I have gone bananas!!!

After the banana ice cream that i have made twice in the last 2 days.. I moved on to banana bread... I have the best recipe that my sweet friend who is also my cousin's girlfriend gave me... I hope she does not mind that I share it....
THE BEST BANANA BREAD

5 mashed bananas(which I love, that its mostly bananas)
1 c. sugar
1t. vanilla(i was out so i used almond.. and it was de-lish)
1/4 c water
mix that all up
then sift 2 c. whole wheat flour
1t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1 t. cinnamon
bake at 350 for 1 hr.
 this makes 2 loaves
I greased the pans heavily with olive oil since there is not any oil or butter in the batter and it made it yummy and kinda crispy.. which i loved

of course when I decided to make this delicious bread, I was out of whole wheat flour. so at 7am I had to grind some wheat in my kitchen aid(which is very noisy) and if my kids went to school it would have not been a problem, but since we are homeschoolers and my children are allowed to sleep in... then it was a bit of a problem... I had some sleepy kids staggering out of bed.. wondering what all the racket was about... they quickly changed there tune when they found out what I was making... yum yum!!

I still have loads of bananas, but i put them all in the freezer for future smoothies... I just love the Banana sale!! Have a great day monkeying around.

soft serve bananas and rock climbing

I just discovered a yummy treat... after our rock climbing adventure(pics to follow) we all needed something yummy. So, I was looking for inspiration on pinterest.. which always inspires me.. and found banana ice cream that I had pinned long ago, and since I had just bought a paper grocery bag full of ripe bananas for 99 cents at my grocery store... it was the perfect treat.

To make... just freeze a bunch of cut up bananas(makes it easier to ninja, if cut up)

Put in food processor or I used my NINJA... then add extras like p-butter cocoa, I added chocolate chips... and my kids loved it...EXCEPT my eldest child.. who despises bananas and if I even touch one he will ask me to wash my hand before touching anything else.... hopefully that will change.

I got the recipe from a pin that came from use real butter and she has all kinds of yummy looking stuff over there.

We also did some rock climbing this weekend... we are learning and having fun exploring...my kids LOVE it and say they want to do it every weekend. I was so sore from the first time, I never realized what a work out it can be..

here is the first weekend

then the kids started getting a little more daring...this is this last weekend

We are having fun with our new family hobby... its a great time to spend together out in nature and exploring( no computers, tvs, phones)...just us spending time together...love it!!

brewing nite

So I decided Friday nights should be brewing night. So tonight, I brewed up a batch of amber bock... I haven't made any beer in quite some time so hope all goes well.

so that should be done in a few weeks and now i really want to learn how to make Mead... that should be and experiment... i need to find some good recipes. With that I have been really wanting to make some honey lip gloss... and some honey cookies... ya know what I'm thinking... i think i really need to just get some bees... that is really something that i have always wanted to do... well definitely some more research... oh.. while i was making the amber bock... i also made some chicken for dinner

It was really good.. this photo is actually after we ate half of it.. we were so hungry.. I forgot to take a picture... and one more V-day photo of our heart pumpkin muffins.. that were de-lish..and turned out so cute...they were for our 2 days after Valentine home school party

Yum-Yum  have a yummy weekend!!

Cottonwood, Arizona

     Hope you all had a wonderful Valentines Day.. with  lots of love and... chocolate. I thankfully didn't because of course I would eat it all and that's just not good for my waistline...so... I used to live in Cottonwood Arizona, and I had always wished that the old town would be cute... it had so much potential.. and now someone just posted this youtube video and I'm just so excited...

Weekendzona..Verde valley

yeah...for Cottonwood. My good friend used to live right in old town, when it was not that cute,(so, of course, i had to send her a linky to this video, to show her the change, she lives on the east coast now) it was very different then, it was also about 18 years ago... so anyway.... have a looksee... to the new Cottonwood and Verde Valley.

Be my Valentine

We have been involved in some cool science experiments around here...the kids got some little science kits for Christmas and we are finally getting around to actually doing them... making jelly balls(Which the kids just LOVE playing with)... and crystal trees

And Happy Valentines Day to you all... we have been giving some Valentine LOVE around here as well.. heart pancakes for breakfast... Valentine chocolate and lots of valentine cards given to everyone including Chuck the dog.   Tonight... I am making some yummy chicken alfredo and ceaser salad and garlic bread... and maybe some lava cake for dessert... show the love today!!!

Not so healthy

So the Superbowl food was not so healthy... my sweet neighbor and friend gets bountiful baskets and had gotten a Mexican pack which consists of everything to make salsa and guacamole... which was not so bad... but then she gave me a ginormous bag of red white and blue corn tortillas... to make chips... so I spent and hour frying chips for all our guac and salsa....it was delicious but the chips were probably not so great for me....

We have been quite busy... went to the Arizona Science Center... which was really fun...I think I enjoyed it as much as the kids... lots to learn about weather, your body, leverage, pulleys, wheels... all sorts of fun was had by all.

Healthy Super Bowl Ideas

So I am on the hunt for some healthier football food. I am not a big football fan...but I do enjoy the food drinks and of course the Super Bowl commercials... so this year, since I am trying to eat better and lose some lbs. I don't want to overdo it...so far, i have found a yummy looking taco salad over at theyummylife.com and there is some yummy looking stuff over at forksoverknives and then i saw the yummy stuff of at hellobeautyblog and my mouth was watering... so many delicious food I can't wait for the big day!!

What are you all having for the big game day???? I will leave you, to think about that... and to look at this  beautiful Arizona sunset...