients together and allow to thicken.

In a separate bowl place your bananas, flour, cocoa, baking soda, melted peanut butter, and sugar.  Smoosh (yes that is a technical term) everything together with a potato masher.  I find the potato masher is a quick and easy tool to use so that you can combine everything in one bowl (less mess and less to clean up later).

Add your flax egg and continue to smoosh until all ingredients are combined. 

Stir in your chocolate and peanut butter chips. 

Pour mixture into greased bread pan and cook at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes.

Allow to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before you try removing it (less chance of breakage)

And voila c'est magnifique (French for perfection).

Cut a slice and eat it plain as I did.  Look at all of the yummy melted peanut butter and the gooey chocolate chips.

If you want to kick up the peanut butter factor a notch you can top this with a slather of peanut butter for ultimate enjoyment (plus extra protein).

Be sure to enter my first ever giveaway here.  You have the chance to win this beautiful necklace from Ecolissa, a fair trade item, made by the women of Uganda who are part of Project Have Hope.

Get the Ingredients for My Recipe from Swanson Health Products:

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CSA Haul and Updated Banana Split

On Friday's we head over to Faucette Farms to pick up our bounty from their CSA (Community Supported Agriculture).

WHOA!

Yet another wonderful week in which I feel we got TONS of food for the money.

That watermelon is bigger then any I have ever seen before at about 2.5 feet long.

We were lucky to still get some peaches (a recipe with them coming tomorrow!!!) and some apples (a recipe with those the day after tomorrow!!).

My favorite item in our bag were these tomatoes

Those tiny ones in the back are the best snack food.  They are about the size of a blueberry and you can just pop them in your mouth and go.

Speaking of snacks my children LOVE snacks, whole meals not so much, but mention "snack" and they are on board for whatever you are serving...hence my new favorite snack.

Aften dinner last night the kids wanted dessert and my husband mentioned banana splits...but we don't have any type of ice cream.

So to avoid going to the grocery story and spending money we didn't need to spend I decided to feed the kids these...

Cut in half and topped with this...

Nutella!!!

In a sandwich bag I placed a handful of animal crackers and crushed them with a meat mallet

The poor meat mallet hasn't gotten much of a workout since I gave up meat, but it did turn those animal crackers into this

A nice fine crunchy middle for my banana treat.

Put the banana halves back together and serve

My husband preferred to have his topped with peanut butter, animal crackers, and chocolate chips

Both very yummy and healthy alternatives to the traditional banana split.



I didn't blog this weekend, I know "BAD" Rachel, but I did want to share the items that were removed for Operation Declutter My House:

Saturday, Day 5:

Sunday (we decided to go big and to Goodwill), Day 6:

9 coffee mugs (that's alot for two people who don't drink coffee)



model train



bag of clothing and some running shoes that I have always hated

For today I am have removed this toy which provided hours of fun for my boys (Day 7):

My First Leap Pad



I hope you all have a wonderful Monday and come back tomorrow for a delicious and refreshing peach treat.

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Hidden Inspiration

Yesterday my children we craving something sweet, and I am ashamed to say I only had chocolate chips on hand (yeah I know they are delicious, but not quite what the kiddos wanted).

So mulling things over in my head and trying to figure out what I wanted to make my husband says "Hey peanut butter banana cookies."  I thought maybe he was having a stroke, but no he was just reading the side of the banana bag.

Sidebar:  For purposes of saving money when I can I LOVE to purchase the big bags of "ripe" bananas from the produce section.  As luck would have it Lowes had organic bananas for $0.39 a lb (for $2.00 I got two of these large bags, one of which is currently in my freezer).

This is the side of the bag:

In case you can't read it here are the ingredients:

1 1/2 C all purpose unbleached flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 small banana (1/2 C)
1/3 C firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 C Earth Balance (softened)
1/4 C Organic smooth peanut butter (you can use crunchy...but I didn't have any handy)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

* for egg substitutes you can use a flax egg (directions here) or you can also take a tablespoon of silken tofu, whipped by hand.

Add all of the ingredients to a bowl

Mix these together, you can use a hand mixer if you like, I prefer a potato masher.

Once combined form into 1 inch balls by hand and place on baking sheet (covered in parchment paper or greased with cooking spray)

Take a fork and dips the tines in granulated sugar and make a lattice pattern on top of each cookie to flatten them out

Bake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees

These are not overly peanut buttery cookies.  I may have to play with the ratio of peanut butter in the future and possibly throw in some of those chocolate chips that I always have around.
For now though this is tasty and healthy little snack for anyone ages 1-100 (can't give peanut butter to children under 1).

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Vegan B-a-n-a-n-a Bread

The title of today's post is not a ploy to get you humming the obnoxious song "Hollaback Girl" by Gwen Stefani (why is it that she feels the need to spell banana about 20 times) nor am I searching for a reason to don my high school cheerleader uniform (much to the chagrin of my husband).

Instead I've used the clever banana spelling in hopes you won't be scared by the word "vegan" in the title...I promise this is the most delicious banana bread you will eat.

The below recipe is written to be used in a bundt pan, because with three kids I need to have plenty of this around, but if you need to make a loaf version please cut the recipe in half.

Vegan Banana Bread
3 c unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp cinnamon
2 flax eggs
3 large (4 medium) bananas
1 1/2 c sugar
1/2 c oil (or 1/4 c oil & 1/4 c unsweetened applesauce)
1/4 c brown sugar
2 tbsp Earth Balance
1/4 c quick oats

Preheat your oven to 350 and grease your bundt pan.

You will need to make your flax eggs first as it needs a couple of minutes to thicken.

To make the eggs combine 2 tbsp ground flax seed with 6 tbsp water.

Whisk together until flax and water are combined, then set aside.

Peel your bananas, break them into 3 to 4 pieces, and place in a large bowl.

On top of that place your flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and oil.

To combine the ingredients I prefer to use a potato mashed to mash the bananas while also combining everything, a multi tasking (plus less dishes to wash) .

Before everything is completely incorporated add in your flax eggs, and mix them in.

Melt the Earth Balance and combine it with your brown sugar.


Drizzle your brown sugar syrup in top of bundt pan and then sprinkle with oats.

Pour your batter on top and then place in oven.

You will need bake for 60 minutes

Once baking is complete allow cake to cool for 10 minutes before turning it out onto a plate.

Once cool cut and enjoy...who are we kidding there will no waiting for this to cool.

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