Amelia Takes On the World

Okay so credit goes to my friend Leslie who passed this on to me (who got it from her mom so I don’t know who to give original credit to) – but I love this recipe.    With Amelia allergic to dairy, egg and peanuts – I wanted to make this but make it so she could have it too.    So off I went to Whole Foods and got non-dairy and egg replacement for all the ingredients and I’m happy to say it turned out well! It was still really good.  Maybe not as good – but really good.

So I thought I’d share the recipe:

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
1/2 cup butter (I used Earth Balance, no dairy)
1 Cup Brown Sugar
3 oz. reduced fat cream cheese (I used Tofutti non-dairy cream cheese)
2 mashed ripe bananas
1 egg, beaten (I used EnerG egg replacement)
1/4 cup reduced fat sour cream (I used Tofutti non-dairy sour cream)
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tea. baking soda
1 tea. baking powder
1/4 tea salt
3/4 + cup choc. chips (I used Enjoy Life non-dairy choc chips)
Nuts-optional (I did not use nuts at all)

Cream together softened butter, cream cheese and brown sugar.  Add bananas, egg and sour cream, mix.  Blend all dry ingredients in a separate bowl.  Combine dry ingredients into sugar/butter mixture. Once blended stir in choc. chips.  Bake in a glass dish at 325 for 60-75 minutes.

Enjoy!

PS My favorite way to enjoy is toasted with peanut butter – well sunbutter these days…  not really healthy but so yummy!

Amelia didn’t nap on Sunday. I put her down for one, maybe a few minutes early because I needed a break. I thought sure, she’ll talk for 10 – 15 minutes but then she’ll take a nap. She always does, for at least 1 1/2 hours, if not 2 1/2 – 3 hours. Um yeah – haha. Silly me! She napped for approximately 0 minutes and instead talked and played in her crib for over an hour and a half. Needless to say I didn’t have high expectations of her mood when we went over to a friend’s house for dinner on Sunday. I have to admit though, she surprised me and she and her friend Carson had a fantastic time together. Carson is just over a year older than Amelia, and I think Amelia really does well following older kids around. (Carson is also a full head taller than Amelia which you will see in the photos). Enjoy the photos!

The hug started as unprompted, but we made them continue hugging so we could take photos.

Just cute girls, having a blast.

Amelia was having fun chasing Carson around – while carrying a hula hoop.  Because duh, of course you carry one while chasing someone older and faster than you.

Carson’s dad Shane had fun swinging the girls around.  Once Amelia saw Carson do it, of course she had to do it too.  And they both had to do it again and again and again…

Carson showing off her mad jumping skillz.  Amelia tried to jump but well, she just doesn’t get off the ground.

And finally just a couple fun pics from our back porch before we headed to the Joneses.  I am taking a photography class in June and am having fun playing and learning as much as I can even before then.

I hope everyone had a good weekend!  Next weekend I think we are tackling the zoo!

BabyMomma

Amelia and her cousin both love to dance.  Enjoy.

Yes, the joy.  Its like she turns 21 months, and a switch turned on.  Sigh.

Most of the time she is still my loveable, pretty laid back, adorable girly toddler.  Most of the time. (Sidenote, girly because she loves her bows, but she also really enjoyed helping daddy build & hammer the other day so she’ll probably have her tomboy inclinations just like I did as a kid)

Then there was the other night.  She was happily watching Mickey Mouse clubhouse (her new addiction) which kept her from asking to eat every 5 seconds while I got dinner ready.  We let the show end, turned it off, she seemingly went to her chair with no issues, she buckles herself in, picks up a piece of ham and throws it on the ground.  Hmm.  That starts a 20 – 30 minute tirade of crying and tantrum, punctuated with ‘mommy’ sniff ‘mommy’ sniff… We tried asking what was wrong.  We tried giving her what she might want.  We tried ignoring.  Finally – upstairs with a paci & lamby and then back downstairs for more ‘Mi Mouse’ and she ate her plate clean and she was mostly happy again.  (We never did find out what was really wrong)

We are thinking we need to set down rules now – she certainly can understand us – so we are going to say no TV before dinner from now on, even if it means I have no peace getting dinner ready.  Not sure its what caused it, but I don’t think it helped.  And I hate that we resorted to it to get her to calm down but we were DESPERATE at that point.

In the morning, another mini-tantrum when in the booster seat (I have a thought that might be part of the problem, she wants to sit in a chair like us but she isn’t tall enough for our table), but finally after a couple minutes the word ‘cereal’ escaped and we got her some cereal like mommy had and she was happy.  I’m happy to give her cereal if she asked, its shredded wheat – I’m happy for a toddler to eat shredded wheat (well its frosted, but still – wheat! fiber! all good).

Last night no issues.  This morning I thought we were doing well.  Then she found the can of puffs in her diaper bag – and she of course wanted to eat out of the can.  I offered her a bowl to pour them in but she refused and I took the can away.  (So mean I know – I mean granted the whole can is like 100 calories, but the point is she can’t just have whatever she wants, and she needs to pour out a serving).  This lead to me carrying a 28-lb toddler crying to the mini-van and strapping her in.  Minnie Mouse, her doll, helped calm her, and she then accepted the bowl of puffs I had poured.  Going into school, the bowl flipped, she lost the puffs and since I refused to let her eat off the sidewalk, I had to carry the same 28-lb toddler into daycare screaming for them.   She calmed down almost instantly inside the school, but it was quite a morning.

We are having another one?  I think now I know why people tell me its the older child that is actually more difficult the 2nd time around.

I love her, and she is a great child.  I know this is a stage all 2 year olds go through… I just don’t think I was ready.

I love you Amelia!  We will have a great weekend, I just know it.

Baby Momma