Like, getting a box of chocolates or flowers without an occasion? That sounds like it would be nice. Note to Kenny: do that more. Hear me, love of my life?

Another pleasant surprise? Finding a layer of pumpkin cheesecake in the middle of a delicious loaf of pumpkin chocolate chip bread. It’s double the fun!

Now that TV has started up again, I’m overwhelmed by the obligation I have to continue watching many shows. Yes, it’s a chore. A fun one, but a chore nonetheless.

Last season, we watched Superstore. It’s a silly piece of sitcom fluff, and I like silly in my life. Being serious is so overrated. But now I have to find time to add that to the list. See, I’m still trying to finish Casual on Hulu, Suits on Amazon Prime, and then I have to pick up Once Upon a Time again, even though the storyline has gotten totally weird.

The problem is, Kenny and I watch these together, so both of us have to be available (and awake) to make it through. It’s not that logistically easy. He plays ball sometimes, and I have the habit of passing out at 8:30 every night. It’s not auspicious for good TV watching.

Also, Kenny has a very short attention span with TV shows. He forgets them or loses interest quickly, and then we tend to not finish things. like seasons 6 and 7 of Mad Men, which has fallen by the wayside, or seasons 3 and 4 of Orange is the New Black. Gone.

But hey, I shouldn’t complain. We have so many good options. Do you remember when you were at the mercy of the TV schedule? Those grueling days are gone!

You know what else is gone? Plain old pumpkin bread. Not that I’m hating, because I’m not. But this is sooooo much better.

In the middle of these moist and gluten-free layers is pumpkin cheesecake. It’s lovely. The creamy pumpkin middle layer does full justice to the cakey outer layer. Woohoo!

Hope you have a lovely fall TV season, and that you get caught up on all your shows. It’s hard work! Better have some pumpkin chocolate chip cheesecake bread around to make it easier!

Perhaps my British friends don’t do triple chocolate scones often, if ever. But there’s a first time for everything, and these deserve a lot of attention.

The base for these scones is cream, which works with butter to make these light as a feather while still full of rich chocolate flavor. Maybe people are out barbecuing this Labor Day weekend, but we’re having tea and scones instead!

Since I always approach my blog with pure honesty, it’s time to get real here: I’ve been struggling ever since I started my new job back in July.

As I watch my blog numbers and stats drop, I know exactly what’s going on. I just don’t have time anymore for a lot of the social networking and publicity piece that JAB needs to get more readers. It’s been hard enough to keep the posts going in the face of running a department, and I’m just trying to keep my head above water while being pulled in a million different directions every day. During my work day, I can’t work on the blog, and my hours are now a lot longer. So the blog has to be done either early in the morning or late at night.

For now, I’m holding onto JAB because I love it. And while I feel bad that my Facebook and Twitter shares are pretty paltry, and that I’m commenting less on my friends’ blogs, I don’t really see another way. Unless I want to work around the clock and ignore my children, my husband and my sleep, this is where we’re at right now. It’s not ideal, but I’m learning to live with less than perfect. It’s hard, because I’m a perfectionist. But I figure that holding onto JAB any way I can is better than giving it up entirely.

How could I give up the motivating force for baking scones, after all? These are super special.

The base has unsweetened cocoa, and the mini chocolate chips sprinkle more bursts of chocolate flavor throughout. And of course, these have to be topped with chocolate drizzle. The best baked goods have drizzle!

While many baking bloggers are die-hard frozen shaved butter fans when it comes to scones, I really dislike working with frozen butter. Cold butter does the trick just as nicely, and takes all the hard work out of making these. Scones are a one-bowl, mix with your hands kind of dessert. Anyone can do this!

As I navigate a life that is way too hectic and leaves no room for anything but work and family time, I will try to bring you the best I can. I’m sorry if it’s not perfect, or even close to perfect. But for now, it’s all I can do!

There’s a very good reason for that. Ready to be shocked?

I don’t like blueberries. Not even a little bit. I literally cannot put a blueberry into my mouth and be okay with it. That means that all foods containing blueberry just don’t happen in my universe. But that doesn’t mean I can’t still bake for others, so I figured it was time.

See, there’s a great business manager at my new school who has been helping me all summer. I have about five bazillion questions, and she’s been so patient about answering every single one. When someone is that nice to me, I show the baking love.

The problem is that I haven’t hit on her favorites yet. I gave her this peanut butter brownie pizza, and she said it was great, but no PB frosting needed next time. So, okay, I figured she wouldn’t do peanut butter. The next time, I offered her banana chocolate chip muffins, and she politely told me that she wasn’t really into that flavor.

If you know me at all, you know that I’m a very forward person. So I just asked her what she did like, and her answer was…? Of course. Blueberry muffins.

Have you ever baked something you’re not so fond of ? Or that you actively dislike? Share your stories!

With these, I tried a corner of the muffin that didn’t have the blueberries in it just to kind of reassure myself that they weren’t gross. But then I gave them out to some loyal taste testers, and they assured me that the muffins are all that and more.

To be honest, I didn’t used to bake muffins much. They seemed like a mundane cupcake to me, and I didn’t understand why I should eat a cupcake in a more boring outfit if I could be getting something with frosting.

Of course, I had it all wrong. Muffins and cupcakes are nothing alike. The baking process is completely different, and so is the consistency, and the purpose, and…well, everything. Plus, I love baking muffins. They’re easy. You just combine dry ingredients with wet and you are donesies.

I hope my new friend at work likes these muffins, since I made them just for her. We bake because we love! And really, let me know about those things you bake that are on your list of no-nos. I’m curious!

Do you know what time it is? That’s right, kiddos. It’s back to school time!

As a teacher, I approach this time of year with a mingling of regret and excitement. I’m looking forward to a fresh new year, and I’m also looking forward to having my kids out of the house doing productive work. But you know, I do love the summer sunshine. And the flexible hours. So yeah…I’m torn.

With everything getting very busy (very fast, might I add), I need to be ready with great after-school snacks. When all of us get home from school, some refueling is definitely in order. These banana chocolate chip muffins are a perfect way to unwind and get ready for homework time, especially when I pair them with NESTLÉ® NESQUIK® Powder. The kids are pretty happy to settle in with their muffins and Nesquik, and I do it right along with them!

This year, I’m more anxious than usual to meet my kids with an energetic frame of mind when they come home from school. My son (who is also my oldest) has always come home and done his homework without much struggle, and I realize that makes me lucky. He gets home around four, has his snack, and then takes a break for about fifteen minutes before taking out his books and getting to work. He’s in the third grade, by the way. And yes, he has a lot of homework.

My middle child is going to be starting with homework this year in first grade, and that’s why I’m a little nervous. She’s a very smart little girl, but she’s also an artist. Her favorite thing to do is come home and draw for hours. My temperament is similar, so I know how hard homework was for me growing up. I want to make sure that I’m there to support her, but it’s hard to be patient and fully with it after a day of teaching. That’s where snack time comes in!

For my kids and me, that snack time after school is where we come together and check in on one another. I can gauge moods, figure out if anything traumatic or good happened to the kids, and just take a few minutes to breathe before we all get back to work in that pre-dinner time. It’s important that we connect, and it’s also important that we have some nutrients while we’re at it.

While we were at the beach last week for a final summer hurrah, I looked at the tired bananas on the counter at our rented beach house (yes, tired bananas follow me around) and knew that I wanted to start snacks off right this year. As soon as we got home (tired bananas in tow), I ran out to Target to get some Nesquik so we’d have a great pairing with these banana chocolate chips muffins. Then, I started baking. These muffins freeze like a charm, and I wanted to be ready for the first week of school!

My kids were pretty excited when they saw the muffins, but they were even happier when they saw the Nesquik. Nobody can resist a bunny, after all! And I love the fact that Nesquik is low in sugar, has no artificial colors or flavors, and is full of both vitamins and minerals as well as protein (when combined with milk). Translation: the kids (and I) stay full until dinnertime, and we also have the energy to tackle all that homework!

If you’d like to be ready for the oncoming onslaught of school and the nutritional needs that arise, be ready! You can pick up Nesquik right now with this Cartwheel Offer at Target (for Nesquik Powder and ready-to-drink bottles, valid 8/21/2016-8/27/2016 with 15% off 18.7oz powder and 10 packs of bottles), and the muffins almost make themselves. If you don’t have a gluten-free diet, subbing in regular flour will also work. They’ll be great either way!

How do you get ready for back to school? It’s an exciting time, but a busy one. Be prepared!

Well, I do. I know, I know. No-bake treats are all the rage this time of year, but heck, I like to bake. A baker’s gonna bake. That’s how it goes. That’s why somebody smart invented air conditioning.

Every weekend, I find myself staring at tired bananas. They call to me, and sometimes I ignore them. That’s usually when I’m just as tired as they are. But sometimes I cut them up and freeze them for smoothies that I never really make, and that’s an effort right there. But if I’m feeling really energetic and serious, I’ll bake them into something. And this double chocolate chunk banana bread is probably one of the best ways ever to use those bananas!

Speaking of bananas, I’m going bananas. Really. My activity level has ratcheted up to a crazy degree. I’m at work all the time except on weekends, when I’m thinking about being at work. It’s great being energized, full of ideas, and fired on all cylinders. On the other hand, the people I love are starting to get concerned. My mom offered Kenny and me an overnight trip away from it all so that I don’t burn out early in this new job. Isn’t she the best mom ever?

The truth is, I have gotten used to being able to do lots of things at the same time, but I don’t know how long I can keep that up. I’ve given up cake decorating class and guitar lessons for now, both of which hurt to let go. Those are fun activities, but they’re also time commitments I just don’t have right now. I told my guitar teacher that I’ll pick it back up when I get my footing at work.

The blog is, quite frankly, another concern. Since I took up JAB, I’ve been posting consistently 3-4 times a week. There’s no way that can continue, and Kenny has suggested I knock it down to twice a week. I’m thinking about it, people. I’ll keep you posted. This blog is not just a nice little side business; it’s also a source of passion. It’s just hard sometimes keeping all the balls in the air, especially with my crew at home to take care of.

On that ominous note, let’s focus on the good stuff. Namely, this double chocolate chunk banana bread!

It’s actually pretty healthy, and it’s gluten-free as well. The bread is made with Greek yogurt for added softness and moisture, and cocoa gives it the lovely chocolatey dark color. I filled the bread with dark chocolate chunks, and that’s pretty much all, folks!

Right now, life is stretching me in 50 different directions and I’m adjusting. Stay with me during this time and keep reminding me that it’s okay to be human and occasionally post twice a week. Maybe I’ll start listening!

Every time I post a butterscotch recipe, I talk about how I don’t ever remember to bake with it. But when I do, it’s the best flavor explosion. I’m trying to do it more often, and the overripe bananas on my countertop always present a fantastic opportunity.

If you are one of those people who craves moist (sorry if you dislike that word, but whatever) banana bread with crunchy pecans and sweet butterscotch chips, look no further. This bread is your soul mate! And it’s effortlessly gluten-free, too.

I’ve spent the past few days packing up the high school that I’ve been privileged enough to teach at for most of my career. I’ll be the English department chair at my new school and I’m excited about the change, but it’s definitely tough to leave a school I’ve loved so much. I’ve had the best students, the best colleagues, and just the best time ever. Teaching can be a total blast.

When I started packing the other day, I quickly became horrified at just how much stuff I’ve acquired over the years. We’re talking 10 full boxes of stuff, plus three giant file bins, plus bags of odds and ends. When I texted Kenny pics of all my packed-up possessions, his response was “good grief” followed by “digitize.” I then had to launch into an explanation of how much teachers need to do instruction every day, all day, for years and years. We teach an awful lot of content, and that equals a lot of files. Plus, we make what are called “class sets,” which are sets of 30 copies for all our students, which we save from year to year. That way, no extra paper wasting. It all adds up!

Still, I have this image of bursting into my new school with all this stuff and scaring my new colleagues. So I might want to take it in there gradually under the cover of night or something. That way, I’ll seem halfway sane. And I’m not even going to explain this whole baking blogger thing I do for quite a while. People accuse me of doing too much, and they’re probably right, but busy is good!

Some people are afraid of change, but if it’s a change with potential for growth, I really embrace it. So know that these next several months will be insane for me, but I’ll be a happy camper! You all know that I keep myself in dessert to make life awesome.

This banana bread is just the best, bar none. It’s springy and soft and yes, moist. It’s got butterscotch chips in the batter and sprinkled on top, and chopped pecans inside as well. Butterscotch and pecan is one of those genius combos that I always love using.

I hope you have a very happy holiday weekend. I might get motivated to post something in there, but I think the blogosphere is officially on hold, so we shall see. In the meantime, enjoy the fireworks and parades, and have a super happy fourth!

Do you ever get into a breakfast rut? Because I can relate.

Over the years, I’ve cycled through so many breakfast options with the goal of keeping my first meal of the day quick to prepare and filling. Oh, and sweet. I like that shot of sweetness in the morning!

Since forever, I’ve loved cereal. And while it’s hard to beat a bowl of cereal with milk, sometimes you want a little something different. As a quick bread lover, this breakfast bread fits the bill. It’s topped with a crumbly, crunchy topping made with Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, and the recipe is easy enough to make with the kiddos!

Now that I’m at home more for the summer, I have to find ways to engage my little monsters until camp starts up in two weeks. Oh, camp. It’s the best. It’s when I finally get to take a nap.

But until then, I have a whole schedule to arrange for each day. It includes basic summer activities, like running through sprinklers, making crafts that usually turn out looking funny, and of course, an afternoon baking session. I try to find or create recipes that are pretty simple but that also involve some fun element. We can go shopping in the morning at our local Safeway and have all the ingredients ready for an afternoon baking extravaganza!

In this case, it’s easy to mix up the batter, but my kids can have all the fun of making the crumb topping. And while they do that, I can snack on Corn Flakes and have a fun moment to relax and stare at the wall. Every mom who is home all day with kids needs some quality wall-staring time.

The best part of this recipe is that in the morning when I’m rushing around trying to find clothes for everyone and make sure that nobody is beating anyone else up, this breakfast bread is ready to go. Everyone wants to eat it, everyone’s excited about eating it because they helped make it, and it tastes delightful. I mean, who doesn’t love crumb?

Cereal is the best, but being creative with it yields even better results. Kids might be happy with just cereal and milk, but adults need to go beyond and explore our inner foodies. This Corn Flake cinnamon crumb bread is just the ticket!

If you’re looking for more breakfast ideas, please visit this website for more inspiration for creative breakfast and snack creations. Hope you have some great summer breakfasts ahead of you!

Confession: I don’t really do smoothies much. As someone who rushes out the door to work in the dead of night (okay, well, 5:30 in the morning), I don’t want to be turning blenders on and waking up the sleeping monsters…oops, children. I’m more of a protein bar kind of girl.

But when there are muffins around, I’ll grab one of those instead. These are gluten-free and they even have protein in them (yay, Greek yogurt!), so they do the trick, And they’re peanut butter and chocolate. You are so welcome.

I’m at that stage in life when weekends are more tiring than the weekdays. Kids have all this ungodly energy, and if they don’t expend it, they turn into disciples of Satan. To make kids happy on a weekend, there is constant activity and running around. You have to pack roughly 42 activities into each day to make them tired so they don’t turn on you.

On Memorial Day weekend, we went to a great park. This park had a playground, a carousel, a train, a farm with animals, a nature center, and a nice pond and picnic area. We got there around 9:30, did everything, and around 1:00, we announced it was time to go home. The response? “We can’t leave. We just got here!”

Once we got the kids home, all I wanted to do was stretch out on the couch and sleep. But they all started fighting with one another, so when a friend called to make barbecue plans, I groggily agreed. We were at this friend’s house a mere hour later, watching kids screech and run around in the rain while pelting one another with bouncy balls. Then they all got hot dogs, which gave them more energy to bring back the crazy. Even the cat couldn’t take it. The poor thing kept trying to hide from aggressively rough hands “petting” her, to no avail.

So as the weekend approaches, I’m gonna need these muffins. They’re my only protection from the boundless energy of three young kids in the summertime.

Like many muffins, these come together without a mixer. It’s a simple process of mixing ingredients together, and look at the results!

Plus, I mean, peanut butter chips. Can anyone think of a more addictive food item? Not for me, anyway.

Hope your weekend is sunny, bright, and free of screechy whiny drama. You deserve some quiet time!

Lately, I’ve been trying to bake with conventional flour a little bit less. After all, I’ve got a GF spouse, so it’s the least I can do. The good news is, this bread is still amazing, gluten or no. And it’s filled with strawberries and chocolate chips (and covered in chocolate)!

Can we say thank you? Someone. Please. I’m hungry for praise and dessert.

This is the week my students take the AP test I’ve been preparing them all year for, and I’m feeling pretty good. They’re ready to excel, and I’m ready to sit back and take a deep breath. Another year slowly ends, and another crop of students can now write better than they could nine months ago. I’ll take it.

It’s pretty sad that teenagers have such a bad reputation in our society, because they’re great. They work so hard, and they still believe in making a difference for the better in our world. People complain about them being tuned out with headphones and smartphones, but have you looked around? That’s the adults. They’re just as bad. And they’re old enough to know better.

Even though it’s hard to change your perceptions, try and give adolescents a break. There’s nothing wrong with their generation that wasn’t wrong with yours, too. And they’re dealing with the technology piece as well, which makes their lives a lot more complicated than we can possibly understand. They need support, not condemnation.

Okay, my PSA is over. Let’s get back to dessert. Which, incidentally, teens tend to love as much or more than adults. Their sugar tolerance is higher. Or maybe it’s just their metabolic rate.

This bread is all about moisture. I put in a hefty dose of brown sugar to make that happen, as well as some buttermilk. If you don’t keep buttermilk handy, just take a tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice (not both!) and put it in a cup, filling the rest with milk up to the one-cup mark. That will work too!

Once the chocolate chips are worked in and a thick chocolate glaze is poured on top, this bread is the ultimate indulgence. And there’s no butter in it or flour. So it’s even kind of healthy!

Take this week to appreciate our younger generation, who will be our bosses soon enough. And enjoy a slice (or five) of this chocolate-covered strawberry bread while you’re at it!

The gas light comes on in the car. Your six-month dental checkup comes due. You realize you didn’t pay your credit card bill. Somebody gets the promotion you deserved. Your favorite pair of shoes loses a heel in the middle of the workday. And the bananas lie forgotten on the counter, turning from green to yellow to spotty to brown.

But that last one has a definite upside because all you do is bake it into banana bread. Moist, delicious, banana bread filled and glazed with brown sugar. Just for those days when things aren’t going quite your way!

The other day, we took the kids to a swim center with a three-foot therapy pool. If you’ve never been to one of those, I must recommend it. The water is warm (like in the 80s warm), and the pool is surrounded by hot tubs.

Sadly, I never actually bonded with the hot tubs because I was with my four year-old (who cannot swim), but it felt good to sit with her in the warm water, waves gently lapping to and fro. The pool also had a slide and splash fountains, which means my older kids had a blast.

See, here’s the thing. We’ve been desperately trying to get our children, especially our oldest, to swim. He’s fighting it like nothing else. We’ve been through six rounds of lessons and it’s still not technically happening. At least he’s not doing what he did last summer, which was holding onto the side with a death grip while floating his legs out, screaming, “I’m swimming! I’m swimming!”

Now we’ve got some head under water progress, and I’m waiting for the day when they can all float so I can breathe a little easier. I see families at the pool relaxing and I think, hey, that could be me someday. But somehow I doubt it. No matter how soon or how well my kids swim, I’ll always be that mom squatting at the edge of the pool, eyes darting back and forth at all her spawn. Yes, even when they’re 25. I can only relax at a pool when my kids aren’t there.

So after we all trooped back from the swim center, we had this banana bread waiting for us. It was a good after-pool snack because you know everyone is always starving after a swim. This bread is hearty and doesn’t disappoint.

To make sure everyone could enjoy it, I used gluten-free oat flour as the base. And instead of using just white sugar, I put a great deal of brown sugar into the batter to make it super moist. The top is covered with a buttery, thick brown sugar glaze. It tastes like caramel.

Life is full of inconveniences, but nobody ever complained about the leftover bananas on the counter. Or at least, they shouldn’t. Because they make the sweetest brown sugar banana bread ever. Whether you bake this up for Mother’s Day or just for a random day of the week, it’s a fantastic breakfast treat!