Baking with my daughter

Another fun Lauren Day.

We started out the morning with breakfast, then donned our aprons (over our jammies) and started baking.

Grandma V gave Lauren her cute apron

She literally "hangs" off my apron as we move around the kitchen (the red is my apron- hard to take a picture of the two of us, especially when she is clinging like a monkey)

We made banana bread using my friend Andrea's recipe that I love. Of course with some modifications for altitude (5280 ft) and allergies. I used vanilla soy milk in place of buttermilk and flax seed and water in place of the eggs. The batter looked really strange, so we were nervous...

But it turned out lovely, as you can see. Lauren, Casey, and I sat on the floor and tasted our masterpiece- we all agree it was very tasty. Maybe a bit healthier tasting that the original recipe, but that is because it is healthier- flax seed has tons of omega-3 fatty acids. Made me feel less guilty splurging on banana bread!

Andrea's Banana Bread Recipe

2 c. flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1/2 c. shortening

1 c. sugar

2 eggs

1 c. mashed bananas (2-3)

1/2 c. buttermilk

3/4 c. chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift first 3 ingredients together, set aside.

Cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs and beat well, stir in bananas.  Mix in milk alternating with dry ingredients- beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Mix well after each addition, stir in nuts.

Turn into a well-greased loaf pan, bake at 350 degrees for 60-70 minutes. You can use two smaller loaf pans, just bake for a little less time and test it with a toothpick.

Delicious!