Oh this week. How full and crazy and unpredictable you were.

At the beginning of every week – usually Sunday or Monday – I sit down with my beloved planner and think about how we are going to fill our days. Usually with most of the same old routine, but with a few small adventures here and there to keep things exciting. I was really ready to get back to our normal grind after taking last week to volunteer for our parish VBS + tend to a sick babe later on in the week. On the agenda for the coming 7-day spread were bootcamp classes, swim lessons, and a couple of cousin play dates. Busy, but simple…or at least I thought it would be. Little did I know that our bout with Roseola would leave me with an overtired and irritable toddler (even though we were way past our feverish days and the rash was starting to disappear), a surprise (slow) leak from our air conditioning unit that resulted in a long night on Tuesday and floors being ripped up in the morning on Wednesday, and our toddler having to sleep in the office for the time being. Top all of that off with the regularly scheduled stresses of daily life and this week was more than a doozy. This week was by far an exception when it comes to crazy in our home but it’s weeks like this that make me fall back on my most trusted recipes. The ones that I can replicate without missing a beat. The recipes that always bring a smile to the faces of my husband and my sweet girl no matter how exhausted we may all be at the end of the day.

One of my favorite treats to make during an unexpectedly crazy, hectic week is my banana bread. I found a pretty solid recipe a couple of years ago while browsing through Pinterest and combined it with a recipe I had been using from a hand-me-down cookbook. I’ve honestly gone to the store to get bananas only so they could sit on our kitchen counter a few days and I can make this bread. Lately I have been making muffins because they are the perfect size for our little miss to eat for breakfast and an easy afternoon snack for the both of us. They freeze well and will last us for a solid two weeks and we never really tire of them. This recipe is also easy to tweak to your hearts content. I’ve added (more often than not) mini chocolate chips, dried cranberries, and dried blueberries. I have also tried different flavors of greek yogurt in the mix like banana, vanilla, and honey but our favorite is still plain.

I hope you are as bananas for these muffins/bread as we are at our house! (Sorry I just really couldn’t help myself #parentjokes.)

Recipe: Back Pocket Banana Bread

Ingredients: 

• 1.5 c flour (I use all purpose white but have used whole wheat and they are just as good)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 c steel cut oats/rolled oats (I usually use whatever oatmeal we have on hand)
• 1/2 c mix-ins of your choosing (chocolate chips are our go to)
• pinch of salt
• 1.5 tsp cinnamon
• 3/4 c sugar
• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 large egg + 1 large egg white lightly beaten
• 1 cup mashed bananas (2 medium bananas)
• 1 container of plain greek yogurt (I prefer 2% Fage, but I have also used Honey flavored Chobani and Vanilla bean Siggis)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

Instructions: 

1. Mash bananas using a fork or a potato masher – you want to make sure that there are as few chunks as possible and that it is relatively smooth.
2. Add in your liquid ingredients: coconut oil, eggs, yogurt, and vanilla and whisk together with bananas.
3. Once all liquid ingredients are completely combined whisk in sugar.
4. Once sugar is completely combined whisk in salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon.
5. Once the previous dry ingredients are completely combined whisk in flour 1/4 of a cup at a time. I find that by adding in smaller amounts of the flour at a time I end up having a more consistent batter.
6. Fold in oats + chocolate chips into batter with a spatula.
7. Spoon batter into a lined muffin tin or loaf pan.
8. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
   1. Muffin cook time: 30 minutes
   2. Bread loaf cook time: 1 hour – 1 hour 10 minutes

Like I said before, this recipe is so simple and never lets me down in the wake of craziness! I hope you enjoy.

Happy eating!