Being ‘furloughed’ from work has been a blessing in disguise for me. For the first time in a long time… I have time. ⏰
I am able to spend quality time with my children, something I always feel I don’t do enough of, I am able to spend more time thinking about what I want from life and I am able to get those household jobs done that I am always meaning to do.
Usually, when I am working all day, I come home from work feeling tired, I make tea, wash up, have a shower and do any chores that need doing, then I just want to relax. When Toby comes running in excitable at 7.30pm asking for a game of Uno I find myself either halfheartedly playing with him or telling him ‘maybe tomorrow’ and I always feel guilty.
Now, I can spend time with them in the morning helping them with their Schoolwork, playing games and joining in with them doing P.E. with Joe Wicks.
I can spend more time with them cooking and baking, I can read with them, we can play ball games in the garden and they have even been helping with the cleaning.
By the end of the day I am tired, but for the right reasons – I am tired from spending time having fun with my family and when I sit down and relax, I feel content that I have given my children attention and love and I deserve to have an hour to myself or with my husband. I need to find a way to make sure my home / work balance is right in the future and I am using this time as a perfect opportunity to plan this.
This morning, I had cleaned the kitchen from top to bottom and looked at a bunch of very sorry-looking bananas. 🍌 They were black. Once upon a time I would have just thrown them, not having the time to even think about what to do with them, but I had time. I remembered a funny post I saw on Instagram:
‘I feel like we are entering into the banana-bread baking stage of lockdown’ 😂
Banana bread! Fantastic idea. It is quick and easy to make and so delicious and I will not be wasting the poor bananas. Also, I have never before had time to bake on a Monday morning at 10.30am.
This banana bread is vegan and gluten free. I also had some chocolate chips in the cupboard left over from baking brownies with the boys a couple of weeks ago so I threw these in – yum!
By lunchtime, Paul was taking the photos of the hot bread and eating as he was going – I had to rescue it quickly so the boys and I could have some! I think it will have all gone by this evening – but it was worth it and I don’t think I will ever throw a banana away again.
I recommend everyone embracing the banana bread baking stage of lockdown! Enjoy and try to share! 😁
Vegan Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 50 ml olive oil
- 4 medium very ripe bananas (black bananas are perfect)
- 100 grams dark brown sugar
- 225 grams gluten free bread flour or plain flour (we used Doves Farm GF Bread Flour)
- 4 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp nutmeg (you can use mixed spice)
- 40 grams vegan dark chocolate chips (optional)
Instructions
- Heat oven to 190 Degrees C (Fan) / 210 Degrees (non Fan) and line a loaf tin.
- In a large bowl, mash the bananas with the oil and brown sugar.
- Stir in the flour.
- Add the baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg and mix well.
- Stir in the chocolate chips if using.
- Bake in the oven for 40 minutes, checking occasionally.
- Check the bread is cooked by inserting a skewer and making sure it comes out clean.
- Delicious straight from the oven… but also good when cooled if you can resist temptation.
If you do try our recipe please leave us some ⭐⭐⭐ likes ⭐⭐⭐ or comments. It helps other readers and it it’s also lovely to hear from you.
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