Fervor

Our weekend was a great one. Friday K and I went to playgroup and she had a great nap that allowed me to make a bunch of phone calls and make banana bread (great recipe follows) and half a batch of double chocolate cookies. The rest if the dough is frozen in portions so I can bake the cookies a few at a time before E comes home from school. C called and said he would be home really early. So I popped the roast chicken and potatoes in the oven so it would be ready by the time he got home at five. We let the chicken rest while we went for a nice long walk by the creek and explored the area on the other side and stopped at the park for a bit. K ran most of the way and worked up quite an appetite for dinner that was waiting when we got home. C gave K a bath and E and I went out to deliver flyers for the upcoming Mom and Tots fundraiser garage sale next weekend.

Saturday I got my eyebrows waxed and we went to St Lawrence market. We planned or menu for the week on the car ride there. Fish Cakes and salad, Baked Rigatoni with Italian Sausage, Portabello Mushrooms and Spinach, Lamb Tagine, Flank Steak, Sloppy Joes and left overs. We got everything we needed at the market-whole white fish for the fish cakes, sausage from the Sausage King, lamb stew meat and a bunch of beef bones to make a nice stock. We also head up to woodbridge where I got to shop for me! We came home and made the fish cakes and then went for another walk before dinner. K is getting really good at peddling her trike.

Sunday K "helped" clean up the gardens and weed the front lawn. We found 3 snails- well, one shell and two snails, that we watched for a while, fascinating. She coloured with side walk chalk and pushed the broom around. E made a good dent in his Treasure Island Book Report in a Bag and we all made dinner together as a family even K helped out.

All in all a very busy weekend which may explain why K fell asleep before she could close her book.

Cranberry Banana Oat Bread
not like your usual banana bread but everyone enjoyed it and I will definately make it again.
(www.wholefoodsmarket.com)

11/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup quick oats
1 TB baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
11/4 cups ripe mashed banana pulp (about 3 bananas)
2 large eggs
1/3 cup non-hydrogenated, non-dairy margarine, melted, cooled (canola oil or butter would work fine too)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/4 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease an 8½ by 4½ by 2½-inch loaf pan with a small amount of margarine.

Combine the flour, oats, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Mix together with a whisk and set aside. Whisk the bananas, eggs and margarine together in a bowl. Add the sugar, cranberries, and lemon juice; mix until blended. Gently stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture until just combined. Do not over mix the batter.
Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake until lightly browned, 45 to 50 minutes. Allow the bread to cool completely in the pan, about 1 hour.