Bread Maker Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

A long time ago, David and I bought a bread maker at Goodwill for 5 dollars. We were lucky enough to find the manual online. We have used it a handful of times since then. This morning, I made the chocolate chip banana bread recipe for the first time.

It's a rather simple recipe and I LOVE that bread makers do all the work for you. I was able to put it all together in less than 10 minutes, which is good since that is when baby woke up from her nap.

It tastes really great and of course, the bread maker bakes it to perfection. My only problem is the chocolate chips. I mixed them well into the batter myself and then the bread maker also mixes and kneads the whole thing. Well, the majority of the chocolate chips ended up all on one side so you either get bread or you get chocolate chips. I am not sure if this is a fluke thing or if this always happens with chocolate chips. I am willing to try it again next time though.

For those of you interested, here is the recipe

• 3 medium bananas, mashed (we used ones we had frozen and then thawed)
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 3 tablespoons sour milk (1 tablespoon vinegar, 2 tablespoons milk)
• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup nuts (optional, I left ours out)
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Measure banana, milk, eggs, and butter into bread pan. In a medium mixing bowl, combine remaining ingredients, stir together. Add to bread pan.

Select Quick Bread setting. Press Start/Stop. When unit signals and the display reads 0:00, press Start/Stop. Remove bread.

I will mention our bread maker is a Regal KitchenPro. 

Time to Start the Garden

Where we live, it is time (okay, about a week late) to start planting things indoors so they are ready to be replanted when we thaw out. We did this last year with our broccoli and cherry tomatoes but they never made it outside. Our broccoli completely died and our tomatoes grew pretty well (surprisingly) inside. This was probably because last winter, we had our house set at 55 degrees and it was too cold for the vegetables but with a baby this year, we've had to bump it up.

In addition to the baby increase, we also bought an indoor greenhouse (only ten dollars at Menards when it was on sale). Hopefully between these two things, our garden has a fighting chance this year. We've also been composting our egg shells and banana peels, which are best for the soil (depending on what you're growing).

We have lots of seeds to plant this year and we are hoping to actually have fruits and vegetables this year so we can buy less produce at the store. It is a lot of work and you need to upkeep it every day but I think it is do-able.

Hopefully we find time this weekend to do our indoor plants!

Organizing the Master Closet

Our master closet is nice but rather small for a walk in (so I apologize for the lack of pictures. There's no room to stand to get a good picture of anything). It also doesn't help that one of our walls has a slant, making that part of the closet pretty much unusable.

We have a basic series of shelving in there with some higher up shelves for things like sleeping bags and luggage. All the lower shelves are used for clothing. Then we have a column of shelves, about a foot apart each, that are used for smaller things. We purchased baskets from the dollar store to help keep things organized for those shelves. One is full of my purses and little bags, one is for personal mementos that I don't want to display, etc. We also have a sliding pull out bar of hooks for belts and ties. That piece was rather pricey but I think worth it.

Today, I finally finished organizing the whole thing. Up until this point, we basically had just our clothes somewhat organized because we hadn't finished putting up all the shelves before we moved in.

My section of the closet is much more organized than David's--mostly because I am able to keep it that way. After laundry, with his stuff, he has a hard time sorting it back out. My categories are: short sleeve, long sleeve, sweaters, sweatshirts, jackets, and fancy (skirts, dresses, blouses). Within each category, I used to have everything color-coordinated but that got to be too much.

Some day, I would love it if our shoe rack could make it into the closet but for now, there's not a good spot for it and our bedroom is big enough to accommodate it without it being in the way too much.

I am very happy with the way it turned out today, especially because it has been so long coming. It has definitely been a process and now it's almost complete!

Ways to Get Your Baby to Sleep

Obviously, I am a new parent. My baby is less than 3 months old but you learn things as you go along. Every child is different but some tips I have found for getting my baby to go to sleep are:

• Simply put them in their crib (or wherever they normally sleep). We do this with our baby every time we notice her getting tired. She usually cries for a few minutes but shortly calms down. We also give her a pacifier and rub her tummy if she's not calming down. 
• Distract them from their tiredness. Now, I don't mean play with them. This tends to wind them up even more. I mean put on the radio, carry them around the house while pointing out things, or singing to them.
• Take them for a car ride. Up until about a week ago, without fail, our daughter would fall asleep during every single car ride. The city driving wasn't pleasant for her (she hated to stop at stop signs and red lights. Plus the different speeds really confused her) but she loved highway driving and would calm herself and fall asleep surprisingly quickly.
• Go for a stroller ride. Fresh air always wears kids out. 
• Hold them as if you were going to breastfeed (cradled in your arms, with one of their arms behind you, baby tilted towards you) and gently sway them. Our baby also likes if you pat her (somewhere near her butt but it could be a leg if you don't have access, depending on how you're holding her). This is also a good time to give them a pacifier (if you give them a pacifier---some parents don't). 
• If you know they are tired and have tried everything else (burp, feeding, diaper change), lay them in their crib and let them cry. This is really hard to do and I usually make David do it if it comes to that but sometimes, they just need to cry themselves to sleep. Also, sometimes if you let them cry for a few minutes and then you intervene (with a pacifier or rubbing their tummy), they'll calm down to that. 

This is all I can come up with for now but I hope these help. Sometimes the best answer is the most obvious but not what you think of when you're sleep deprived too. 

Baby Nap Time and Sleep

Ever since my mom left after baby was born, baby has been sleeping in a bouncer next to our bed at night. We also haven't really established any nap times and when she falls asleep, she falls asleep. At the doctor last week, we were told to try to move her to her crib since 2 months is the time to start making habits.

We weren't sure if it was because she should be sleeping in a crib or if she should sleep in her own room. After looking up what other people thought, a baby can stay in your room until you're all ready to move them to their own room. I've also heard that the SIDS foundation recommends leaving them in your room until 6 months.

We decided baby can stay in our room but we do need to establish a night time routine so she knows when it is bedtime. She gets a bath, although not every day, then gets a book read to her and we say her night time prayers and lay her down. Because she actually likes her crib for the most part, she ends up being laid down in her crib at first and then as the night goes on, she has the option to stay in our room after feeding.

Last night, she slept 8 hours and 45 minutes in her crib (between feedings, might I add...!!!). We have a monitor to hear her at night but I am still on edge all night, worrying about her. We have discussed setting up a web cam so I can see her all night too.

As for nap time, it is pretty easy to tell when she's tired (she's fussy but she's already been fed, burped, changed, etc). It's times like these I place her in her crib and she quickly calms down and falls asleep.

Of course, as your baby grows up, they need less naps (our baby takes 3-4 a day) and everyone's baby is different. I just thought I'd let you know what works for us.

I am finding it easier to get stuff done during her nap time instead of constantly needing a nap when she needs one but that could also be due to her sleeping longer at night. She can easily go 4 hours or more between feedings instead of 2.

I apologize if all this is boring but I hope someone finds it helpful.

Shrimp Spinach Stir Fry

Once again I was looking for a recipe to use up a bag of spinach. I was inspired by something David's mom made us the night before. It was a rice stir fry with chicken and vegetables. It was really good and a good starting point for our dinner last night.

Because brown rice takes 45 minutes to cook, I made it during the day while baby was sleeping to speed up the time it took to make dinner. I only used 1/3 dry (about 1 cup cooked).

Then at dinner time, I chopped (okay I had David chop) up half an onion and a handful of mushrooms. We already had chopped carrots and red bell pepper in the freezer so I added some of that too. I put it all in a large skillet on medium heat and cooked until the veggies started to melt (I put them in frozen). Then I added the entire bag of spinach and waited for it to wilt. While waiting, I started the shrimp on moist heat (bowl of warm-hot water, dump the shrimp in. Then de-tail). We decided to go with shrimp instead of chicken since our chicken would've been too much prep work for this quick dinner.

When the spinach was wilted, I added the shrimp and the rice to warm through. I also turned the heat down to low at this point. Then I added some garlic, paprika, and cumin. We had planned on adding coarse sea salt but our grinder wasn't working right.

It's so easy (especially if you get someone else to do the prep for you) and delicious! 5 vegetables in one simple dish. Of course you can change out anything. Shrimp could easily be left out entirely or substituted for a different protein. You can use white or brown rice, or even quinoa or couscous. And of course the vegetables and spices can vary too. This dish is very versatile!

Spinach Casserole and Leg Warmers

I am not sure if I've blogged about it before, but there is a really good casserole (can you tell I've been on a casserole kick lately?) with rice, cheese, broccoli, and cream of mushroom soup. Well, on Friday, we had leftover plain white rice and a bag of spinach to use up. After looking online, I found a recipe for the same thing as the broccoli rice casserole but instead of broccoli, you can substitute a whole bag of spinach! You simply saute it and add it to the casserole. The leftover rice also made this really quick since that took 20 minutes off the cook time! It's really good and hardly even tastes like spinach, considering how much is in there.

The other big thing from this weekend is that I have finished knitting my leg warmers! This was my first knitting project. Before this, I had only done some practice stitches. I needed to learn double pointed needles to complete this but it only takes knit and purl stitches.

The ribbing is knit one, purl one for an inch and a half (for me, that's about 11 rows). Then you knit,knit, knit for the desired length. For me, this was 73 rows. Then you rib again the same as the top ribbing. I knit really tight and wanted my bottom ribbing to be different than my top ribbing so I could tell the difference between the top and bottom (it doesn't really matter. It's just the style I like). To achieve this, I knitted the bottom ribbing tighter than the top.

Despite the picture only showing one, I promise you I made two.  So the right side shows the tighter ribbing. I think they turned out great! My yarn was 268 yards but I didn't use the whole thing. I'll have to find a small project to use the rest up. I plan on wearing these running with my capri leggings so maybe I will knit some other matching accessory.