Banana Date Coffee Cake, Yum!

 I thought it was time to post a recipe and think this is a winner. I had some older bananas that needed to be used, and some chopped dates so came up with this. Its kinda of my own creation. I took a banana muffin recipe, tweeked it a bit and added a streusel topping. Low sugar too!

Banana Date Coffee Cake

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 t. baking soda

1/4 t. salt

1/2 cup softened butter

1/2 c. sugar  or splenda

2 eggs

1 1/2 c. (or so) mashed ripe bananas

1/4 c. milk

1 t. vanilla

1 cup or so chopped dates

Preheat oven to 350. Prepare a 9" sq. pan by spraying it with cooking spray (I use Pam but any kind will do) In a large bowl, put in the dry ingredients, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix together well. In another bowl, put the butter and sugar, mix until fluffy, then add the two eggs, beat  well, then add the mashed bananas, vanilla and milk. I used a stick blender to mix the wet things really well.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones. Stir until mixed well. Finally, stir in the chopped dates until mixed throughout.  Spread in the prepared pan. Add the following streusel topping.

1/4 c. softened butter

1 t. cinnamon

2 T. flour

2 T. brown sugar.

Mix the 4 together and then drizzle it over the cake. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. It smells fantastic as it cooks. It was very tender and had lots of flavor. A nice thing for a weekend breakfast or a coffee break plus a good way to use up those bananas. 

Happy Birthday to our Grandson

It was Jayden's birthday this past week and we celebrated it with a Octonaut birthday party of sorts. Alan and I found this cake at the local bakery and thought it was close enough. He turned 3 and is a Octonaut fan. We've watched hours of the cartoon show and he's learned alot about undersea life as have we. My brother when he was here, bought him the Octopod itself and we got some accessories that go with it.

                  Here he is enjoying and imagining the adventures of Capt. Barnacles, Peso and the rest.

                                                                                  

I also managed to finish another card. This one has alot of detail and took me awhile to do what with the birthday. More strawberry thieves!

Thursday, A Vistor, Notecards and a Trip!

 Today I listed these 3 note cards I stitched and also relisted a few other goodies, redwork flour sack towels, some kitty kitchen towels, etc. You can find them in my Etsy shop, Sweet Home Stitchery

Its been difficult for me to stitch as we've been taking care of our grandson more heavily now that his parents are working so much. Our son has decided to quit the second job though to spend more time with his son and be able to rest a bit more. Some of his job assignments take him on long long road trips that are very tiring and he hasn't had a day off in several months working  two jobs.
 

I haven't posted in a few days because my younger brother came to visit. He lives in Hawaii with his wife and daughter. He came out to attend his 40th high school reunion and also to visit us, of course.

Here he is enjoying the island. He posted this photo on Facebook so I thought it would be ok to share it here. We had a wonderful visit, drove up to Oak Glen and got a few apples, and some apple cider. Hardly anyone was around so it was nice quiet ride. We walked along the trails, enjoyed the brown eyed susans and loaded apple trees.

 

It's starting to feel a little fall- like if that is possible. The evenings are getting cooler, and it stays cool most of the morning, warming up in the afternoon.  We had a good rain storm this last week too which is unusual. Maybe a short summer and a wet winter? I certainly hope so!