I’m aliiiiiiive!!!

(^That’s a bit dramatic.) Needless to say, I survived my first day of student teaching. Not only that, but it went so, so well. Thank you all for your good luck wishes and kind things you said – I’m sure they helped!

Really, though, I couldn’t have asked for a better first day. I don’t want to go into too much detail on here for now (because it’s not necessarily the avenue I want my blog to go down, I feel like the school/students deserve some privacy, and it doesn’t seem very professional for me to blabber on about this experience), but what I will say is that the students were so great yesterday, my coordinating teachers are awesome, the staff at GHS is so, so nice, and I’m looking forward to returning today!

I woke up at 5:02 yesterday morning, got in a workout, breakfast, and shower before leaving at 6:50, and didn’t get back home until 7 pm. Youch. It was all fine in the end, but still, it was a loooong day. You’ll have to forgive me if I don’t get back to your comments for a couple of days. I love reading them all, but it’s a time management thing for me. Please keep writing them, though, and I promise I will write back eventually!

For today’s WIAW, I thought I’d do something a bit different. Instead of posting my favorite eats from over the week, I wanted to share two recipes with you all!

Hosted by Jenn @ Peas and Crayons!

The first is one that I promised a reader (hi, Jen!) I’d have up by today. I actually wasn’t planning on posting it (which is why I don’t have any great pictures) but after I got a few requests, I figured, why not?

Baked Banana Oatmeal (egg, nut, dairy, and gluten free)

Ingredients:
– 1 cup organic oats
– boiling water
– 2 ripe bananas
– 1 cup fresh blueberries (I didn’t include these because of my GERD, but I definitely would if I was you!)
– 3/4 cup raisins
– 1/4 cup rice milk (or soy, dairy, coconut, etc.)
– 1 tbsp. ground cinnamon
– 1 tbsp. honey

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375*F. Spray a pie plate (I used a 9-inch) with cooking spray, and set aside.
2. Pour oats in a large bowl, and pour over enough boiling water to cover the oats. Let them soak for about 10 minutes, or until the water is absorbed.
3. In a separate bowl, thinly slice the banana.
4. Once the water is absorbed, add the banana to the oats, and mush it together. Toss in the rest of the ingredients (except blueberries), and stir together.
5. Lastly, fold in the blueberries, taking care not to break them.
6. Pour the mixture into the prepared pie dish and bake for about 20 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.
7. Serve warm with a sprinkling of brown sugar, stevia, maple syrup, honey, or just plain! Enjoy!

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The second recipe is one that I fashioned over the weekend. My aunt brought over a ginormous zucchini from her own garden, and my mom had bought a lot of bananas, so I figured I might as well make zucchini banana bread!

For those of you keeping track, my reflux is still not the greatest. However, I have begun loosening the strings on my diet a bit. Nevertheless, I still tried to keep this recipe as natural as possible.

It turned out so well! The bread is so moist (normally, I hate that word, but when used to describe baked goods, it’s ok) and is just exploding with amazing flavors. Definitely a keeper!

Zucchini Banana Bread (egg, nut, and dairy free)
makes 2 loaves

Ingredients:

– 1 cup all-purpose flour
– 2 cups whole wheat flour
– 3/4 tsp. salt
– 1 tsp. baking soda
– 2 tsp. baking powder
– 1 tbsp. ground cinnamon
– 2 ripe bananas
– 1/2 cup natural, no sugar added applesauce
– 1/4 cup canola oil
– 1/4 cup Greek yogurt OR canola oil
– 1/2 cup granulated sugar
– 3/4 cup brown sugar
– 1/4 cup honey
– 2 tsp. vanilla extract
– squeeze of lemon juice
– 3 1/2 cups grated zucchini, squeezed of any excess water

Directions:

1. Preheat oven 325*F. Grease two 8×4-inch loaf pans, and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon.
3. In a large bowl, mash the bananas. Add the applesauce, oil, Greek yogurt (or more oil), sugars, honey, extract, and lemon juice. Whisk the wet ingredients together until well combined.
4. Stir in 1/3 of the dry mixture, and mix until combined. Repeat until all of the dry mixture is stirred into the wet.
5. Fold in the grated, drained zucchini.
6. Pour evenly into the two loaf pans and bake for about 50 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center of bread comes out clean, and bread is pulling away from sides of pan.
7. Allow the bread to cool in the pans for about 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
8. Serve warm or at room temperature, and enjoy!

Notes:
– If you’re not going to enjoy this bread within a couple of days, I recommend freezing it. The best way (I’ve found) to freeze bread is to wrap it in tin foil then put that in a plastic, freezer zip-lock bag. No freezer burn! Then, when you’re ready to enjoy it, remove it from the bag and allow it to come to room temperature, removing the foil as it thaws.

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And with that, I wish you all a very happy Wednesday! Have a wonderful day, everyone!