A fresh way to enjoy classic Mennonite Banana Bread, in a heat wave

The heat has forced me to bake: my bananas have ripened at a furious pace and making banana bread is the best way to deal with over ripe bananas. Now I could have thrown them in the freezer for later use, seeing as here in Toronto we are in the middle of a glorious heat wave, but my husband needed a snack and when a need for baking arises, I'm there!

My mom had this old Mennonite cookbook from the 1950's. The cover was already gone when I got my hands on it. It was a much loved staple of my grandma's kitchen and then my mom's kitchen. All I have ever used it for was Banana Bread from Mrs. J. Klassen.  Every recipe is signed by a Mrs. Friesen or a Mrs. Epp, or a Mrs. W. Braun. That's what I love the most about it: these women, who ran bustling homesteads in rural Saskatchewan, got together and published an amazing little cookbook that survived 60 years to make it in to my kitchen in 2012.

Mmmm . . .

The original recipe has white flour and refined sugar, both of which are not available in the Baking, Brains and Braun Kitchen! Although I have enjoyed it in its classic form for years, the recipe that follows is the version for the new me, and hopefully, you.  Now I have not made a vegan version of this, I'm not there, yet. Have you seen the documentary Forks Over Knives? Do yourself a favor and watch it. Or actually make and eat my New Mennonite Banana Bread first and then watch the doc . . . the vegan version is definitely on my to-blog-and-bake list!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Butter
3/4 cup Coconut Sugar
2 eggs
3 ripe bananas
1 tsp. baking soda
2 cups Spelt Flour
1 cup mixed toasted nuts (walnuts, pecans, almonds, sunflower seeds)
1 cup raisins, chopped figs or dates

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Toast the mixed nuts and seeds of your choice in a dry skillet for a couple of minutes over medium heat, stirring often.
3. Mix butter, Coconut sugar and eggs until creamy.
4. Add the bananas as you sing along with the video below.
5. Add baking soda and spelt flour.
6. Fold in the nuts, dried fruit and any other goodie you may have around.
7. Pour batter into a greased loaf pan and place in the preheated oven for 50-60 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. And, I always treat my mixer utensils like popsicles,  I invite you to do the same.

Original Chiquita Banana Commercial 

Happy Baking and stay cool until next time

tbxo

Learning to Swim, again

I've decided to take on a 'Give-it-a-try-tri', a small triathlon for beginners. It consists of a 400m swim, a 10k bike, and a 2.5k run. The bike and the run, that I can conquer, not a problem. I've been running and biking for a years now, all good there. Swimming scares the shit out of me. Seriously. Ok, I may be exaggerating, I can keep myself afloat with a noodle or life jacket and I'm pretty good at treading water but that doesn't get you to the finish line in Lake Ontario. I asked if I could bring my noodle, no response.

I grew up in land locked Saskatchewan, the lakes were too cold and pools weren't really on my radar. I tried swimming lessons with other kids but decided to retire at age 7.  Nothing too sporty was really my thing. I only played softball to get my Dairy Queen treat after the game.  I've never been a fan of balls flying at my face anyway. Mainly because I knew I'd never be able to catch them.  I finally, and thankfully, discovered the value of fitness in my mid 20's when the pints and fries at Louis' Pub on campus finally caught up to me. And when my family doctor said, "Maybe you could take up running?" Point taken.

Spring 2012 Age 30ish, out of retirement

So I dove back in to lessons this spring. First, I had to get my eyelashes tinted to avoid the racoon look in the pool, a beauty must, thank you Natalia! Then I found a suit to fit my long torso, not the most fun I've had in a day, but I ended up with a pretty cute one, if you're in to the reptilian look.  Back to the lessons: myself and five other adults learning how to be kids again. And learning how to move my arms in one direction, my legs in another while breathing underwater. Right. Arms and legs got moving together pretty well, but its the breath that has proved to be the most challenging. As an actor my breath connects me to my emotions, I am my breath, when you breathe you can do anything. That all goes out the window when my head goes underwater. But I keep going back for more! What did my mom always say to me, practise makes perfect?

Ok then, here goes.

This was written in my Progress Report at the end of the 8 week session:

"Nice swimming Tricia. 

Your strokes look great and 

endurance improved a lot. 

Keep it up and have a great summer"

It felt like I was 7 years old again!

Happy Swimming until next time

tbxo

Learning to find the joy (and cookies) in grief

And I'm back! April and May were a little quiet and a little sad over here. But don't get sad for me because some wonderful things happened as a result. Cookies!

The end of April was my Mom's birthday and then Mother's Day happened. My mom died a year and a half ago. Celebrating these 2 days in the past was always a good thing filled with a lot of joy and shopping. My mom would spend the day giving herself the "Braun Girl Beauty Treatment", which consisted of bathing languidly with a coffee, maybe a book, and doing her own mani-pedi. I dont think she had the patience to pay someone else to do it. After she was all gussied up with her face on it was time to hit the mall where she would find the perfect spring outfit. In later years this outfit would be worn to Mr. Rizo's, an amazing restaurant in Saskatoon, our go-to celebration spot. I was recently there with family in May and like many things, its a hell of a lot quieter without her there.

On April 23rd this year I had my own version of her birthday. I bought new lipstick and went to a blissful yoga class and came home to these flowers and this note from my husband:

I hope yoga was good

check the freezer

In the freezer was a good old fashioned Coffee Crisp chocolate bar with another note written on the No Frills receipt that said, "save half for me".  It was perfect! And, yes, I have cut out the refined sugar and all that other garbage but every now and again it is ok, in my books, to indulge a little, Gayle would have approved. 

As for Mother's Day, I was hoping it would come and go. I got home from teaching that morning to an empty house except for Bailey the dog and CBC Radio One with Stuart McLean hosting a Mother's Day special. It was like a a car wreck, I couldn't go by without having a listen. That's when it happened, the South Saskatchewan river began to flow in my kitchen. The tears continued for a while and through it all a wee dog about knee high, sat quietly and patiently at my feet. 

When it was all over, Bailey reached for her pink bone and turned to me, ready to play. Somehow she knew I needed her there and that I too, needed to play. That night she chilled out in the kitchen where I continued to play:

I took liberty with the most amazing Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe ever, from Nigella Lawson's newest cookbook, Kitchen. I used spelt flour instead of white flour and coconut sugar instead of white/brown sugar and a mixture of cacao nibs and white chocolate chips (I didn't have anything else, and it was a baking emergency people!)

Chocolate Chip Cookies, by Nigella, adapted for me and you

Makes approx. 14 yummy cookies

Side note: Nigella is British, she bakes by weight, I was given a digital kitchen scale to use specifically with this cookbook, thank you Sue & Bob, many baking emergencies have been remedied with our new toy! Do yourself a favour and get one too, because I don't know the conversions.

150g soft unsalted butter

225g coconut sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg, fridge-cold

1 egg yolk, fridge-cold

300g Spelt flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 x 326g package of semi-sweet chocolate chips (or whatever is in your pantry that is similar/healthier, which is the goal remember?)

*Pre heat the oven to 325 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

*Melt the butter and let it cool a bit. Put the coconut sugar into a bowl, pour the slightly cooled, melted butter over it and beat together.

*Beat in the vanilla, cold egg and cold egg yolk until your mixture is light and creamy. 

*Slowly mix in the flour and baking soda until just blended, then fold in the chocolate chips/healthy substitute - see above.

*Scoop the cookie dough up with an ice-cream scoop and plop onto the prepared baking sheet, plopping the cookies down about an inch apart. You may need to make these in 2 batches, keeping the bowl of cookie dough in the fridge between batches (out of sight).

*Bake for 15-17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks. Share generously.

this picture, it should be noted is from an earlier experiment, 
the version above got gobbled up too quickly!

So, I have learned how to laugh through my tears with the help of Bailey the dog and learned to bake my favorite cookies with coconut sugar and spelt flour, super yummy alternatives to the refined versions. Whats on your baking agenda?

Happy Baking, until next time

tbxo


ps.: I'm working on the bike fixin' and bread bakin', stay tuned!

My Healthier, Happier Version of good 'ol Quaker Harvest Crunch

I write this as I sit in my kitchen munching on the last of the Haystacks of Love. Or as my friend Sora likes to call them: Poo Cookies. Thank you, Sora. Since HofL went over so well (who made them? Any thoughts, improvements, poo cookie stories of you own to share?) I thought I would throw down another recipe that I like to play around with. The recipe that follows sadly has no chocolate but it does have delicious, fat flakes of coconut as well as coconut oil. Coconut oil can be found at any organic/health food store and should really become a staple of your kitchen and bathroom. What?! Yep, after a bath I slather it on my skin for some dewy goodness all day long. But, back to the granola and please enjoy the story. Comment at the end of the post if you enjoyed it and hey if you didn't, you're crazy! Who doesn't like granola?!

The Story

My mom and I used to love Quaker Harvest Crunch. We would sit down together on weekend mornings and eat huge bowls of it while simultaneously devouring a new novel. At the end of the bowl I always made sure I had left over milk so I could add more of that sugary, crunchy goodness to soak it up. QHC was eaten for breakfast, lunch, dessert (so freakin' good with ice cream!) and just straight out of the box while watching Pretty Woman together for the hundredth time. It was a comfort food that connected us, we also liked to think it was pretty healthy. I bought a box to have as my first breakfast when I moved into my own apartment in Toronto almost 8 years ago. When I was missing home or worried about my mom’s health I would reach for the familiar orange-hued box, have a couple of handfuls and feel better.  Of course I realize now that it is loaded with sugar and not a lot of nutritional value, but at the time, it soothed my heart and my mind. I have also learned better coping strategies over the years, for which I am very grateful and those will be shared at a later date! 

In my search for greater goodness in comfort foods my friend Alexa gave me the following granola recipe.  I have adapted it in order to ramp up the healthy quotient. So, give yourself a hug and mix up your own batch of QHC.

Best served with almond milk or yogurt with fresh berries

Ingredients:

4 cups oats - large flake are the best, not instant
1 cup nuts - 2-3 varieties, like almonds, walnuts, pecans
1 cup seeds - 2-3 varieties, like sunflower, pumpkin, chia seeds

1 cup large flake coconut (unsweetened)

1/4 cup coconut oil (or olive/sunflower oil)

1/3 cup of maple syrup, really yummy organic & dark

Directions:

Pre heat your oven to 350 degrees.

Roughly chop your nuts. Be careful.
Add all the dry ingredients to a large bowl.

Melt the oil and maple syrup in a saucepan on low.

Add the oil and maple syrup mixture to the dry ingredients bowl and mix to combine.

Spread out on a large wax paper lined cookie sheet.

Put in oven and bake for 10 minutes. Take it out and stir. Place back in the oven but checking on it and stirring it every 5 minutes for a total of 20-25 minutes. Just watch the stuff on the edges doesn't burn. You want it to be golden brown and this is a pretty dry granola which I think is best.

Let cool, and then stir in 1 cup of raisins or other dried fruit.

Store in a glass container in the fridge or freezer.

I have also added different flavors like heaping teaspoons of cinnamon and ground ginger to the dry ingredients; it gives the granola a comforting zing. Play around and let me know what you come up with!

Happy Eating until next time
tbxo

An inspiring TedTalk

I saw this just the other day and holy crap did it hit home! Lisa Rankin is a doctor talking about what is really wrong with our health. We may eat super healthy, run everyday, get pap smears, etc but if we aren't stoking our pilot light, our physical body will break down. I am learning to take care of my body, mind and spirit after a tumultuous year and a half. The good times I had in my twenties are starting to show up as well, but I don't regret a moment of them. And starting to smoke at the age of 14 - ah, who am I kidding, I experimented with mom's ciggies when I was 11 - doesn't help matters either. Before you get all mad at me, I quit for good on my 29th birthday, it was my champagne birthday on the 29th of August. It was so hot and humid in Toronto and I was smoking and drinking champers with my best friends. I also got dumped the next day, but continued on my path as a non smoker! Another story for another day. 

Figure out what jazzes you and follow through.  "If you don't grow, you'll grow a tumor"

Happy Learning until next time 

tbxo

Haystacks of Love

Ok, so I'm not learning to fix my own bike or bake my own bread just yet, but here is a wee story for you to get to know me, Tricia Braun:


At heart I am really just a good ol’ gal from the prairies who moved to the big, bad city looking for fame, fortune and love. Sounds like a really bad rom-com, right? Well, I did find those three things, in my own special way. Those stories and lessons will be shared at a later date, a gal's gotta save some secrets! 


A lot of love from back home helped me through the tough times when it looked like my dreams were really far away. Sometimes the love from Saskatchewan showed up in the form of Haystacks. My mom and I called them Rats and my Auntie Jewel made with them loads of butter and sugar and of course, love (ahhh, insert sappy sigh here). We also would devour a whole Tupperware container before supper. Not recommended. 


Now, since I hit my thirties I have been re-thinkin' some of my old eating habits, like sugar, deliciously addictive sugar.  Sugar packs on the pounds and can make me a very cranky girl if I go too long without it.  So I decided to kick my refined sugar habit to the curb! Not easy, but very worth it. Alas, the sweet tooth remains. Learning to turn all my favorite comfort foods into healthy foods is a quest I have been on for awhile now, and one of the reasons for this blog ;)


Finally I discovered a recipe for my beloved Rats! They arrived last week from another good ol’ gal from the Prairies, my friend Wendy. These bad boys get a super, duper gold star in my books! Thanks Wendy!

Haystacks of Love

Ingredients:

3 cups of fine shredded coconut

1 1/4 cup cocao (try raw cacao as well)

1tsp of salt

1 cup of honey

3tbps of nut butter - you choose but I like hazlenut or cashew

1/3 cup of melted butter

1 heaped tbsp of coconut butter - or you could use all coconut butter

1tsp of vanilla extract

(ps. Do your best to make it all organic)

Directions:

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Melt the coconut butter (or butter) in a small saucepan on low. Add it to a small bowl with the honey, nut butter and vanilla. Add the wet mixture to the dry bowl and mix it all up. A fork seems to work best or you may need to get your hands dirty and get in there! Scoop it up by the tablespoon, or roll them around in your hands if you want them to be pretty haystacks of love, put on a wax paper lined tray and place in freezer for 10 minutes. Keep them in the freezer and eat them from there. They are also best hidden in the freezer. Better yet, get someone to hide them for you!

Side Note: I used all coconut butter which intensified the coconut flavour and makes it vegan if you roll that way!

What is something you are learning to live without, and loving it?

Happy Eating until next time

tbxo