gluten free banana bread vs. banana almond muffins

Tonight we spend the evening at home.  It’s been snowing off and on all day.  We watched shows and cleaned and did laundry.  Not very exciting but was good.  I had 7 bananas that were ripe and in need of being  used.  When it’s cold outside and we are cozy inside I feel like eating warm and filling foods.  I found a really cool blog and tried out two of her banana bread/muffin recipes.   I decided to go gluten free so I can share them with my lil’sis tomorrow.  It will make her day to have a gluten free treat.

http://heathereatsalmondbutter.com/2013/02/23/bah-nana-bread/

vs.

http://heathereatsalmondbutter.com/recipes/almond-butter-banana-muffins/

My thoughts?

The bah-nana-bread as she calles it, was easier to make, fluffy and really good.  MizS loved it.  I didn’t have sour cream so I added an extra banana and 1/4 c cottage cheese.  I also only did 1/4 c or less of sugar.  It was significantly lighter than the muffins.  I only had to cook for about 45-50 minutes, so watch it closely.  I’ll totally make this again!

The muffins take 1/4 the time to cook.  They are hearty and tasty.  I added agave instead of the fancy non-sugar sugars she has on her recipe.  They were delicious with a litte butter.  B loved them (more than my berry muffins).  I’ll make them again as they felt hearty and filling being made with oat flour and they were great!  I’ll also cut back on the choc chips!

Don’t you love the internets and all of the amazing people you can connect with and all the delicious recipes, amazing ideas, and fascinating stories.

USVI – trip recap

5 days in the USVI was awesome.  I loved sharing it with B and the wild chickens and wild donkeys.

Below is our Trip Recap.

I hope you all go to the USVI one day!

It begins. STL – ATL red eye

Day 1: Arrive in STT.  Rent our Car (Budget and Avis are the only rental companies that allow you to take a car to St. John)
Drive from the Airport to RedHook.  Take the car ferry for ($50 RT) to Cruz Bay.  Arrive in Cruz Bay and head to Cinnamon Bay where we camped.  Camping on the beach was really awesome; safe, clean, affordable and really humid :).   We went for a dip in the water at sunset…and then ate at the cafe at the camp.  The food was actually pretty dang awesome; Creoloe shrimp, rice&beans, and macoroni.  They had a caribbean band and we jammed out to some Bob Marley tunes while people watching; the 60’year old ladies getting their groove on in the corner,  the retirees playing scrabble and the people from the midwest smuggling in lots of alcohol.  Welcome to the Caribbean!

It really is this beautiful!!
View of Trunk Bay STJ and our classy ford fiesta rental car!

Ahh…Vacation at last…

Day 2: B’s 30th Birthday!!  Woke up and hiked the Leinster Bay trail to Watermelon Cay.  The hike was  further than I remember but still beautiful.  We didn’t have our cameras but the snorkeling around the Cay and also to the point is beautiful.  Fish.  Beautiful Coral.  Sting Rays.  Conch.   Starfish.  We headed to the other side of the island to  Skinny Legs to eat burgers @ one awesome laid-back place.  Nothing like a burger in paradise.   After lunch, we spent the afternoon at Limetree cove and Hansen Beach where B got poked by a sea urchin, not a good idea.  Ended the day for sunset at Maho Bay with the stingrays.   We went to Cruz bay for dinner and since we don’t drink we did a restaurant crawl for good food & to celebrate B’s birthday.  We ate Street Tacos from the Spaniards stand, then had conch fritters and grilled tamarind/Jalapeño Mahi from the banana deck and ended with the best BBQ in the world from another street vendor.  We headed back for cold drinks on Cinnamon Bay!  What a birthday!!

30th Birthday @ Limetree beach. Look at that guy!

Enjoying limetree!

Out for his first snorkel at limetree. Can you believe this paradise!

Birthday burger @ skinny legs

Birthday dinner @ street food BBQ STJ

Day 3:  We started the day with a hike to the beautiful Francis Beach.  BEAUTIFUL, calm and serene beach.  LOVE.  We saw turtles, octopus, and fish and stingray while snorkeling.  When we got hungary we headed into cruz bay and ate sandwiches and salads at the Deli Grotto.  Which were tasty.  We headed back to Cinnamon to enjoy the afternoon in a quite shady spot on the beach and then we tried our hand at paddle-boarding   So fun!!  For sunset we headed out to Caneel bay resort, which was the perfect spot to enjoy a quiet sunset with the rich ! Someday maybe we could afford to stay there, that resort was incredible!!  After dark we headed into town for round #2 and the BBQ joint in Cruz Bay and some more fish taco’s.  Honestly some of the best BBQ we’ve ever had.  We went swimming back at Cinnamon with the bio-luminescent organisms and hopefully not the sharks.  Creepy but so fun!!

hiking to francis beach STJ

foggy lense @ francis beach STJ

Our shady spot at francis beach

sunset @ caneel bay

gorgeous sunset!

cool ruins @ caneel and handsome husb

Day 4: We got up and at it early and headed to hike the Rams Head Trail over at Salt Pond Bay.  The trail was exposed and we wanted to do it in the morning.  It was beautiful.  It’s amazing how arid the west side of the island is compared to the east side.  After the hike we snorkel around Salt Pond and out to the point and around the point.  IT was  a LONG swim but the snorkeling out at the point is amazing.  Some of the most beautiful fish, coral, and underwater life we had seen.   We saw tons of fish, and a sea caterpillar which was fun.  We headed to lunch and found the most amazing place for lunch and enjoyed we enjoyed one of the best  meals of our life.   We found Mis Lucy’s and it was gorgeous.  We had the PERFECT seat, delicious food and obviously I LOVED my company.  You’ve got to go to this place if you go to St. John.  We had a delicious jerk chicken cobb salad, a banana pina-colada johnny cakes, and the grouper sandwich.  It was unforgettable that meal and the experience.  We headed back to Maho beach for the afternoon/evening and watched the sunset at Maho, made a sand castle, and snorkel around with the turtles, fish, stingrays and just hung out.  We enjoyed dinner mountain man style on Cinnamon bay and enjoyed another dip in the ocean at dark.  It was the best of days.

gorgeous salt pond bay

sweaty hikers to rams head point

best lunch EVER!

Can you believe that view?!

worth documenting the grouper sandwich and jerk chicken cobb salad

view from mis lucys

sunset dinner on the beach…backpacking style!

 Day 5:  We took the 8am ferry to St. Thomas and enjoyed seeing smith bay, peterborg point, megans bay (where I lived), shakes at udder delight, walking through Charlotte Amille, and lunch at the greenhouse, and driving on the west end.  We boarded our plane to head back home after a great trip and were able to cath some of the Superbowl on our layover.

happy to be at maho!

megans bay STT

An amazing Trip and worth every penny!  The good news – we stayed on budget (under 2K) and didn’t get sunburned!  Thank goodness for SPF 1700 and shade!

And now we have the rest of our livse to think about the memories we made in the USVI!!