Great weekend

The last weekend in June was a great one for us, made even better by the fact that I didn't have much to do with making it that way.  On Friday, DH was off, Nanny K was with us, and I had to return to work, but only for a few hours.  DH was kind enough to take LO to the local indoor pool which is more like an indoor water park perfect for toddlers. NB stayed with Nanny K, so LO and DH were able to meet me for lunch.  After lunch, the boys returned home while I ran a couple of errands, then hurried home myself.

On Saturday Grams came to visit.  As soon as I told LO she was coming, his first question was "can I cook with her?'  It seems LO has learned that cooking and Grams go hand-in-hand.  Fortunately I had some over-ripe bananas and a recipe for "healthy" banana bread I wanted to try.  We weren't able to cook on Saturday because NB was having a tough nap day, but Sunday morning we made it a priority. Except we ran out of honey, so we improvised.  While they were getting ingredients together, DH noticed the thermostat looked broken.  He rushed off to Lowe's, while LO and Grams made the batter. LO was excellent at smashing bananas, and excellent at tasting all the ingredients.  We dared not turn on the oven though, so it sat in the fridge for a little while.  This was torture for LO who did not understand why we stopped short of baking the bread.  Luckily DH has skills and returned quickly to install the new thermostat. When Grams opened the oven to show LO the bread was finally done he said "What did you do it?"  Maybe he liked the look of the batter better?  He was obviously over that as he shared a token slice with Grams before she had to leave and he went to bed.  He also asked for a slice of "what I made with Grams" every day for snack until it was gone.  It was really very good.  Not too sweet or too banana-y.  (Though I might could have used a few more bananas for my taste)

Here, mostly for posterity, is the recipe for Gram's and LO's banana bread: (adapted from this recipe)

Dry:

4 cups wheat flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4-1/2 tsp nutmeg

Wet:

2+ tsp vanilla 

4 eggs

1/3 cup honey (originally 3/4 c honey, so 1 ½ c when doubled )

2/3 cup brown sugar (originally none)

6-7 bananas - ripe and mashed (we measured it as 2 cups mashed)

Last:

1/2 c nuts – chopped (we only put nuts in one loaf)

Mix dry ingredients and set aside.  In another bowl, mix eggs, vanilla, honey, brown sugar, mashed bananas.....add nuts if desired.  Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients just until all is wet.  Pour into two or three loaf pans and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 50 - 60 minutes depending on how much you put in each pan.  We used 3 pans and it was done in 50 mins.

Check out that disgusting looking banana.  It could only be good in bread.

LO doesn't have an apron, so he wears an old t-shirt of mine held on by chip clips.

I dare say the baking was LO's favorite part of the weekend.  My favorite part of the weekend, aside from seeing my boys happy and having an extra set of hands around, was getting to have a date with DH.  My hairdresser randomly gave me a gift certificate for a restaurant I mentioned in passing to her.  She had had it for a year, and said she'd never use it.  I encouraged her to go, but she insisted, so I graciously accepted.   What a treat for us to finally have a night out together again, but to have Grams babysit, and have a large part of our dinner paid for, well those were icing on the cake!