Birthday Blessings and Banana Cake with Browned Butter Frosting

So today, I bumped up to the older age group box on surveys. I’m not so troubled by the actual number. There are certainly things I notice on the day-to-day, like the fact that I am certainly wearing more sunscreen and investing in a new skin regimen for reversing aging. Hey, a gal can hope. I’m also making healthy choices, tracking what I eat and exercising more, because I need to be living in this body for a lot longer.

One year ago, I made a goal to find a gift in every day. Whether it was the joy of my first cup of coffee, the way my daughter comes out of her bedroom all sleepy and beautiful, or the way my son will randomly give me an unsolicited hug. It could be the things I grow in my garden, the sound of my mother’s laughter, the way my puppy snuggles on my significant other. Every day, I anticipated and acknowledged the daily gifts I was surrounded by. I made it a personal challenge to, as my mother says, “Find the Good.”

Even though I didn’t journal about these gifts, If I could, it became a photograph, and I even used #everydayagift on my Instagram posts. So for me, I was able to document my gratitude journal in visual format.

Did it change me?

Absolutely.

Being aware of the gifts around me on a daily basis made for a more positive, thankful heart. It steeped me in gratitude. I stopped comparing myself to other people. I started to look for ways to bless others.

I can’t say I never had hard or blue days, or didn’t have situations where one of my children asked me why my face was angry, I am human. I can say I handled some pretty interesting stuff with grace that I might not have had, and it is something I will definitely continue to do moving forward. I’m a better person when I am a grateful person.

So, this morning, when I woke up, the few things I wanted to do on my birthday:

Surround myself with family, go to church so I could go forward for the birthday prayer (I was raised Episcopalian and it was one of my favorite things as a child), Field Hockey scrimmage all afternoon to cheer on my kid, and baking this banana cake. I can’t believe it, but I wanted this cake over everything else. It’s that good.

This recipe actually comes from the www.tastesbetterfromscratch.com website. The original recipe is Banana Bread Bars, I was just going to follow the recipe as it was, and then I made minor changes, the flour mix, more banana, and in the glaze, I used more vanilla and heavy cream instead of milk. It is so simple and easy to create.

Now, in my house there are always bananas, and I am not a banana snob. I will eat a banana with bruises. But even I have my limit; and end up peeling, plastic bagging, and freezing those babies. So, that is how I ended up with five bananas instead of the original 3-4. Thaw, mush up, add to the batter.

As for the glaze. Dear sweet goodness in a frosting. I know, browned butter sounds scary. It isn’t. You take the butter in a pan, turn on the heat, let it cook. Watch that it doesn’t burn and keep the heat low. When it is ready, add your glaze ingredients (I threw mine into the mixer) and combine until smooth. If you spread it on the still warm cake, it smooths out to this creamy layer of sweet, without being confectioner’s sugar sweet. It’s more like a penuche fudge flavor. If you are from New England, penuche shows up at fairs and festivals, it’s a burned sugar fudge that is insanely good.

Now, you can wait to cut this beautiful cake until it is cool, but on this quiet birthday morning, I just wanted a small square still warm without a plate, looking out at my flowers.

When did I decide every day was a gift? When my children

were little and I realized they would be big before I knew it. When my father was diagnosed with cancer and we had less than a year before he lost his brave battle.

When every school year goes by faster and faster.

When I am going to more funerals, volunteering to make meals more, and praying for more friends and families who are struggling. Realizing how really blessed I am.

Every day. Is a gift.

Leave it to my mother to find a place in my flowers to bring my Dad into this day. Cardinals are supposed to be our loved

ones passed on, coming to visit. So he was here with us.

Today, I felt loved, which is all any of us want, right? To be truly loved? To be surrounded by the people who want to be with us and show up in our lives?

And here is this new blog thing, this beautiful new creative corner for me to do what I absolutely love. The things that bring me joy. I am learning and hopefully getting better every day.

So on this day, this perfect end of summer day, I choose to celebrate with this square of deliciousness. The rest will be boxed up and brought to school to make the first few days of school sweeter! I can’t have this around or I will eat the whole cake. No joke. And that does nothing for my eating healthy exercising more resolutions.

I hope you enjoy this recipe, and as always, thank you for coming to the table!

Chrissy

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