Recipes

Vegan Banana Bread Recipe

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Last week when faced with 3 overly ripe bananas, I decided it would be really fun to bake banana bread with my toddler. I can hear everyone laughing as I write this…I probably won’t be doing that again for a while, and unless you have lots of extra ingredients to make up for all that will end up on the floor, and all day to clean after it goes in the oven, I suggest you bake this yourself. I just decided to create a recipe from what I had in my pantry, and it turned out to be a really tasty, low sugar, high fiber version of the classic.

Holly’s Hippie Banana Bread*
* ¼ cup organic brown sugar
* ½ tsp organic vanilla
* 4 tbsp ground organic flax seeds, mixed with 3/4 cup water
* 1 ½ cup organic bananas, mashed
* 2 cups organic oat flour
* 2 tsp aluminum free baking powder
* ½ tsp fine sea salt
* ½ tsp baking soda
*organic walnuts and cinnamon for sprinkling

Heat oven to 350° Fahrenheit.
Mix sugar, vanilla, and flax seed/water mixture.
Add bananas.
Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
Stir dry ingredients into banana mixture.
Pour in bread loaf pan (9×5×3 inches) (I greased mine with coconut oil)
Sprinkle chopped walnuts and cinnamon on top, just before putting in the oven.

Bake 45 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Yum!

*This is a vegan recipe, but you’ll never miss the milk, eggs or butter!

Try it, you’ll like it! Please come back and leave a comment after you make it- I love hearing from you.

My son enjoyed the process so much, and when his daddy came home he ran to him and said, “NANA-BED!” That moment was worth every bit of the clean-up, and I’m sure I’ll be doing it again very soon. Oh- and next time I plan to add chocolate chips.

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In Honor of Moms

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The strength of motherhood is greater than natural laws.
– Barbara Kingsolver

The moment a child is born, the mother is also born.  She never existed before.  The woman existed, but the mother, never.  A mother is something absolutely new.  ~Rajneesh

A mother is she who can take the place of all others but
whose place no one else can take.
— Cardinal Mermillod

The phrase “working mother” is redundant.  ~Jane Sellman

A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie.  ~Tenneva Jordan

I remember my mother’s prayers and they have always followed me.  They have clung to me all my life.  ~Abraham Lincoln

A mother’s arms are made of tenderness and children sleep soundly in them.  ~Victor Hugo

Grown don’t mean nothing to a mother.  A child is a child.  They get bigger, older, but grown?  What’s that suppose to mean?  In my heart it don’t mean a thing.  ~Toni Morrison, Beloved

Most of all the other beautiful things in life come by twos and threes, by dozens and hundreds.  Plenty of roses, stars, sunsets, rainbows, brothers and sisters, aunts and cousins, comrades and friends – but only one mother in the whole world.  ~Kate Douglas Wiggin

Life began with waking up and loving my mother’s face. -George Eliot

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY to all of you amazing mothers out there, especially my Mom!

Ask Holly, Babies, Nutrition

Ask Holly: Fish For Toddlers?

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Hi Holly,
What types of fish are safe to feed my toddler. I’m very confused by the information out there.

Sarah

NY,NY

Hi Sarah!

I’m glad you asked- fish is such a great source of protein and omega 3 fatty acids and it’s easy for our little ones to digest.  There is a lot of confusing and conflicting information out there, but if you follow these guidelines, you can relax knowing you’re feeding your toddler well.

  • Do not feed your child  Shark, Swordfish, King Mackerel, or Tilefish because they contain high levels of mercury.
  • The smaller the fish the better: the “bad stuff” we hear about- mercury and PCBs- accumulate in the tissue, and so the higher on the food chain the fish are, the more they will have accumulated.  Two good ones to try:  sardines and anchovies. (My toddler loves sardines on crackers!)
  • Five commonly eaten fish that are low in mercury are shrimp, canned light tuna, salmon, pollock, and catfish – only buy these fish if they are “wild caught,” and be sure to check the country of origin.  I only buy fish caught in the USA, usually Alaska.  Avoid farm raised fish-  they are often fed grain (not their natural diet!), antibiotics, and in the case of salmon, paint chips to give its flesh a pink color. (We are what THEY eat, and I don’t know about you, but paint??? No thanks.)

Aim for 2 meals a week of a variety of fish and shellfish, and your child will reap the many benefits of eating fish!