Better Bannana Bread

I recently posted about our favorite banana bread recipe, but I have been experimenting lately with some different kinds of gluten free flours and I have modified the recipe a little so that it is a little less crumbly by using some sweet rice flour and soy flour in place of 1/2 a cup of the flour mix. Here is the new revised recipe:

Ingredients:

1 cup gf flour mix flour

1/4 cup sweet rice flour

1/4 soy flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp salt

1 egg

1 cup mashed ripe bananas (3 medium)

3/4 cup sugar (or less, 1/4 cup is enough)

1/4 cup cooking oil (e.g. canola oil)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preparation:

Grease the bottom and 1/2 inch up the sides of an 8x4x2-inch loaf pan; set aside. In a medium mixing bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Make a well in the center of dry mixture; set aside.

In another bowl combine the egg, bananas, sugar and cooking oil. Add egg mixture all at once to dry mixture. Stir just till moistened (batter should be lumpy). Fold in nuts.

Spoon batter into the prepared pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 50-55 minutes or till a wooden toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove loaf from pan; cool on rack. Wrap and store overnight before slicing. (I never do this. It's so good warm out of the oven! and I don't think waiting works well with Gluten Free bread really.) Makes 1 loaf (16 servings).

From Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book

Spring and Seeds!

Yeah for Spring! I can't beleive it is finnally here! It has been such a long winter for us, filled with virus and illness after illness. I don't know what happened to us, but I am hoping that it will end with the change of seasons!

We spent a lot of time this weekend starting seeds out at the greenhouse. In all we probably started 500 or more seeds in little blocks of soil! Tomatos, lettuce, peppers, onions, strawberries, kohlrabi, cabbage... and more. It's a co-op of a few familes working together to feed ourselves for the season. We also started extra because we also planning on selling some tomato and pepper starts at the Farmer's Market.

Here's farmer Brian getting ready to mix some potting soil as our kids play in the toasty warm green house as our kids play on a blanket. It was 100 degrees in there! But it felt great!

Stay tuned to see these plants sprouting and growing!

Thank God for the sand pile! It keeps the kids busy like nothing else so that we can get some planting done. When they get bored with that, they chase after the chickens and ducks!


Lily and Bella got a chance to hold the first baby gossling that our friend Ethan hatched! So sweet! I am so excited that our kids have an opportunity to expierience all this!

Lily's 6!!!!

Lily turned 6 on the 13th. I can hardly believe 6 years have past since I gave birth to my first little girl! She is really growing up lately. Rosie and Daisy and I went to her classroom with cupcakes in the afternoon. This is her class singing happy birthday to her. Yes, she does have a small class. There were a couple kids absent, but there are only 5 kids in her class right now.

The Farmhouse BEFORE AND AFTER!

It's moving day at the farm! The house has come a LONG way and Brian and Jenna are moving in! We had our first dinner there together Saturday night! For those of you who have seen it, you won't believe the improvement! For those of you who have not, there is really no way for me to describe how bad it started out. The photos can't illustrate the dirtiness of it all or the overwhelming stagnant mustiness. It has been transformed from a dilapidated, neglected, mold infested dump to a warm cozy home thanks to a lot of hard work! The smells now come from the toasty wood stove and Jenna's homemade beeswax candles! Check out these before and after photos:

THE KITCHEN

THE LIVING ROOM
THE DINING ROOM

Jenna feels at home already, now that she has a place to sew!

THE BATHROOMThe best part is that there is running water and you can flush the toilet
without hauling a bucket of water!

THE BEDROOM

We're moving next and we can't wait! Rich and I and the girls are going to rent out our apartment and move to our camper on the farm for the summer. Now that the weather has turned we are going to start setting up our home on the farm and start staying out there on the weekends. Since the housing market is so bad, instead of trying to sell our house we are just going to rent out our apartment and store our stuff in the basement. We are aiming to have it rented by June 1st. This feels like a good way for us to transition out of the home we have been living in for the last 7 years and to begin to discern where to go next. We are going to spend the summer exploring country life, living with our dear friends and growing our own food. We are praying that during this time God will give up some insight and guidance for our next steps for a more permanent home in intentional community with others.