I wore this Sunday to church and then grocery shopping afterward.  I lead such a glamorous life

Hop on over to All Things Chic for the deets on my outfit and to see more Everyday Style.

On Sunday I was looking for a way to use up some bananas and applesauce I had that were just about ready for the trash.  I hate throwing food away so I went to SuperCook.com and plugged in what I wanted to use in the recipe and I found this muffin one.  The original called for mayo but that just wasn’t happening.  One reviewer mentioned she’d used applesauce in place of the mayo so I thought I’d give it a go.

What I love about this recipe is you can use it as a “base” for different flavors of muffins.  I ended up adding almond extract, cinnamon and cloves to mine for a spicy muffin, but just adding vanilla would be great too.

Banana Applesauce Muffins {Vegan friendly!}

1 1/3 cup whole wheat flour

2/3 cup all purpose flour {I used unbleached}

1 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

1 cup applesauce {unsweetened}

1 cup mashed ripe bananas {mine were almost black, they get sweeter the riper they are}

3/4 cup sugar {I used 1/2 cup white sugar and 1/4 cup Stevia}

{Optional:  extracts and spices of your choosing.  I added 1/2 t ground cloves, 1 t cinnamon and 1 t almond extract.}

• In a bowl mix flours, baking soda and salt.  Also add in any ground spices if you choose.
• In a separate bowl combine mashed banana, applesauce and sugar and any extract of your choosing.
• Stir the wet ingredients into the dry until just moistened.  Don’t overmix.
• Pour into greased or paper lined muffin pan and bake at 350* for 20 minutes.
• Cool on a wire rack before serving. Eat piping hot, straight out of the oven and be careful not to burn your tongue.  Or let them cool first.  To each her own.

These smell amazing while they are baking.  {I think it was the spices I used…I’m obsessed with cloves.  Fo real.}  I kept telling hubs, “OH MY GAH.  These smell amazing!  I can’t wait to eat one!”

And so I ate two of them.  Before dinner.

Another note about the flours.  You can play around with the wheat to white ratio.  The original called for more white, but I love the taste of whole wheat so I adjusted it.  You can even try this with a different flour, like spelt.

I’m going to try to make a chai spiced version next time with cinnamon, cloves, cardamon, ginger and a pinch of black pepper.  Because I’m obsessed with chai too.

Oh my, I can taste them now…

My week 7 in photos…

February 12 – I made/tried brussels sprouts for the first time.  I really wanted to love them, but I didn’t.  I wonder if I used too much garlic?

February 13 – Trying out my new Taylor polish from Julep.

February 14 – Happy Valentine’s Day!  I wore red lipstick and my red coat to celebrate.

February 15 – Was home with Xander and that afternoon I added more hearts to my mani.

February 16 – Wore my fav fishnets.

February 17 – Parked under the same trees I’ve parked under for over a year. Today the birds were not to good to me.

February 18 – My family had a surprise party for my Mawmaw who is turning 82 this week.  Love her so much!

Hope you had a great week!

I’ve been trying to do better at being more consistent with my quiet time each day.  I tried to find what worked for me and took to doing mine at night because  I’m really not much of a morning person.  However, I have found that my days go better {or rather I am better equipped to handle what comes my way} when I prepare for the day with scripture and prayer.

I have found that since listening to the Soul Therapy series at Highlands and after the fast, I have a new hunger for prayer and knowing the Word.  And so now I’m getting up earlier to read and pray.  It’s hard for this non-morning lover to do, but doing the easy never got anyone anywhere.  Right?

This morning I read 2 Peter 3:8 and continued on through verse 13 in the Message.  It really spoke to me and I wanted to share it.

^8-9Don’t overlook the obvious here, friends. With God, one day is as good as a thousand years, a thousand years as a day. God isn’t late with his promise as some measure lateness. He is restraining himself on account of you, holding back the End because he doesn’t want anyone lost. He’s giving everyone space and time to change.

¹⁰But when the Day of God’s Judgment does come, it will be unannounced, like a thief. The sky will collapse with a thunderous bang, everything disintegrating in a huge conflagration, earth and all its works exposed to the scrutiny of Judgment.

^11-13Since everything here today might well be gone tomorrow, do you see how essential it is to live a holy life? Daily expect the Day of God, eager for its arrival. The galaxies will burn up and the elements melt down that day—but we’ll hardly notice. We’ll be looking the other way, ready for the promised new heavens and the promised new earth, all landscaped with righteousness.

I shared these verses on Facebook and added this afterward.  I’m speaking to myself more than anyone…

It’s easy to go about our daily lives and forget about Eternity. Our life is but a vapor.  Jesus will come again and we are not promised tomorrow.  Are you living each day for Eternity?  Knowing that every day you have the chance to make a difference in someone’s life for the Glory of God?  Or are you just floating through life, not giving a thought to what opportunities you’re missing?  Don’t let your life waste away.  Live boldly for Christ, looking to share His good new with others.  And love the unlovable.

My prayer is that Eternity stays fresh on my mind.  When I’m riding the bus or doing laundry or brushing my teeth.  I don’t want it to seem like some far away thing, because who knows what could happen tomorrow.  I want to be ready and I want to have shared it with as many people as I had an opportunity to.  I love what verse 12 says…“Daily expect the Day of God, eager for its arrival.”  Eager…

So now I ask, what is your quiet time routine?  Do you read a devotional or just scriptures?  What helps you grow?

I’ve got taxes to do, photos to take of my February Birchbox, new mineral makeup to try out, etc.  Or I can just veg on that couch all day with Xander watching TV.  Decisions, decisions.  Oh and not to mention the throw up I have yet to clean up.  Bleh. I know that has to be done ASAP :\

But I wanted to get this post up because today is another WIWW on All Things Chic.  Hop over and check out the details on my outfit {like my new scarf from World Market!} and see some other ladies with Everyday Style.

I wanted to show y’all the cards I made for the kids to pass out at school.  We found out last week that Rayna wasn’t allowed to take candy which sort of squashed our card making dreams, but we rolled with it.  Originally the idea we did for Xander’s card was supposed to be Rayna’s.  Since candy was out, we opted to do a cute bookmark instead.

Here’s the actual file I made in Picnik {and can we just pause for a moment of silence that Picnik has been gobbled up by Google? *tear*}

I won’t go into too much detail since Picnik is going away, but basically I just used a collage format and only used two photos {but obviously the same one}.  I changed the proportions to equal those of a 4×6 since that is what I was having printed.  The plan was to cut them in half resulting in a 2×6 bookmark.  To get the red background, I changed the border color to red.  Then I clicked DONE.

Next I added the font and then saved the file, uploaded to Walgreens and within an hour they were done.

Since I couldn’t use the idea I wanted to for Rayna, I talked my sweet boy into using it for his.  He’s such a good sport.

Our idea was to use a pair of nerdy glasses and taking from the lollipop idea floating around the internet last year, have him hold out his hand to give the recipient a box of NERDS candy.

And here it is with the candy attached {hot glued}.

So cute right?!  His was even easier than Rayna’s.  I just uploaded the photo, edited it to my liking, added the font and then uploaded/ordered from Walgreens.

And I’ll leave you with the Valentine mani I did.  I had high hopes for a really cute pink/gray/black design but after the night I had Sunday and only getting 3 hours of sleep, I ultimately crashed at the kids’ bedtime and only had time to do this simple mani {inspired by love, Maegan}.

]]> http://xoxotrina.com/2012/02/happy-love-day-2012/feed/ 8 http://xoxotrina.com/2012/02/2012-week-6/ http://xoxotrina.com/2012/02/2012-week-6/#comments Mon, 13 Feb 2012 05:54:54 +0000 Trina http://xoxotrina.com/?p=3878 Continue reading →]]>

February 5 – Lunch.  Grilled banana, almond butter and honey sandwich on whole wheat bread.  And some afternoon tea of course.

February 6 – My Beautymint arrived!

February 7 – T is for Trina, tea and TUESDAY!

February 8 – Wearing emerald green polish for the first time.

February 9 – My Julep Valentine box arrived! {get your first box for $5 with code XOXOTRINA!}

February 10 – I love Fridays.  Wearing my teal tights with OTK socks and boots.

February 11 – DATE NIGHT!  Hubby and I had dinner at Surin 280 and then headed to World Market where I picked up the scarf I’m wearing.  I was trying it on   {You’ll see it again on Wednesday for WIWW!}

Hope you had a great week!

{PS I’ve been TERRIBLE at taking photos with my DSLR during the week.  Trying to do better!  Cannot WAIT until we SPRING forward so I have more daylight after work.}

Anyway, I wore this Sunday to church and grocery shopping.  You can find the details on this outfit over at All Things Chic as well as check out some other Everyday Style.

PS I got my very own discount code to share with you! Get your first box for $5.00 with code XOXOTRINA.  And it’s not too late for the February Oscar themed boxes!

January 29 – I finished the cowl that Rayna asked me to knit for her.  She loves it.

January 30 – My nails matched my scarf perfectly.  Love this scarf! {Thanks Juliet!}

January 31 – One of my fav lotions from BBW.  Twilight Woods.

February 1 – Happy Feb! No I don’t wear glasses, they’re just frames that belong to Rayna and I was being goofy.  And my hair was being unruly.

February 2 – New mani!  I got my much anticipated Julep Oscar themed polishes. So pretty and classic.

February 3 – Happy Friday!  Finished up this carton of dates.  My fav sweet snack to keep at work.  Forget the vending machine!

February 4 – I FINALLY finished the very first knitting project I started…back in 2010 haha.  This yarn was hard for a beginner to work with but I eventually got the hang of it and found my stride so it went much smoother than when I first learned how.