NaNo Bake

Writing gives me a big case of the munchies. With the holidays coming up fast on the NaNo radar, I'm taking this time to share all my favorite NaNo-friendly foods :)

My favorite way to start my NaNo day is with an enthusiastic breakfast. This is usually Cheerios with blueberries. Some days when I need a little something extra, I eat a homemade muffin. Mm, poppy seed lemon muffins go well with NaNo! On really special days, to help kick-start the muse I drink a pumpkin spice latte. Nom!

Since this year's special NaNo challenge includes both writing and exercise, I don't feel too bad about eating some heavy snacks in between ten-minute writing marathons throughout the morning and afternoon. My mother's banana nut bread recipe is one of my fav NaNo snacks as well as pumpkin bread and cranberry bread. The great thing about these three bread-related snacks is that they tend to tide me over longer than Doritos or any of my more regular snackums. And they make the holidays and the end of NaNo feel a little more closer....

A NaNo lunch is usually pretty small due to my snacking habits. Usually a salad with leftovers from the night before works best. The least productive part of my day is 2:00 in the afternoon. This is usually the point where those magic ten-minute writing spurts peter out and I start procrastinating. The real writing comes later in the night. Thankfully, the hub usually provides us both with a good dinner before I hit the keyboard again for that last long haul. Because I enjoy these intense home-stretch word count completions between 10pm and 1am, I treat myself to a glass of wine and finish my writing day on a high note!

Here's a recipe like my mother's for banana nut bread....

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups flour
3 large very ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup nuts, chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions: Blend together sugar, butter, and eggs. Add dry ingredients, which have been sifted together. Add mashed bananas, chopped nuts, and vanilla extract. Pour into a greased loaf pan. Bake at 375°F degrees for 1 hour. Brush top with melted butter or glaze with confectioners icing, if desired, while loaf is still warm.

Happy baking!