Oh beautiful procrastination. We should probably date you’re so good looking. Oh wait… we practically already are considering how much time I spend with you.
Sigh, Story of my life.
Well… GOOD NEWS (always the optimist): I now have clean sheets, clean dishes, clean clothes, a vacuumed carpet, food for the week cooked up and stored in my fridge (oh soup, my staple in life!), banana bread, and an empty bottle of wine.
Bad news: umm, I’m taking the GREs in 4 days and studying hasn’t really happened. I have a presentation tomorrow, and another one right after. Plus, I’m starting a job this weekend. Not stressed. Me? Nope. Never.
So this GRE thing is funny. In France you don’t need the GREs to do a master… hence why I study in France. Yes, I literally fled the North American continent to avoid this test. But, it followed me, into my dreams (err, nightmares), and here we are. I have about 500 potential life plans for the next chapter of my life, and number 47 is a PhD. (Number one is becoming an organic sweet potato farmer in Brazil.) So, JUST in case, I'm taking the GRE to apply for PhDs. Ah, complex. In order to apply for a PhD in Canada or the States you need this freaking test. If you only knew HOW much I hate standardized tests, you would fully understand why half a loaf of banana bread is now gone. I’m an anxious eater… what can I say?
Ok. And back to good news, because I like to “sandwich” the bad news with two layers of happiness… this whole studying thing has led to a lot of “Jessica time”, which was greatly needed. Sometimes you forget how awesome it is to hangout with yourself! And, as my wonderful friend put it tonight when we were chatting… “Mannnn, I miss myself!!!" (Her life is even crazier than mine!) So true. Even if I’m about to get thrown into a blender by this stupid test, at least I’ve had some quality me time these past few days. Yes, there was a lot of school work and some studying, but there were also improv electro dance parties and long walks! Plus...
Obviously "me" time includes baking. Obviously. And, what’s better for studying than banana bread? (Plus, I just read that potassium (found in bananas) is great for mental relaxation and brain power! Hello Mr. Bananaman!)
CocOATnut Banana Bread – What you need:
- 1 ½ cup all purpose flour
- ½ cup oats
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ cup packed brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1/3 cup apple sauce
- 1 400ml can of coconut milk solids (Overnight refrigerate a can of coconut milk. Take it out just before you’re about to bake the banana bread, and scoop out all of the coconut solids from the can. You will have about a half of a can of coconut water left over. Use it in soup?!)
- 3 ripe bananas, mashed
CocOATnut Banana Bread – What you do:
Preheat your oven to 180c. Grease and flour a loaf pan. Set it aside.
In a large bowl, cream the coconut solids, sugar, and maple syrup with an electric mixer for 3 minutes. Add the apple sauce, blend well.
In another large bowl, stir together the flour, oats, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
Add the flour mixture to the coconut mixture and stir well. This batter will be very dry, but the bananas will make it moist… don’t worry!
Stir in the mushed bananas into the batter. Incorporate everything REALLY well, even pushing down with your spoon to mix it up perfectly!
Spoon the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake at 180c for 50 minutes to an hour.
Flip the loaf out of the pan and allow it to cool!
Take deep breaths and commence banana bread therapy.
I have this rule that I’m not allowed to eat the (homemade!) nutella by the spoonful anymore (it’s just too dangerous), so I put some on the banana bread – AMAZING! (If you ever judge the size of my banana bread "slices", I just want you to know that I fervently believe in karma.)
If this whole economics deal doesn’t work out in my favour, I will just sell banana bread on the street. It could work?
Baking soundtrack - Tunes to inspire your inner baker:
These girls from Montreal are AWESOME, and they make me miss home so much! I love this!! I've been deep into the "Nonchalant" jam.
And in keeping with the "heart" and Canadian theme...