Five on Friday.....

I'm excited to be linking up with my friend Amy from Love Made My Home today!  My 5 are all centered around the home as we have been cooped up for the last month with February being bitterly cold in our neck of the woods.  The beans are all bouncing off the walls and this mama is ready to dig in the dirt!

 One~Baking

Each Monday I plan out meals for the week and write them on our chalkboard that sits in our kitchen.  I make my list for exactly what we need for that week and head to the grocery.  So come Sunday the fridge looks pretty bare.  The good part about this plan is that we don't waste much food.  If you must know, I always feel guilty when I see food go to waste.  I try to teach the beans the importance of where their food comes from and how lucky they are to have it.  So with black bananas staring me down, I decided to make a loaf of...

Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

1/4 cup butter

8oz cream cheese

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cups regular flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk

1 1/2 cups ripe smashed bananas 

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/4 semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Beat the butter and cream cheese until creamy and slowly add the sugar until fluffy.  Then add the eggs one at a time.  In a separate bowl combine the flours, baking soda, powder, and salt.  Sift into the butter mixture alternating the flour mixture with the buttermilk.  Stir in bananas, chocolate chips and vanilla.  Pour into 2 buttered loaf pans.  Bake for about 60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let stand in the pan for 10 minutes before removing.  Once out let the loaves cool for 30 minutes.  YUMMY!

I also think a lot about where our food comes from.  Sure the beans eat processed foods but I try to limit it as much as possible.  Our new favorite snack is one that is not only easy to make but works well because it only requires 3 ingredients that we always have on hand.

Sun Butter Honey Oat Bites

We have a nut allergy in our home so I changed this recipe from peanut butter to sunbutter and I was thrilled at how delicious it tasted!   

{Inspired by the peanut butter version found on Pinterest}

1/2 cup of sunbutter

1/4 cup of honey

about 1 cup of oats 

(a little more of mixture seems to wet)

~Grease a 9 by 9 pan

~Heat sunbutter and honey in the microwave for 45 seconds and stir 

~Pour in oats and stir again

~Press into pan and put it in the fridge for a couple of minutes to let set

~Cut into squares

Two~Crafting with Beans {character board}

Did I mention that we've been cooped up?!!?  The perfect time to take a trip to Michaels to buy some bits for a new project.  I've had this old sign for a long time and kept it because I knew it would come in handy one day.  The beans and I decided to turn this into our character board.

We picked up wooden hearts and stars at the craft store.  As well as magnetic strips and letters.  I wanted them to have a hand in making the pieces for their board.  The beans painted the pieces and added their names to the newly sprayed sign.

When they make good choices, show good character, and do their chores I tell them to add a star or heart to their board.   It's been such a fantastic way to highlight their positive behaviors throughout the day and a great motivator as well.

Three~Decorating

I wish I could say that I finished my girls' room but I'm not quite there yet.  In the meantime, I've been adding some finishing touches to my little man's room.  My pop found a vintage airplane calendar for my son so I was able to use some of those photos in his new gallery wall.  

Four~Hearts

And because I still have a ton of fabric from my old curtains I hand sewed a few hearts that hung in the house during the month of February.  Thinking I will use them as ornaments for Christmas this year.

Five~Garden

Last on the list are  2 items I would like to purchase for our garden this year.  I have an infatuation with garden obelisks.  The problem is every obelisk that I like is only made and shipped within the UK.  You all sure know how to make them over there!   Wooden obelisks with round finials are my favorite.

via-Indulgy.com

So after a lot of searching I found this one here   The price is right though I will probably end up painting it and maybe just maybe adding my own round finial to the top!  

The last piece for the garden would be a potting bench.  I like the idea of having one for all my "stuff" as well as using it to create vignettes during the cold winter months here in Chicago.  This picture (a bit fuzzy) was from a Christmas walk I went on with my mom and sisters.

I found this simple straightforward version from here

And there you have it!

 I wanted to take a moment and thank you all for being so outstanding.  This journey has connected me with so many extraordinary folks from across the globe!  You inspire me daily!

Wishing you all a lovely weekend!  

*I've been informed that my comments have stopped reaching people's email inboxes.  I'm not sure why so if anyone has any advice on that please feel free to share.