Banana Bread With The Boys

Fall has arrived. I fought it as hard as I could (I'm a die hard summer lovin' girl) but I can't fight it anymore. It's time for leggings, boots and cozy sweatshirts. With the arrival of fall I have also found myself cooking more. I'm not much of a cook, but I really want to improve, especially with so many little mouths to feed.

A few days ago the boys and I made some banana bread. They LOVE banana bread and often ask for it. I noticed our bananas were getting quite ripe, so I decided to use them up before they went bad. I pulled out my recipe book and invited the boys to help me. They love to assist with anything in the kitched, so they were all super excited. Of course, fighting immediately broke out since we only have two "kid" chairs in the kitchen for them to stand on and there are three of them. Once we got that all straightened out, were were ready to roll!

They helped measure ingredients, mash bananas, and break the eggs. They didn't get any shells in the mix, so that is an improvement! We mixed the dry ingredients, mixed the wet ingredients, then added them together and mixed everything up. I surprised them by adding some chocolate chips to the mix at the end. Pour, bake, and viola - healthy banana bread with a little treat inside. You can get our recipe and see how we substitue healthy ingredients for things like sugar and flour here.

As we began to clean up, I reached up to put the newly opened bottle of vanilla in the cabinet. Since I am vertically challenged (AKA super short) I accidentally bumped the shelf and dropped the bottle. The top promptly broke and vanilla went everywhere. I herded the kids out of the kitchen, wiped the vanilla and did a quick steam mop session to make sure the floor wouldn't be all sticky.

All in all it was a great time with the boys. We baked together, they got a yummy treat, and my kitchen had a lovely vanilla aroma for the rest of the day.