The Unexpected Tie That Binds Us All Together...

You know - at the end of the day, we're not all that different. Social media will definitely teach you that we have more in common with our fellow man than the news media would like us to believe.

Last week, on my walk, where all my best, slightly unorthodox thinking is done, I finally figured out the one thread that runs through all of us and unites us as a species.

Republican or Democrat, vegan or carnivore, Christian or Muslim, tastes great or less filling, National League or American League, Aggie or Longhorn, there is this ONE THING that we all come together around.

One unargued truth.

One thing no one denies.

We ALL, every one of us, when it's hot outside and we exercise and our fingers swell up - we ALL call those fingers snausage fingers.

I realized this while talking to a friend from the Northeast who couldn't possibly have known that that was MY word for this condition. I was stunned to hear her say it - how could she know?

It's THAT universal an idea.

And I don't understand it at all. I mean, Snausages are a dog snack that looks like a pig in a blanket. We don't call our swollen paws pigs in a blanket - but race, creed, color aside, we ALL call them snausages.

I'm fascinated by this.

What do you think Europeans call their swollen up fingers?

At least at the end of the day we can meet each other on the common snausage ground and call each other friends. Thank goodness for that.

I had fun on Thursday with the Splitcoast Ways To Use It challenge. I decided to try this week's tutorial from my beloved, beloved friend Bev Gerard for the background and I REALLY like it! I've never done this tutorial before, or if I have, I've forgotten about it, which is one of the best things about getting older - it's like a new world every day :).

Stamps: Sage Advice (Retired), Hello Doily

Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Lucky Limeade, Basic Black

Paper: Whisper White

Accessories: Want2Scrap bling

Now that we've achieved world peace through snausage fingers, let's move on to the important news of the day - banana bread.

I ADORE my ladies that come to my class every month, and I love to bring them presents whenever I can. This month I decided to bake something for them, but I wanted it to be really, really special. So instead of regular banana bread, I made banana bread with my FAVORITE food item in the world - it's the normal person's answer to Nutella, which I despise.

And not only is this amazing spread like CRACK, but in banana bread, it makes the angels sing. So as promised, here is the recipe. Please only make it for people you really, really love. I can assure you - no one else is worth it! I got this recipe here. (If your grocery store doesn't carry it - I have links where you can buy the spread and the cookies together. And yes, you heard me right - this banana bread has COOKIES in it.)

Biscoff Crunch Banana Bread

 

INGREDIENTS:

3 ripened bananas, peeled and mashed

1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt ( I used Fage 2%)

1/2 cup Biscoff spread

3 tbsp. butter, melted

2 eggs

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

18 Biscoff cookies, crushed

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9×5 loaf pan and set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the first 5 ingredients and mix until well blended.
3. In a large bowl, combine the sugar, flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Then slowly pour it in the stand mixer, beating on low until batter forms and is mixed well.
4. Gently fold in 3/4 of the crushed Biscoff cookies with a spatula.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and then top with the remaining 1/4 crushed Biscoff cookies.
6. Bake for 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
7. Let cool completely before removing from pan and slicing.

Go forth and make banana bread with your unifying snausage fingers!!

Loveyameanitbye