Banana Caramel Sticky buns

It's been another busy weekend. Friday night we went to my hubby's uncle's house for supper. Got to see their new kitchen as well and I would love a kitchen like theirs!  Yesterday the house cleaning and laundry got done, and then I made Banana Caramel Sticky buns. I have made these many times and they are so good!

Here's the recipe:

1 large very ripe banana, mashed
6 eggs, lightly beaten
1/3 cup melted ghee or coconut oil
1/2 cup honey or maple syrup
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup coconut flour
1/4 tsp salt

Topping:
1 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped
1/4 cup honey or maple syrup
1/4 cup ghee or coconut oil
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp coconut flour

Preheat oven at 350F. Mix all ingredients for buns with a wire whisk. Evenly pour into a well greased 12 cup muffin pan. ** Do not use paper muffin liners**
Mix all ingredients for topping with a fork and crumble topping on buns
Bake for 20-25 minutes until cooked through. Cool for about 2 minutes, then run a knife around each bun to loosen from pan. Immediately remove from muffin tin to a wire rack to finish cooling. You may need to scrape the topping back onto the buns as you remove them, but the topping will set up as they cool.

Once those where ready we were off to my hubby's hockey game, although I didn't stay. My friend dropped off her hubby and his brother, and I hopped in with her and we went to her place to get busy in the kitchen. We started with getting the sauce ready for our supper. We made a tomato and pesto sauce and had that with some spaghetti. Then once the sauce was on the stove top on low, we got dessert ready. From the chocolate covered Katie cookbook we made the lemon and chocolate donuts. They were both delicious!! They were also very easy to make and they were baked not fried.

They were a big hit!!  Still some left over as well so they will be great to snack on this week. Today I also go into the kitchen again and prepared two recipes from the Thug kitchen cookbook, and they both turned out great. First one is a roasted beet and quinoa salad.

I made this for a few lunches this week. Then I prepared the roasted potato salad with fresh herbs

We will have this for supper tonight. I did take out london broils to cook up with the salad, and I'm thinking to roast some carrots to go along with it. I have cut back on meat a lot, but really in the mood for some tonight.

Weekend has gone by really fast, but looking forward to sharing those muffins with co-workers, I double the recipe so I can bring some to work. There's a lot of the potato salad so I'm sure there will be some left over, and also from the Thug kitchen I want to make the 5-spice fried rice with sweet potatoes for supper sometime this week. With the donuts, muffins, and delicious meals, it's going to be a good week I'm sure.

Fall

Fall is my favorite time of year. It's just so cozy, and beautiful!  We get to see beautiful colors outside, and it's the perfect weather to be outside running, or doing any sort of exercise/sport.

Yesterday and today, we got some wet snow, not much but it was still pretty to see, but glad it didn't stick to the ground. I'm not quite ready for snow yet, it's just to early for that. I am really enjoying the beautiful colors and cool weather out there.

I did get into the kitchen this week, but it was to prepare for an Epicure party. I went to a friend's place and we were 12 women in total, so a good turnout. We had vegetables and dip, I made a 3 onion, herb and garlic and lemon dilly dips. I also prepared some salsa, and guacamole, and I prepared a cheese dip in a sourdough bread, and for a drink, I made apple cider, and dessert was an eggnog cheesecake. It was a fun night!  Yesterday we went to my dad's for supper, and my brother, sister in law, nieces and nephews also went. They brought dessert, which was an apple crumble and some watermelon cupcakes which both were really good! I brought some vegetables and dip, and my dad prepared a turkey, some ham, potatoes and corn. It was all very good! Today I thought to make some snacks, but realized we still have a few muffins left, there's left over cheesecake and vegetables and dip, so I only prepared a few lunches. I've been eating quite a bit of meat lately, so thinking to do a bit of a detox, and eat lighter for a while, no meat except fish or shrimp, and cut back on dairy and sugar because I've had a bit to much of those as well. I haven't had any endometriosis pain but before I do, it's a good idea for me to cut back on those things. My niece picked up a new cookbook for me, it is in French, but I looked at it at my brother's place, and my sister in a law tried a few recipes and has loved them all. One I'm looking forward to trying out is a pasta recipe, it's with tofu, and they said it was amazing. I also haven't made many recipes from the thug kitchen cookbook that my friend got me as a gift, so I'm thinking to see what new recipe I can make from that book as well.

It's a perfect time for me to do this because it is cooler out, so it will be nice to have some vegetable  or miso soup, some vegetarian chili, pasta or stir fries. I'm sure my hubby won't be in on that, he likes his meat, so I'll be sure to add some to his meals.

Hope everyone is enjoying Fall as much as I am!

Syracuse and Thanksgiving

The weekend before Thanksgiving, my friend and I drove out to Watertown and Syracuse to do some shopping. She picked me up nice and early on the Saturday and we were off!  We first stopped in Watertown to have some breakfast at Cracker barrel

They have amazing food there!  We both had hot chocolate and enjoyed some pancakes, which we should have shared a plate because 3 huge pancakes each is way to much food!  It was delicious though.  We also shopped around in their store, and each bought a small cast iron skillet. Then we were off to Syracuse, and stopped in a mall and spent quite a bit of money, but had a good time. We did of course break for lunch, which we had to go to the Outback. Use to have one in Ottawa but it shut down and we miss it!  Their bread is delicious!!!!

We also shared some appetizers for our lunch, I know not healthy whatsoever but it was good!

We continued our shopping after lunch and spent more money  =)  We decided to go back to the Outback for supper, which was a late supper, we showed up around 7 pm I believe. I went for their fillet mignon, mashed potatoes and a salad.

The steak was perfectly cooked! I enjoyed my supper with a glass of red wine. We then had to drive back to Watertown (about an hour drive) to get to our hotel room. Sunday morning we slept in, then had a small breakfast, courtesy of the hotel, but it wasn't that good so we didn't eat much. We then went to Walmart because it was a must that we go see the Pioneer Woman's new kitchen line, and we were like two kids at Christmas! We went crazy over the beautiful things she has. We bought a lot of things!!  If you don't know who the Pioneer Woman is, check out her website here, and you can also find her on the food network. We then made our way back home, but got stuck at the boarder since we spent quite a bit of money, so we had to pay taxes on it all. It was an amazing trip. Something we both needed, to just talk, go shopping and just have a great time.

This past weekend was Thanksgiving and my hubby's parents came down for a visit. We had a thanksgiving supper at his aunt's place, which I of course ate to much food, and Sunday I went out shopping with my dad during the day and while my hubby and his dad were gone to the hockey game, I relaxed at home. Monday my niece, dad and father in law came over for supper and I prepared a Sheppard's pie but made it with turkey, carrots, celery, onion in a chicken gravy sauce that I made, then topped it with mashed sweet potatoes. We then enjoyed a strawberry and rhubarb pie. Something else I also had time to do was the Chocolate Banana bread muffins, which you can find the recipe in my previous post.

So I am still keeping myself nice and busy. This weekend will be another busy weekend, but hope to have more time in the kitchen, to prepare healthy meals and snacks for next week. Hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving!