Recipe Request

Did I mention that I love to bake? I especially love baking cheesecakes to share with my husband and my office, but I admit that I haven't developed a PCOS-friendly version of one yet (I'm working on it!).

After mentioning that I was making a whole-wheat reduced-sugar banana-walnut bread in my previous post, I had a request to share the recipe. It's actually my mom's recipe--and I've included both the "original" list of ingredients, as well as the "modified" list that I use in my attempts to make it a bit healthier.

Banana Bread (or Whole-Wheat Reduced-Sugar Banana-Walnut Bread)

Original Ingredients:
3 Over-ripe Bananas (4 if small)
1 Cup Sugar
1 Egg
1-1/2 Cups Flour
1/4 Cup Melted Butter
1 Tsp. Baking Soda
1 Tsp. Salt

Modified Ingredients:
3 Over-ripe (Organic) Bananas (4 is small)
1/2 Cup Sugar
Generous Squirt of Honey
1 (Free-Range) Egg
1-1/2 Cups Whole-Wheat Flour
Generous Sprinkle of Flax Seeds
1/4 Cup Melted Butter (or Applesauce if you're really healthy...I'm not...yet)
1 Tsp. Baking Soda
1 Tsp. Salt
Generous Handful of Walnuts

Mash bananas with fork. Stir in other ingredients. Pour into Teflon or buttered loaf pan. Bake 1 hour at 325 degrees, lower temp if using glass pans. (Note: You can keep browning bananas in the freezer until you've accumulated enough to make a loaf--just defrost, and they're perfectly gooey for mashing).

If you give it a try, I hope that you enjoy it! All the credit goes to my mom.

Perhaps I can use these two months of prescribed rest from TTC to work on my culinary skills. I'm always up for new recipes, so feel free to share your favorites as well!

As for a blessing, this was so hard, but I know that God put her in my life today for some reason. As we were finishing up advising for our new students at Orientation, a very pregnant young mom came in to get her schedule. Since she was a Summer-admit (rather than Fall), there were some problems with her schedule, so we started talking. She's due July 24th--right in the middle of the summer class she is supposed to take. She was hoping to only take classes online, but our campus is more "traditional", and offers very few online courses. The father of the baby is not involved, and she said that he gets really upset with her. Her family does not give her any support (in fact, her mom is kicking her out of the house), but tells her that adoption is not an option. My heart breaks for her, but I feel blessed that I was able to help her just a tiny bit with figuring out some good options for pursuing her academics. And more importantly, I can pray for her. It's hard to use her situation--which is so entirely and drastically different than mine in every single way possible--as any sort of reference point. But in front of me stood someone who is trying, against all the odds, to do something meaningful in her life. What a blessing to see that sort of strength!