Starbucks Banana Walnut Bread with Healthy Changes

I was craving Banana bread one day so I searched for a good recipe. I happened to come across the actual recipe that Starbucks uses! I was surprised to see that it was pretty healthy to begin with and with just a few changes it would be PERFECT! I will give you the original Starbucks recipe and then show you the changes I made next to it! 

Also, let me tell you this is the PERFECT recipe.... So moist!

Starbucks Banana Walnut Bread

• 2 Cups flour (I used whole wheat but you can use what ever you want here. I just suggest not using white!....For gluten free use buckwheat)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 egg (for vegan you can use applesauce or flax meal)
• 1 1/8 cup sugar ( I used 1/2 cup of 100% Maple Syrup. You can also use other sweeteners but you really don't need as much as they use in original recipe. The bananas really help to sweeten!)
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used Coconut oil)
• 2 Tbsp buttermilk (I used regular milk or you could also used another milk substitute)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 large ripe bananas-mashed
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts for inside the bread
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts for on top
• *Optional*three large handfuls of dark chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a loaf pan.

Mash your bananas and walnuts in ziplock bags. Then set aside.

If you have kids helping you, this is a fun job to give them!

 Stir together flour, baking soda, and salt....set aside.

Mix egg, sweetener, and oil until combined.

   

 Add the flour mixture and blend!

 Then add the milk, vanilla, and mashed bananas and mix until combined!

   

 Fold in your chopped walnuts and *optional* dark chocolate chips. I didn't mention this above but I made this recipe a few times already because it's THAT good!!!!! One time I added a half cup of chopped spinach, that I ran through the food processor, and it didn't change the taste of the bread! Just simply added nutrition! However, you could see green specks.... letting you know if you have a REALLY picky eater! 

I highly recommend adding1/2 cup of some kind of veggie puree to this recipe!

 Add to your bread pan, top with remaining walnuts, and bake 45-60 minutes, until toothpick inserted into the center comes out pretty clean!

 The bread tastes the BEST if you let it sit just to cool for 10 minutes and then serve warm! 

SOOOOO YUMMY!!!! However, still good to eat the next day! 

 When you cut this bread up in thick slices, it LOOKS just like you bought them at Starbucks but you don't have to pay 2 bucks a piece! =)

Our Trip to California

Well, It has been over a month since I last posted! I feel like I need to explain where I've been! I found a GREAT deal to take a trip to California, just me and my three kids! Let me just say, I LOVE SOUTHWEST airlines! I signed up to get emails of their deals. If you don't care much about the dates of travel, it is well worth checking out their flight deals! I got three tickets for $500! 

Let me say after returning from this almost three week trip, I have a new respect for single parents! I braved, with lots of prayer, traveling by myself with 3 kids! I will have to say that my babies are GREAT travelers and I had no huge problems with them along the way. 

However, once we were in California, I had to deal with my little 8 month old crawling everywhere and trying to eat all kinds of things from the ground, the planning of fun activities and meeting of friends, and all the while schooling my first grader since we were taking such a long trip. I literally had NO TIME to blog! 

We still had lots of fun in the sun and I couldn't have picked a better time to be away from our home in Kansas! There were TWO huge snow storms while we were gone, both leaving us with over 12 inches of snow! Here is a picture of our home from after the first storm!

All the while we were in shorts and tank tops playing outside!

   

One awesome thing is my Mom and Dads house is close to an ice cream AND a doughnut shop so we took MANY walks for treats! Below is a picture of B and K eating ice cream!

 We also took a trip to Venice Beach with my brother! Garren kept trying to EAT the sand!

Brenden and Keaten made SAND angels while there friends in KS were making SNOW angels!

 We took a ride on the Metro, which we call the "Train". It's always a fun way to travel and there is nothing like it where we live! Here is a picture of Brenden on the tracks!

Here are a few pictures of our MANY trips to different parks!

While we were on our trip, we had a little bit of sickness going around! I couldn't pass up the chance at letting you all know one of my tricks when sickness hits! Trader Joe's now has FRESH PEELED GARLIC separated into five small vacuum sealed packs in this package for $1.99. Did you know that Garlic is a natural antibiotic? However, unlike antibiotics which kills off ALL of the bacteria in your body, garlic only kills off the bad bacteria leaving the good bacteria still in your gut! So grab as much garlic as you can handle, it's pretty harsh if you haven't tried it before, and chew it down raw! I'm telling you it really helps! I never got sick around everyone else because I kept the garlic coming! =) 

***TIP*** If you have to take an antibiotic for some reason in the future, be sure and take a good strong Probiotic after your dose is over to rebuild the good bacteria in your body. Otherwise, you will be more susceptible to getting sick again!

 Lastly, I wanted to share something when traveling/flying with children! If you aren't rushing off after your flight is over, take the time to ask the stewardess if your children can check out the cockpit! They normally have enough time to let your child sit in the pilot's seat and show them a few things! In our case, the pilot let both of my kids sit down and he explained a whole bunch of things! I think the kids were sitting there for about 5 minutes! It was a great experience for them!

Flower Lollipop Valentines

These cute Flower Lollipop Valentines were inexpensive and fun to make!

We got most of the supplies at the dollar store.  

Here is what you need:

• Lollipops
• Small plastic cups
• Styrofoam 
• foil
• paint 
• paper
• hot glue
• Mod Podge

First decide what color you want to paint your cups, then have your kids paint the inside.

 I would choose colors that blend well together. Once painted, let the cups dry.

 Cut the foam into chunks so that they fit inside the plastic cups!

 Put a little dot of hot glue in the bottom to keep the Styrofoam in place.

     

 Rip apart small squares of foil. Crumple them to fit into the top of the cup above the Styrofoam.

Dab a little hot glue to keep the foil in place.

   

Get some green paper 8 1/2 X 11 and fold it in half lengthwise. Cut down that fold. Then fold those two pieces in half lengthwise. You are going to draw a leaf shape which ends on the folded side so when you cut out the shape you will have a leaf shape that can be wrapped around the stick of the lollipop.

      

Once you have all of your leaves cut out, have your child write his friends names on one side!

   

Your child could either write their name on the other side of the leave or you can do what I did and print out "From______" and then Mod Podge it to the cup.

      

Once the names have dried, stick your Lollipops into the cup. 

Then take your leave, put the lollipop stick in the fold, paint with Mod Podge, push the leaves together, and then let dry.

The Mod Podge will hold the leaf in place on the lollipop stick!

   

There you have it! A cute, simple, and fun Valentine to make with your kids that their friends will love! 

I wanted to add what Brenden is giving his teacher! 

Starbucks has these new reusable cups for a dollar. If you bring the cup into Starbucks, you get 10 cents off your drink!

We put a gift card and a biscotti inside the cup!

He wrote on the card, "I like you a Latte".

Lastly, my kids have been eyeing these cute little peas in a pod dolls at the Disney Store. They are from Toy Story 3.  They are pretty cool because they are like three soft balls with cute faces that zip up into the soft pod. Even a baby would love to play with them! What makes it even better is that Disney Store has all of their dolls buy one get one free right now! 

We are giving our kids each a sweet pea doll with a note on it that says, "You are our little sweet pea! Our pod wouldn't be complete without you! We love you! Happy Valentines Day." 

I hope these ideas help inspire you to find a fun way to tell someone you care about them and that they are special in your life. 

Valentines Candy Bracelets

This is such a fun sweet idea to give to the ones you love for Valentines Day OR any day to make someone feel special!!! It could even be a sweet surprise in your child's lunch at school! These bracelets  could be made with many different treats! I chose three different types of valentine candies as examples (Tootsie Rolls, Gum Balls, and Jelly Beans).

There are also other options if you want to stay away from artificial dyes. Jelly Belly has Snapple jelly beans that are colored with real fruit....It's still sugar but a little bit better choice! =)

 Now, the reason it's great I did this first is so I can tell you the reality of this project. This is more of an adult or older child project. I thought it was going to be a lot easier than it was. 

At first I started out with a LARGE needle so I could thread elastic string through it and so my kids could hold onto it better. The needle and elastic were so thick that there was NO WAY a child could do it!

 I changed things up a bit so my 4 year old could get involved! I got out a small sewing needle and dental floss (very thin AND will hold up a lot better than thread)! I was nervous about the small needle but my daughter did well after I talked to her about being careful! Of course the elastic string bracelets are easier to get on and off but its just way to much trouble to make them with it! Anyways, once a child gets a hold of one of these, I'm sure they wont be wearing them long before they GOBBLE them up! =)

If you are going to make a bracelet out of jelly beans, they are sticky when you poke the needle through. The needle needs to be wiped every other bean because of sticky residue. My 7 year old could do the jelly beans by himself but my 4 year old daughter needed help. I would say, the best way to involve a younger child would be to first take a LARGE sewing needle and poke holes through your gum balls. I say gum balls because there is no sticky residue. When you do this it makes them like beads and they are very easy to thread. 

It was hardest to string the Tootsie Rolls because I did it lengthwise. I figured if I did it the other way you would need TOO MANY to make one bracelet! If you want to string the Tootsie Rolls lengthwise its more of an adult project and you will need a long large needle. However, a child should be able to string through the center of tootsie rolls with a smaller needle!

 Success with gum balls! She did it all by herself! 

Once you are done double knot the floss together and make sure you have about an inch excess floss after the bracelet is tied!

No matter what candy you choose, you will have to make a tassel for your bracelet! I chose a heart shape because these are for Valentines day but you can really do this in any shape you want! Cut these shapes out of nice scrapbook paper. Make one a little larger than the other. Your smaller shape will be where you write your saying so make sure its large enough that you have enough space to write on it. 

 Next, dab a little hot glue in between the two sheets of paper right on top of your excess floss.

Press you smaller shape on top of the hot glue!

   

 Cut off the extra floss that is hanging out of the bottom from between the paper shapes after the hot glue drys!

Then write your cute saying on the smaller shape.

 This next step is optional! I sealed my heart tassels with sparkle Mod Podge!

 Paint your Mod Podge on the tassels and let them dry. Be careful not to touch the candy when painting!

  

While you are waiting for your Mod Podge to dry, you can make envelopes for your bracelets! You have to put these bracelets in something if you are going to hand them out to people because no one wants to eat candy that has been all over the place!!! Unless you are using candy with the wrapper still on, like Tootsie Rolls! 

I wanted to have a somewhat see-through envelope so I used vellum paper. Check out the cute, do it yourself, Heart envelope idea I found on Forty Weeks and Then Some. It's so simple and a lot cheaper than buying a bunch of envelopes! 

   

 I love the glittery seal the Mod Podge gives the Heart tassel!

I thought I would give you a few more ideas for your candy bracelet saying.

• GUM BALLS~ "I CHEWS you" or "You BLOW me away"
• TOOTSIE ROLLS~ "I like the way you ROLL" or "ROLL with me toots"
• JELLY BEANS~ "BEAN mine" or "Thanks for BEAN my friend"

One idea I though of after doing this project with my kids was to make a bracelet out of any kind of gummies! Your child should be able to string their own because gummies don't have a hard shell around them like jelly beans and gum balls have! 

• GUMMIES~ "GUMMY a hug"

 Happy Valentines Day!