My Very Own Banana Bread

So here's the story behind this banana bread recipe:

I was having one heck of a sweet tooth, and as much as my stomach wanted sugary ice cream and chocolate sauce, my mind new better...and it directed me to making my very own banana bread recipe! I had 3 very ripe bananas I knew I had to use up within the next day or two... so it was time to get baking! I wanted a banana bread that tasted sweet and delicious (duh I had a nasty sweet tooth to get rid of!) but I also wanted the bread to be healthier, and I knew I wouldn't be adding any processed sugar...  

So I rummaged through our pantry, and came up with a recipe! Within the next week, after making it a few times, and using my husband and young son as taste testers (my husband is always brutally honest...which is good...I guess...) I tweaked some ingredients, and the third time making this recipe seemed to be the charm!!!  

This banana bread is amazingly moist thanks to the greek yogurt and applesauce, and it stays that way. It doesn't dry out on you after day 1.

It's also so deliciously sweet due to the maple syrup and honey, it's hard to believe there isn't any processed sugar in it! ...Oh and chocolate chips in banana bread is a must for me too by the way. 

So here you go:

p.s. I always use organic ingredients

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350.

*Set aside chocolate chips (if you plan to use them) they are added last!*

In a medium sized bowl, combine all "dry" ingredients.

In another medium sized bowl, combine all "wet" ingredients, including the 1 stick of melted butter.

In each separate bowl, make sure you mix your ingredients well. You can use a whisk for the wet ingredients, but I just whip it up really good with a fork. Once you have the two separate bowls mixed up well, combine them into one larger bowl. Fold the batter until there are no clumps, and you have a nice, smooth batter.

There's no set way of doing this, in fact I'm not even sure it's necessary to separate the ingredients, it just so happened that it's the way I did it the first time, and every time there after, I've just made it the same!

If you choose to use chocolate chips, add them now!

After you have your chocolate chips stirred into your batter, pour the batter into a greased (I use coconut oil) bread pan.

The bread will not rise that much, so you can fill up your bread pan to about 3/4 the way full.

This recipe makes 1 nice, big loaf of bread.

Bake for 50 minutes at 350. 

Check the bread at 50 minutes by inserting a knife or toothpick- you want it to come out clean and not battery. Every time I make this bread it takes about 55 minutes until  it's done to perfection, but I always start checking it at 50 minutes.

Let the bread cool, and ENJOY!!!!!!

All Natural Face Wash Challenge- UPDATE!!

Well it's been 1 week since starting my all natural face wash challenge!

A lot changed since my initial post.

I use about 1tsp of coconut oil in the morning to wash my face, and I use the same amount at night to wash my face before bed. I also use it throughout the day (if I need to) as a moisturizer. 

I will admit, I was super nervous about using OIL on my face. I didn't want my skin to be left greasy and oily... and since I have such sensitive skin I was ridiculously nervous that I would be left with angry skin, and bad breakouts. Thankfully, that is NOT the case. The oil absorbs into my skin within minutes, and since I've started this, my skin has been so soft and smooth! I've also noticed my skin is FAR LESS oily! Isn't that odd?! Since using OIL to wash my face, my skin is LESS oily! Awesome how that works! 

When I say I "wash" my face with the coconut oil, I really do just that. I get my face wet with warm water first, then rub about 1 teaspoon of coconut oil in my hands to melt it, and then massage it into my skin for a couple minutes. Then I rinse my face, but there's always a decent amount of oil that stays on my skin. If you're familiar with coconut oil, you know what I mean. I lightly pat-dry my face, and then most of the coconut oil is off, but there's always a decent layer that doesn't rinse or dry off. I let this soak into my skin, it only takes maybe a few minutes. Sometimes if I notice my skin really absorbing the oil fast, I'll add a tiny bit more, just so my skin feels more moisturized. I do this morning and night, and it's all I do now. I will occasionally use a drop of tea tree oil in my moisturizing coconut oil at night, right before bed, but I don't even feel like it's something I need anymore!

I originally planned on using a combination of baking soda and coconut oil a few times a week as more of a deep clean cleanser- after doing it once, I realized it dried out my skin A LOT. It really left my skin feeling SO clean, and smooth, but the next few days I could tell it dried my skin out more than I liked. So I haven't done it again since! ...and probably don't plan to do it again anytime soon...unless I feel like my skin needs it. I will also probably only use a pinch of baking soda to 1 teaspoon of coconut oil, so it's less abrasive on my skin.

I also thought I would use apple cider vinegar (mixed with water or witch hazel) as a toner a few times a week... but, I haven't even used it once, because I haven't felt the need to use a toner! Before using coconut oil as face wash, I would feel like I needed to freshen up my skin, since it tended to get oily throughout the day... but since using coconut oil, I haven't had that problem, not even once!

I have been SO happy using just the coconut oil on my face! 

It's only been 1 week, so we'll see how it continues, but so far, I love it!

I'll keep you posted!

P.S...upcoming blog posts:

Health(ier) Banana bread

EASY Chicken Cordon Bleu Bake