Category: Blog

Audrey’s Banana Bread

Recipe Highlight: This is a family favorite, especially beloved by my darling daughter. I will forever cherish the memory of making this sweet treat in the kitchen with her at my side. If you’re reading this, my sweet baby girl, add more chocolate chips …

Makes two 9-inch loaf pans

INGREDIENTS

  • 7 large bananas, very ripe (reserve 1 banana to slice/decorate the top loaves before baking)
  • 1/2 cup butter (8 TBSP), softened
  • 1/2 cup coconut oil (can sub butter or shortening)
  • 1.5 cups granulated sugar
  • 4 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1 tsp vanilla (I use a dollop of vanilla paste and a tsp of vanilla … measure with your heart)
  • pinch of salt
  • 3 cups self-rising flour (*see notes if using All Purpose flour)
  • 1/2 cup chocolate chips (reserve some to top your loaves before cooking)
  • 1/2 cup white chocolate chips (can use milk or semi-sweet instead, if unavailable)
  • cinnamon sugar to sprinkle on top of loaves
  • turbinado sugar to sprinkle on top of loaves

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Add 6 ripe bananas to mixing bowl and use the lowest setting to mash (or use a fork and do so by hand).
  3. Add the butter, coconut oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and pinch of salt to the mixing bowl and mix just until combined. Do not overmix.
  4. Add flour and mix, just until combined. Again, avoid overmixing.
  5. Gently fold in your mix-ins. The recipe calls for walnuts and raisins, but we always used a blend of chocolate chips.
  6. Pour into loaf pans lined with parchment paper.
  7. Decorate the top of the filled loaf pans with remaining sliced bananas and sprinkle with additional chocolate chips, cinnamon sugar, and turbinado sugar (or any combination thereof … just use what you’ve got)
  8. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes.

NOTES

*If using All Purpose flour, add 2 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp salt to achieve the results of self-rising flour

Banana bread is a budget-friendly recipe that is meant to use up any browning bananas that just happens to be damned delicious and worthy of making any day of the week. As such, it is meant to be something you should feel free to experiment with, using whatever ingredients you have on hand. Beyond the basic recipe, mix-ins are options … as are the combinations of fats or toppings. Follow your hearts and make it your own.

Noah, Zach & Audrey: I love you all dearly. I will always remember the way you all hyped me up whenever I made something you truly loved in the kitchen. I couldn’t ask for better cheerleaders.

0

New in 2025: Nourishing Recipes & Family Favorites

Happy New Year (and Happy Birthday to me!)

As I move into 2025 and celebrate 50 successful orbits around the sun on this beautiful planet that I call home (what a milestone!), I have decided to double down on my endeavors to improve my health and happiness. Knowing that I sometimes get in a rut and need a reminder of meals that make this journey an enjoyable one, I have decided to document recipes that bring me and my family joy.

New Recipe Tab

While most recipes I share will be done so with the intent to promote improved health and are focused on budget-friendly nourishing meals, I am also choosing to document family favorites for longevity’s sake.

Food and family go hand in hand, and I’d love to know that my children will always be just one click away from reliving a core memory. My children are my everything, and here’s to hoping that one day they will think happy thoughts of all the wonderful memories we’ve made together while enjoying one of these family classics.

50 Years of Love

Noah, Zach, and Audrey … I love you dearly.

To all of my family? Thank you for making these 50 years so special.

Wishing you Improved Health & Nourishing Meals shared with Friends & Family in 2025!

0

About

Thanks for visiting Health & Happiness!

My name is Dani. I am a thriving divorcee, a mother of three adult children who lives in Mississippi, just outside of Memphis, TN.

In 2024, at 49 years old, I experienced a health crisis (TIA) which forced me to reevaluate what I value most in life. As such, I left my stressful corporate job, and I am on a mission to find balance and reclaim my health before my nest is officially empty!

Currently, my heart and my home are full of love thanks to my beautiful family & our furry overlords. My kids (all adults now!) are amazing beings who are kind, smart, and creative. I cherish them and look at their resilient growth into responsible, compassionate adults with so much pride that my heart risks bursting at times.

As a family, we share a love for NYC, gaming, nature, Netflix, and Broadway musicals. When not exploring the great outdoors or playing Baldur’s Gate 3, we are usually supporting our local theater or planning our next vacation.

A few of my favorite things

Joyfully single, I have learned to love my own company while preparing for an inevitable empty nest. I rapid-fire hyperfocus and discard hobbies & interests (hello, ADHD!), but I’m always passionate about traveling, social justice, equality, and protecting the environment. Things that I do not tolerate are littering, animal abuse, and bigotry/racism.

While mentally I have a solid sense of self, including an acute awareness of the fact that my mental health frequently betrays me, I concede that I am ever at odds with my body.

My goal is to become more comfortable in my own skin, and a big part of that journey includes acknowledging my eating disorder (BED) and putting in the work to improve my confidence & self-esteem.

My negative self-talk and body image struggles are textbook GenX cliches at this point, but more importantly, they are issues that my three children have witnessed, absorbed, and now grapple with, and for their sake, I am resolved to set a better example of living intentionally and enthusiastically in the body that I live in at any given moment.

Progress, not perfection.

Plagued by All-or-Nothing thinking, I am pledging to embrace this journey towards Health & Happiness with purpose, allowing myself as long as it takes to reach my goals. I want this endeavor to result in progress through an unending chain of better choices, acknowledging that small decisions equal big results when consistency is the focus. I don’t have to be the best, I just have to aim to make better choices in regard to my fitness and nutrition needs, each and every day.

My next big adventure

My next big adventure? Entrepreneurship! I have taken the leap into creating my own business, a gourmet Kettle Corn company! I am currently scaling and perfecting my home-crafted recipes to sell at outdoor gatherings (fairs, festivals, farmer’s markets, etc.) and will be offering onsite popping for corporate events and celebrations. As I wait for my customized kettle, I am building an online presence so that I will be able to offer customized products via shipping nationwide. This is such an exciting time for me, and I can not wait for these changes to go live!

I am not normally one to bet on myself, so this is well out of my comfort zone. However, I believe in my product, and more importantly, I believe in myself. Maybe for the 1st time.

I look forward to new adventures while documenting my journey to health and happiness.

Wish me luck!

Updates

Trigger Warning: Pet Loss

*Update: We lost our beloved rescue, River, in April of 2023. Losing River meant losing my best friend, and there will always be a puppy-shaped hole in my heart without her. I still hope to make the Grand Canyon/Rocky Mountain trip in her memory someday, once my heart has had some time to heal. She will forever be missed.

*Updated 6/18/2023

*Update: We can’t seem to catch a break in 2024. We lost our mischievous cat, Beesly, in March of 2024. Losing Beesly meant losing my daughter’s best friend & therapy companion, and there will always be a Beesly-shaped hole in our heart without her. My daughter has a new kitten, Suki, who is doing her best to cheer her up. While there’s always room in our hearts for another furry family member, both Beesly & River will never be replaced, only remembered with love & longing.

*Updated 7/6/2024

*Update: I experienced a TIA (mini-stroke) during the first of January 2024. This made me reevaluate what I value in life, and I immediately left my stressful corporate job. I resigned immediately after my health crisis in January, but the fear of change and economic uncertainty saw me accepting an offer to return to office shortly thereafter. The company I was working for continued to take advantage of me & demand more from me than I was willing to give, so I made the decision to again — finally! — step away from a job that was a source of stress and chaos in my life. After spending some time recovering, I am now ready to begin a new adventure … starting my own business!

*Updated 7/28/2024
0

Create a website or blog at WordPress.com

Up ↑