Monday, November 26, 2007

Another day...

Eudora helped me make some banana cashew bread for Isaac. I was out of honey so we used some homemade apple butter. Hope it turns out ok. Isaac is not doing well off his diet. We placed him on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet when he was two years old. It was sort of for his Autism Spectrum diagnosis but primarily because he had symptoms of Celiac and I wanted to avoid invasive testing. Within 5 days he was a totally different kid. He just woke up on day 5! (Pecan Bread is also a great website dealing specifically with Autism Spectrum Disorders and the Specific Carbohydrate diet.)

We had gradually introduced gluten free grains since then but it just isn't going to work. He has slowly gone backwards in some areas. So I am going to have to work on more baking around here to substitute for the gluten free baked goods he was really enjoying. This recipe is delicious! It actually calls for Macadamia nuts but we like the flavor of Cashews best around here.

Banana Cashew Bread

16 oz (4 cups) of raw unsalted cashews
3/4 cup honey
4 large eggs
4 ripe bananas
4 tbsp melted butter
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Grease two traditional sized loaf pans and line the bottom with parchment paper.

Place all the ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth. I love this part. The less
I have to clean up the better! Pour the batter into the loaf pans and for 55-60 minutes.

Turn off the oven and leave the bread in till the oven cools. Remove from pans and serve. I
hate having to mention something like that in a recipe since it seems so obvious. Oh, yeah don't forget to remove bread from the oven before removing from the pans and serving!

This stuff is good! It doesn't taste like special diet food. I hesitated to eat it at first because I just would have preferred regular old banana bread. Once I tried this I had a hard time not eating more.

Eudora also reminded me that she wants one of my aprons. I need to make her a few for Christmas. I was planning on pulling out some old scarves, handkerchiefs and vintage linens to make them from. I haven't pulled out my sewing machine because I kept telling myself I need to get my bedroom in order to get it set up. Well, my bedroom is finally getting in order! My sweet husband has been slaving away this weekend to repaint our bedroom and bathroom. This is my Christmas present. I'll have to put some pics up when I can. I wouldn't bother showing the before pictures.

Right now the walls are Anjou Pear and the ceiling is Vintage Map. We had to add a good bit of Chamois Cloth to the Vintage Map paint. The color was just too garish otherwise. I plan on painting the bath in Vintage Map and the ceiling in Anjou Pear. The trim will be the Chamois cloth. We are going to be putting up crown molding and chair rail in the bedroom as well as making some wooden shelves for our books. I am so tired of the ugly Home Depot cheap ones with the little rows of holes that hold the pegs that hold up the shelves that hold up the books. I can't count the times a shelf has fallen.

I have a nice new ceiling fan to be put up as well. David is also going to rewire my lamp for me. I have not actually used the lamp in about 15 years since I accidentally electrocuted myself with it as a teenager. It belonged to my Great Grandmother and my Grandmother painted it. Since then it has been decorative. I saw some dried up food on it last night so it isn't all that decorative right now I suppose.