Lovin' From the Oven

Banana Bread Scones

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Did you guys watch the premiere of Helix on Friday? It’s made by the same creator of Battlestar Galactica and I’m already reeled in. I just wish that they would use all the same actors/characters in Battlestar and place them in another show instead. Wouldn’t that be the best? BSG 4EVER.

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Let’s be real here. There will never be a greater show than Battlestar Galactica. #truth

Please excuse me, my mind’s been all over the place lately. I’ve been working on Save the Dates (with a little help from an elf), addressing envelopes, flying leftover holiday travelers, fixing my February schedule, selling things on eBay, trying to buy some new key pieces for my wardrobe (since when did I think shopping for clothes was such a tedious task? perhaps that’s a sign I’m getting old), and playing blog catch up.

I don’t know where the time goes anymore. While I’m over here playing catch up, you can give these banana bread scones a try. They’re lighter and fluffier than normal scones. They also are a lot softer, so don’t expect them to need a dunking into coffee prior to eating. They’re great as is and bend instead of break!

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Recipe from Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice

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Banana Bread Scones

Ingredients

  • 2 large, ripe bananas (about 1 cup mashed)
  • 4 tablespoons milk
  • 1/2 cup plain yogurt or sour cream
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 4 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
    • For the glaze:
  • 2 tablespoons milk
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

  1. Mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Cut in the butter.
  2. Add bananas, milk, yogurt, and vanilla extract until just incorporated.
  3. Line a dinner plate with a piece of parchment or wax paper and turn the dough out on top. Pat it into a disk about 1-inch thick and cover with another piece of wax paper. Put in freezer for 30 minutes.
  4. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
  5. Put the mixture on a baking sheet and slice into eight wedges, making sure to leave plenty of room for them to expand.
  6. Bake for 25-30 minutes.
  7. To make the glaze, whisk all of the ingredients together until smooth.
  8. Drip over the scones and let dry completely.
https://lovintheoven.com/banana-bread-scones/

Blackout Smoothie

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I was never one to get into the logistics of smoothie making. Apparently, the order in which you blend your ingredients makes a difference. Usually, I just throw everything into a blender and pulse until I don’t have any more chunks. Is that not the right way to do it?

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I don’t have a fancy blender or anything, so smoothie making is kind of a hassle for me. There’s a lot of shaking, moving, swirling, and banging going on in my kitchen. Lucky for us, our apartment has cement walls so I don’t wake anyone up while making my morning smoothie.

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My future MIL and abuela found out that we don’t have a very good blender and actually gifted us a compact blender for Christmas. I can’t wait to give it a try!

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This smoothie didn’t have a very pretty color, which is why I called it the “blackout smoothie.” Who cares what it looks like as long as it tastes good, right? 🙂

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Blackout Smoothie

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 frozen bananas, sliced
  • 1 1/2 cups vanilla soy milk
  • 2 cups spinach
  • 1 cup frozen blueberries
  • 1/8 cup slivered almonds
  • 1 tsp ground flaxseed

Directions

  1. Mix all ingredients in a blender until desired consistency.
https://lovintheoven.com/blackout-smoothie/

Banana Nutella Granola

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I had my first “Jackie Brown” moment at work the other day. You see, there was a Niners game on Sunday, causing an obscene amount of traffic hours before the game even started. Who knew that tailgaters started so early?

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I left the apartment the same time I normally do for work, at least 1.5-2 hours early even though I live less than 30 miles away from the airport. I even checked Google Maps to make sure that there wouldn’t be any crazy traffic. Google Maps told me it’s take me 46 minutes as opposed to my usual 30 minutes, meaning a little traffic was to be expected.

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Little is an understatement. I knew the moment I got to the curve to the toll bridge I was screwed. Cars were backed up around the bend and moving less than a mile per hour, if that. Getting to the toll bridge was going to be the journey.

I immediately called my DF to find out what was going on with the traffic. Would I make it in time to work? Because of the industry that I work in, being late isn’t acceptable and they’re pretty strict with the rules in that regard. The last time I checked in late, I was on reserve and got rear ended on the Bay Bridge. He told me that it was indeed all red before the toll bridge for no reason. There wasn’t any accident, no police cars, nothing. It was just a huge hot mess of cars.

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That really is the worst kind of traffic: traffic for no reason. Why is there traffic when you don’t have an excuse for it? It drives me insane. The LA part of me will always have that inner road rage goddess that comes out during traffic. I can’t help it.

Apparently, the bridge was mostly red, but after it should be fine with the exception of a little spot of yellow on the traffic map. Okay, I can deal with that. The estimated arrival time on my nearly ten year old GPS keeps pushing back closer to my check in time, but it’s not that close yet. I still have time to park the car, take the air train, and then walk over to our check in computers.

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With every minute that I lost, I’m pretty sure another hair of mine turned grey. Finally, after 40 minutes waiting, I get to the toll bridge and pay my dues. I put up with the traffic going across the bridge and my handy dandy GPS says that I’ll be there twenty minutes prior to check in time. Not bad… until I see that patch of yellow that my DF was talking about. It’s really more of a red.

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Seeing as how I have twenty minutes from parking to checking in now, I think I’m screwed. Do I call scheduling and let them know? Or try to make it so I don’t get penalized?

As I pass the Candlestick park exit, I realize that all the traffic was headed there and I’m officially in the green. I can do it.

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I book my little Cameron the Camry and finally make it to the parking lot at 12:16 PM. I  now have fourteen minutes to park my car, get out my luggage, sprint to the air train, wait for it to go three stops, get out, take the escalator down, sprint to the terminal, go through security, take an elevator to our office, log on a computer, open the website, and check in…. all of this while in heels because apparently I didn’t think of changing into my flats.

I can do it.

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I kid you not, I’ve never sprinted so hard in my life. I was terrified for my ankles giving out or even worse, my heel getting stuck in a crack and going face first into the floor with my roller board luggage and carry on.

As I’m bustling past everyone in the airport, I can vaguely hear TSA yelling at me to be careful and “not to worry, [I’ll] make it on time.” It’s amazing how the crowd parts when they hear someone running in heels. I’ve never felt so many piercing eyes on me, but I didn’t care that my hair was half up and half down. I didn’t care that I was breathing uncontrollably. I didn’t care that I may or may not have had little droplets on my forehead. There was a chance that I could still make it and I wasn’t going to slow down.

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I promptly checked in at 12:26 PM. Can you believe it? I had four minutes to spare. Never mind that I was heaving and sucking in all the air in the room— I made it on time! Never again will I let this happen to me. Running a marathon in three inch heels is not something I want to do ever again.

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I also kind of failed at the granola. Apparently, I like to burn it whenever I make it. Mixing the granola every couple of minutes while baking in the oven is a lot of work! While the taste was there, it would have been better without the smoky/burnt flavor that I added. I’m going to stick to buying granola for now, unless someone has a fail-proof recipe out there. I’d love to try it! From Sally’s Baking Addiction.

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Banana Nutella Granola

Yield: 5 cups granola

Ingredients

  • 3 and 3/4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
  • 1/2 cup ground flax
  • 1 cup sliced almonds (or any nut)
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup mashed banana (1 very large banana)
  • 1/4 cup Nutella
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup (or honey; if you prefer sugar-free maple syrup, that would work as well)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 cup banana chips
  • 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Line baking sheet with silpat.
  2. In a large bowl, mix together oats, flax, almonds, and cinnamon.
  3. In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, melt together the mashed banana, Nutella, maple syrup, vanilla extract, and salt. Allow to bubble for about 1 minute.
  4. Remove mixture from heat and pour over the dry ingredients. Stir until just mixed.
  5. Evenly spread the mix on the baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring at the 15 minute mark.
  6. Top the granola with chocolate chips and banana chips. Gently stir. The chocolate will melt, creating larger chunks of granola.
  7. Cool completely before storing in an airtight container.
https://lovintheoven.com/banana-nutella-granola/

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