Banana-only ice cream

http://www.cometogetherkids.com/2012/05/banana-ice-cream-made-from-bananas-only.html

This is too good to keep to myself! It's ice cream and the only ingredient: bananas. Seriously.

More detailed info on the link, complete with photos.

Take your banana collection that's just a bit more ripe than you'd want to eat as is or grab some that you have already in the freezer. Cut the not-frozen banana into 1 inch chunks, lay them out in a single layer on wax paper on a baking sheet, freeze. Or if you're using an already-frozen banana, leave it on the counter just long enough so you can peel it. 

Grab a food processor or blender, throw in the frozen pieces, blend, scrape down if you need to, blend more until it's a smooth, creamy-looking texture. It's like soft-serve ice cream!

But, let's get creative! And if you've tried a variation on this theme, give me a holler and I can list if here if you like, to inspire others :)

I added fresh strawberries to mine. It tastes like a smoothie. Would be AMAZING on waffles.

Other additions:

peanut butter

coconut

pineapple
Nutella

Multigrain Buns

I've made this recipe a number of times, but not for a few years. It's from the white recipe book (I still have some if you want a copy and the money goes to our church missions projects.) This is Rachael Penner's recipe.

4 cups warm water

1/4 cup honey

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 Tbsp salt

1 tsp vinegar

2 egg whites, well beaten (or 1 whole egg)

1 cup powdered milk

1 cup bran

1 cup flax seed, freshly ground

1 cup rolled oats, ground in blender

4 cups whole wheat flour

2 Tbsp Fermipan yeast

6 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup crushed sunflower seeds, opional

Put water, honey, oil, salt, vinegar, eggs, powdered milk, bran, flax seed, oats, and whole wheat flour. Mix well.

As you continue to mix, sprinkle with yeast. Knead in the all purpose flour for 8 to 10 minutes. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size (1 to 1 1/2 hours). Shape into buns or loaves, cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size (1 to 1 1/2 hours). Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minute for buns, 35-40 minutes for loaves.

Notes:

Makes a huge batch! 2 large and 2 small loaves, 6 large buns and 6 muffin cup buns.

A coffee grinder works well to grind the flax.

Multigrain flour is fantastic in place of whole wheat.

I used 2 whole eggs instead of 2 egg whites.

Fried Rice

This is called "Fried Rice Restaurant Style" on allrecipes.com. It's very similar to how I throw together fried rice. This could be gluten-free if the soy sauce is GF.

2 cups enriched white rice
4 cups water
2/3 cup chopped baby carrots
1/2 cup frozen green peas
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 eggs
soy sauce to taste
sesame oil, to taste (optional)

In a saucepan, combine rice and water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.

In a small saucepan, boil carrots in water about 3 to 5 minutes. Drop peas into boiling water, and drain.

Heat wok over high heat. Pour in oil, then stir in carrots and peas; cook about 30 seconds. Crack in eggs, stirring quickly to scramble eggs with vegetables. Stir in cooked rice. Shake in soy sauce, and toss rice to coat. Drizzle with sesame oil, and toss again. 

Notes:

This is a great way to use leftover rice. If you plan to prepare rice for dinner one night, make extra to use for this purpose. I personally prefer brown rice and I don't know how to link to it, but if you search my blog, I have a good recipe for that.

The first review on this recipe on allrecipes says: "really easy and yummy! IMPORTANT NOTE: if you want it to taste like true restaurant style, you need to put the rice only in a pot over high heat and stir it around for about 5 minutes or so before cooking. it helps the grains of rice to stay separate (more like restaurant style) and less sticky. i also used frozen peas/carrots from a bag...worked great!"

The second review says: "This is a great recipe! The only thing I want to add is that to get that authentic "taste" of restaurant fried rice, you should add about half a bottle of Oyster Sauce. Easily found in the asian section at the grocery store. Back off on that much if it tastes too strong, but after years of living in Japan and trying many versions of fried rice recipes, oyster sauce is the ticket!"

I typically saute onion and frozen-veggies-from-a-bag together, add the rice, then the eggs, and then the soy sauce and a little sesame oil at the end. It can be a pretty simple and complete meal on its own, especially if you have meat in it.

Iced Coffee

I take no credit for this recipe! You can follow this link for helpful instructions and step-by-step photos: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/06/perfect-iced-coffee/

The basic foundation of her recipe, and if you've had iced coffee and especially if you've attempted to make your own, are these two concepts:

1) iced coffee is easily diluted and therefore bland. 

2) it must be super cold; the colder the better!

First things first: the next time you make a pot of coffee, make extra or save the leftovers and freeze it in your ice cube trays!!! Make lots of them. Once they're frozen you can store them in a plastic storage bag or in a container.

The original recipe is roughly this:

In a large container (it will need a lid in a minute), combine:

1 lb coffee grounds

2 gallons COLD water

Stir to ensure all grounds are soaking in the water. Put the lid on, toss it in the fridge for a minimum of 8 hours. The longer it sits, the more the grounds can settle and therefore easier to separate it later.

Strain it through a fine mesh strainer or use what you have on hand: I used a colander with a coffee filter in it. Put it into a (preferably glass) pitcher or container of some sort to store in the fridge. I find my Pampered Chef batter bowl works well, and I did NOT start with 2 gallons of water :)

When it's time to make your iced coffee mixture, fill a glass with coffee ice cubes OR throw them into your ice crushing blender :) LOTS of ice cubes! Add your coffee. I went for about 2/3 of the mixture being coffee, 1/3 any combination of milk and/or cream, vanilla or other flavoring you love, and sugar to taste. 

I just did a batch in my blender and it was approximately 4 cups of coffee, 1 1/2 cups of milk, 1/2 cup of cream (I know! right?), 1/2 cup of sugar, 2 tsp vanilla. I gave it a quick whip with the blender to mix.

Updated May 20, 2014:
I made a batch today:
2 cups cold coffee
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup cream
1 full tray of coffee ice cubes
No milk

The coffee isn't strong enough and I didn't add milk because it would dilute it further :(

When Love Doesn't Come Easily

Discovering new ways to draw close to your child.

Written by Shannon Medisky

Summer 2012 Thriving Family magazine

by Focus on the Family.

My son Mark's adoption took more than two years to complete, giving me plenty of time to idealize what he would be like. But when Mary finally reached my arms, he more closely resembled a tiny tornado than the little boy I imagined.

At almost 3 years old, Mark could barely walk, couldn't talk, wouldn't feed himself and had a mountain of behavior issues. More than once, I caught him with his tiny fingers clenched around my other son's neck.

Mark was a broken little boy, and putting him back together was tearing me apart. To make matters worse, the love I had hoped would come easily had so far eluded me -- adding guilt to my burdened heart. I carried this guilt far too long before I realized that love takes many different forms.

Whether because of a language barrier or a broken heart, many adopted children are incapable of understanding verbal or physical expressions of love. In these situations with Mark, it's necessary for love to take different forms. Here are some of the different looks of love:

Meeting basic needs.

Whether it's attending to a medical concern or showing unending patience, meeting your child's basic needs clearly conveys how much you care. In Mark's case, the first gestures he understood as love were food on the table and clothes that fit properly.

Building trust through routines.

Often, adopted children have lost trust in adults because of too many bad surprises in their lives. It's no wonder these children thrive on consistency. Establishing a daily routine, which includes consistent mealtimes and bedtime, has eased Mark's fear of the unknown. He no longer fears what might happen because he knows what to expect.

Setting reasonable expectations.

This tells your child you have faith in his potential and are committed to helping him succeed. At times, clearly communicating your expectations may sound blunt. But love doesn't pity, and it's not always "warm and fuzzy". In Mark's case, speech delays make the simplest words difficult to say. Many times I've incurred glares from strangers as I encouraged him to use his words -- expecting him to try. As his mom, it's my job to help him venture outside his comfort zone so he can grow.

Validating emotions.

You can show love to your child by having arms that are quick to embrace with compassion, regardless of what emotions you encounter. Because of Mark's limited vocabulary, he often crumples in my lap sobbing. He needs me to validate his feelings he can't yet express with words. When I help by giving him the words, he knows I understand.

Without even realizing it, I was showing love to Mark in ways that no one had before. And, the more I purposed to attend to Mark's needs, the more my love for him grew. Perhaps it shouldn't come as a surprise that love, muck like a child, needs to be nurtured in order to grow and flourish.

Notes:

To be very clear, even though I can relate to many parts of this article, it is not about speaking poorly of biological parents, nor is it about making adoptive parents look like saints. 

And I can't emphasize this enough: if you have not been in this situation, there is no possible way you can understand. Other adoptive parents I've spoken with about this topic can relate.