Cooking Thursday: An Easy Banana Recipe & Summery Goodness

 Hey Friends!

How are you this lovely Thursday? 

It's a lovely day in the northwoods - sunny and breezy and mild. 

We had some recent summer fun with Annie's bf, Kris ... we went on a pontoon ride, played cornhole ("bags"), played board games, had treats and just soaked up the time with him. He had to head back to FL early this morning. And my Annie heads back there to college next week (hold me please 😢) 

But on a happier note, I thought I'd share a few cooking related things with you. 

First of all, here is some summery goodness for you. 

We have been able to pick some cukes and lettuce from our garden. We grilled burgers the other night along with some veggies skewers.  I made a big salad with some of our garden veggies. And we had also picked up some fresh sweet corn and grilled that up too. We also had some summer melon and cherries, and some fun chips. It sure was a yummy dinner!  

But what I really wanted to share with you today is the brand for these mixes I found when I did my monthly order through Thrive Market. If you are not familiar with Thrive - it's an app/subscription I have been using for years. It's a yearly fee and then you have access to tons of products that need to fit Thrive Market's standards (organic, healthier, etc) They have everything from frozen food, pantry things and snacks...to beverages, makeup and cleaning products. I find some of the best goodies on there and it all gets shipped to my door. I don't have to order every month - just when I want to. 

I found these mixes that are a wonderful solution for using up your bananas that are going bad. You add mashed banana and a few other ingredients and you can make a quick bread or muffins. The base is gluten-free oat flour. I had gotten the cinnamon roll one and the fudge brownie one. The other day I made the cinnamon roll one and you can have the option of what ingredients you want to add (see the pic with the back of the package below). I used healthier ingredients and made mine with mashed banana, coconut oil, and protein milk. Also just a tbsp of maple syrup (there is a tiny bit of brown sugar in the mix). They turned out SO good!! They truly tasted so much like cinnamon roll and they weren't too dense - just moist and fluffy. I think the little white chips in them gave them the cinnamon roll flavor. The kids loved them! I think Matt & I each only had one and there's only 2 left. Lol 

They are only about 100 calories per muffin or slice of bread. I think next time I'll make the fudge brownie one in a loaf pan. I highly recommend this mix - great to keep on hand for when you want to use up bananas. 

*And I am not affiliated with Thrive Market or the Go Nanas mixes or receive anything from them. Just sharing something we found and loved.

I feel like this is me. I am making out my grocery list and there are things I want to grill and summer fruit I want to get etc. But it's also been cooler here at night (50's and 60's) and Annie is talking back to school things - and I did pick up a few fun Autumn things recently. So basically my mood keeps switching 😂:

Blessings to you 

xoxo

Cooking Thursday: Apple Blueberry Crumble

 

Hey Friends!

Happy Thursday to you. The sun is shining in the northwoods and I'm going to tend my flowers soon and cut a pretty bouquet with all that's blooming here. 

I hope the sun is shining where you are and you are getting ready for fun plans for the weekend ahead!

Summer weekends call for yummy fruity treats, don't ya think?

So today I thought I'd share this recent apple blueberry crumble recipe I found and baked up. My Uncle had given us some wild blueberries he had picked last year and froze and I thought I should use some of them up. So I made this dessert for Father's Day for my Dad & Matt. It was so good warm with some vanilla bean ice cream. 

I forgot to get a photo after it was baked but here's kind of the vibe:

It was a pretty easy and straightforward crumble recipe I found at the site jamjarkitchen.com

You toss some sliced apples and blueberries with some sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, flour etc Then place in a greased baking dish.

Then make the crumble part with oats, sugar, flour and butter and put on top of the fruit and bake until golden and bubbling.

I used the frozen bluberries I had and didn't even thaw them. I followed the recipe as it is and it was so delish! 😋 Here is the recipe below. This combo was really good together. If you give a try I hope you enjoy it. 💗

To see the flowers I picked scroll to the bottom :) 

Thought you might want to see the bouquet I cut. My peonies are popping open like crazy. My lilac shrub finally bloomed! My bleeding hearts are on their way out but I still picked a few for the bouquet. And I added some wild queen Anne's lace (really a weed) growing along our deck. It all made for a lovely early summer bouquet in my opinion. 

Blessings to you 🌸

Wordless Wednesday

 

Wednesday Wonder: This Date Each Year

 

Hello All!

Happy mid week to you. 

Thank you so much for all of the kind comments on my last post for Aaron's bday wishes, and for Annie headed back to college. Big days for both of my kiddos and I'm so proud of them. :) 

You also sweetly commented about some of the food I shared and I will share some recipes tomorrow!

But today I thought I'd share a few pics on this date over the past 5 years. I find it such a neat thing about smart phones... that it's so easy to look back at a glance over the past years and all the photos are labeled by dates. 

So here are the photos I took on this same date over the past few years:

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

Do you ever look back at the pics in your phone like that? Just a glance back by date? 

You can tell some things never change for me - loving the bay, flowers, kiddos, and Ruby and Bubba. Lol 

Thanks for going down this memory lane with me! 

xoxo

Wordless Wednesday

 

Happy Homemaker Monday

Happy Monday my Friends!

Well we've marched straight into August and it already feels like another speedy month. 

We continue to try to soak up the joys of summer each day...and we spent the weekend up at the lake cottage with Matt's folks. Time at the lake  always slows time a bit. So that was wonderful. 😊 

Did you have a lovely weekend? I sure hope so. 💗

We have had horrible hazy days from smoke due to the wildfires in Canada. It's very far stretching throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin - so we have it here and at the lake. So up at the cottage we mainly hibernated inside and didn't get any pontoon time in...so that was a bummer. But time with his folks is always fun and we chatted lots, played cards and games, and watched movies. We had a living room picnic Saturday night and watched Happy Gilmore and Happy Gilmore 2 - which was cute and funny btw, but we also love golf. We had a sort of charcuterie spread in the dining room and loaded our plates and sat in the living room and watched the movies. I highly recommend that, it was great!

But now all too soon it's back to a new week. It looks like kind of a rainy one too. Might be more hibernation inside in my future. Lol 

 

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

1/2 an apple cinnamon bagel, iced coffee

ON MY TO DO LIST THIS WEEK:

some paperwork, items for a special surprise party coming up (more on that in the future), work on some of Annie college stuff, errands, groceries later this week, hospice work

THINKING ABOUT:  

some fun events coming up and getting to see relatives, always a fun part of summer 💛☀️ 

 

THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY:

that feeling when the laundry is caught up :) 

CURRENTLY READING

I think after I'm done with all my current mags  I may dive into Summer at Little Beach Street Bakery  by Jenny Colgan

ON THE TV TODAY:

 Americas Got Talent, And Just Like That, The Gilded Age, The Office, Big Brother,The Last Kingdom, American Pickers, The Pitt (I'm watching this one and love it)

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

    MONDAY - breakfast for dinner (always an Annie fave)

TUESDAY - taco salads we didn't do last week

WEDNESDAY - Asian soup dumplings with chili crunch, veggies

THURSDAY - 

FRIDAY - 

*Not sure about the rest of the week as we will need groceries. But thinking a veggie lasagna (another thing Annie would love), possibly a lemon chicken stir fry? 

TO RELAX THIS WEEK I WILL:

read, hang with my girl, play games

TIPS OR SOMETHING TO SHARE:

I need to try this for Ruby!

FROM THE CAMERA:

The sunsets and moon rises have been so weird due to the smoke from the wildfires:

The lilies have still been so pretty and garden going strong. And still lots of bunnies in the yard every single day:

Headed to the lake and Ruby was all cleaned up for the occasion. The peaches have been so good - I made a cobbler for the weekend and I'll share that recipe soon :) 

And even though I adore summer days and that my Annie is still here and basically all the summer goodness...you who know me well, know that this is in the back of my mind all through August. I LOVE Fall nights out on the deck by the fire with a cozy blanket on my lap sipping a warm drink. Soon...not yet, but soon. 🍁

PRAYER LIST:

 For an end to the conflicts all over the world and anyone living in war & fear. For peace and unity in this country, especially from hate and shootings or violence.  For anyone sick, suffering, in pain, fear, loneliness etc ... that God bring them comfort and peace.  For the wildfires to be put out and for anyone suffering from natural disasters.

For Christ's Light and Love to cast out the darkness everywhere and help the world find its way. 🙏🏻

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

I wish you all a beautiful week ahead! 

I'm sharing this with Sandra of Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday.