Covid-19 and being quarantined can feel very depressing, especially if you put the news on, have family members that work essential, having a family member that is sick, or not being able to see family members. These are the times that having a positive mindset is important for you and the people you are surrounded with. Being negative won’t help the situation, it will only cause an increase of inflammation in the body and create a negative environment.
It may feel weird to feel joyful during such a hard time, but it is what we need to do. I am finding joy in watching our crazy, busy, materialistic society step back in time. Sewing machines are sewing again. We are eating family meals. We are eating more home cooked meals. We are leaning on the Lord more. Parents are playing ball with their kids—with a smile on and not on the phones! Everyone’s natural hair color and nails are coming through. We are more active. We are cleaning our own houses. Mixers are mixing scratch bread or dough…like banana bread!
My husband’s birthday (March 28), my birthday (April 1), and our third wedding anniversary (April 22) all occur under this quarantine time. It may stink not being able to celebrate with others, but I am enjoying this extra time with him and our son. We got Indian take out and watched Netflix (obv).
Now Easter is in the midst of this time. It is strange not going to church to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and not eating dinner with our family. We will still be worshiping and listening to our pastor preach via video from my church, True North (join us every Sunday). We are going to have a social distancing egg hunt, really just watch my 2 nieces find eggs. I will miss the family dinner, instead we are going to grill some pizza and have salad because it is going to be beautiful— totally different then the ham dinner and carrot cake for dessert.
I love carrot cake, check out my vegan and gluten free carrot cake, and banana bread is the go-to theses days (plus I have a ton of over ripe bananas), so I incorporated both: carrot cake banana bread! The bread part is healthy with whole wheat flour, half the fat with incorporating apple sauce, sweetened with honey, filled with fresh carrots, walnuts, and raisins. Then I add a not so healthy topping with cream cheese, butter, vanilla extract, and powdered sugar. But it isn’t much! If you want you can always use my vegan frosting from my vegan and gluten free carrot cake. Feel free to eat the bread without a glaze. You can always make these into muffins, just cut down on the baking time.
Carrot Cake Banana Bread
Course: Dessert8
servings10
minutes45
minutes300
kcalIngredients
- Ingredients for bread
1.5 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
2 ripe bananas, mashed
2 eggs, at room temp
2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
1/4 cup applesauce, unsweetened
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup honey (or maple syrup)
1 cup carrots, grated (about 3 medium)
1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 cup raisins
- Ingredients for glaze
4 oz cream cheese, room temp
1/4 cup butter, room temp
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar
Directions
- Directions for bread
- Preheat oven to 350 °F. Spray and flour loaf pan.
- In a medium bowl, mix dry ingredients together: flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.
- In a mixing bowl (or a large bowl), mash bananas with forks and add eggs. Whisk until blended.
- Add oil, applesauce, vanilla, and honey until mixed together.
- Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients until combined.
- Add in carrots, walnuts, raisins.
- Pour into sprayed and floured loaf pan. Bake for 45-50 minutes, until tooth pick comes out clean.
- Let cool before icing or putting the glaze on.
- Directions for glaze
- In mixer bowl, whip together butter and cream cheese.
- Add vanilla.
- Slowly add in powdered sugar until mixed together into a frosting.
- Feel free to spread this over the bread OR if you want a glaze, heat mixture in a small pot until mixture is pour able.
- Once bread is cool, pour the glaze over the bread.
- Enjoy!
Happy Easter! Please stay safe and healthy. Keep the social distancing going. Remember not seeing our family for a few months is better than the rest of your life!
Pingback: Take Your Easter Brunch Up A Notch With These 5 Recipes! – Bitt Nutrition