I opened my freezer this morning to discover five frozen bananas that have been sitting in there for ages, waiting to be used in some Yummy Yogini concoction and today seemed like a good day. It’s misting outside and a little chilly (a whopping 63 degrees) so what better way to spend the afternoon than inside cooking? When it comes to bananas I always over buy. I tell myself to only get one at a time and then I forget and end up with rotten bananas at the end of the week. Has this happened to you? I hate to waste anything so I always toss them in the freezer and use them later for muffins, breads, pancakes and 3-ingredient ice cream too!
Since the holidays are coming though, I’ve been testing out new spreads and chutneys to gift to friends and relatives and decided those bananas would best be served up in a jam. Mason jars are so cute to decorate with ribbons and such… I’m all about making the food appear just as good as it’s going to taste! And you should wait until your bananas are over-ripe for this recipe or just use frozen ones and defrost them in your oven. This is a “streeeeeetching the budget” kind of recipe since I literally spent about $1.50 on everything, months ago, and because all the ingredients were in my pantry. I love it when that happens!
This weekend though, I’ll be making a trip to the store to collect all the items for my Friendsgiving meal on Thanksgiving! Can you believe it’s Andy’s first one off in years? We’ve invited some of our close friends over and I’m planning on posting most of the recipes I’ll be using on Monday for you! All of said recipes are Vegan but that doesn’t mean they’re not good! I figure everyone goes overboard on the turkey so why make everything so heavy and full of cream? Instead, my sides are light, green, fresh and you guessed it… clean! So check back next week for that.
Entwined Side Plank Pose.
And lastly, let’s move to books because that’s what I do besides yoga… read! Yesterday afternoon I went to the SLO public library to finish reading Case Histories by Kate Atkinson (fantastic) and to pick up Hilary Mantel’s book of short stories called The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher. So far so good even though I tried to read/like her last book Bringing Up the Bodies and I failed miserably. Admittedly, I could’t finish it I just got so bored of Oliver Cromwell and well life is just too short to make yourself miserable and guilty for not finishing a book. Move on, put it down and start another, right?!
I adore short stories!
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Caramelized Banana and Vanilla Jam- makes 1.5 cups
Ingredients:
-5 bananas, mashed
-2 vanilla beans or 2 tsp vanilla paste
-1/2 cup brown sugar
-2 tsp cinnamon
-1 tsp nutmeg
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-2 T coconut oil
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350. Place the bananas on a baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes or until they are soft to the touch.
2. Mash up the bananas in a large pot and add the coconut oil and brown sugar. If you’re using vanilla beans like me, slice them down the middle and add to the pot. Stir continuously as to not burn the bananas.
3. Bring this to a boil and then turn down to low and add the spices and the vanilla extract.
4. Let the mixture thicken and then take off the heat.
5. Place in Mason jars and enjoy! Use on toast, crackers, ice cream, and with peanut butter!
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A student brought me a bottle of delicious Cab last night and I thought what a perfect yoga prop to go along with straps, blocks, blankets and spray bottles!