Spring Break Baking Bonanza: Blondies & Banana Bread

This past week (which marked my Spring Break) has been absolutely glorious for me.

It was filled with the "usuals," such as daily yoga, personal-training sessions, and food-shopping; but I also had the chance to catch up on my favorite television programs, chat longer with friends and family, and bake (more on that in a bit!!).

Oh and I also had the pleasure of taking part in celebrating not one, but two very special birthdays:



My brother turned 37 on March 2nd; and VeggieDad turned 61 on February 27th. Love them so much!!


And perhaps the best part about all of this is that I was able to enjoy everything without having to worry about school!!

Yes, I did still have a lot of schoolwork and studying assigned over "break"; but at least I did not have to sit in long classes, suffer extreme stress, or worry about studying every single night.

All of the extreme school-stress will resume during this upcoming week, but oh well, haha - I am savoring every last moment of my Spring Break as much as I can, believe me.

As always, I will do my best with the commenting on blogs - I appreciate your generosity and understanding.




Alright, so now it is time to finally get around to the "baking bonanza" that I engaged in over Spring Break - wow, did it ever feel great to get back into the kitchen.

The first baked good that I whipped up was another batch of Peanut Butter-Pretzel Blondies , which I featured a recipe for just a few weeks ago:



**These blondies were made for Matt of the "Run, Live, and Enjoy" blog, who is a fabulous fellow blogger and incredible runner.



The second baked good that I made was yet another batch of blondies (which is fine by me, since blondies are my favorite baked good variety to create!!) - a batch of Chocolate Chip-Almond-Fig Spread Blondies, based off of this recipe that I have posted before:



**These blondies were made for Jenna of the "Eat, Live, Run" blog, who has become a true life friend and inspires me with her impeccable baking skills.



The third and final baked good that I created over Spring Break was a classic sandwich in "dessert-y" loaf form - PBJ-Banana Bread (based off of this recipe, which I featured a while back):



**The mini loaf (pictured on the left) was made for Miss Gliding Calm, of the "Gliding Calm" blog; and the larger loaf was made for my family and for The Co-Worker:


**VeggieDad's review (representing the opinions of my mom, grandfather, me, and himself)**:

"The texture of the bread was very smooth and the peanut butter flavor was right where it should be - at the forefront.

You couldn't really taste much of the jam, but the large banana chunks added a wonderful level of sweetness."



**The Co-Worker's Review**:

"The name makes you take a double-take, but the taste has everything the name says...

The jam-sweetness hits you right away; and then the peanut butter and banana flavors end the taste experience.

Different? Yes - but it is good overall."



By the way, the jam that I added to the PBJ-Banana Bread was the St. Dalfour brand of Cranberry-Blueberry fruit spread.



Even though my Spring Break and this recent "Baking Bonanza" have come to an end, I feel ready to take on the second-half of my grueling school semester. Never fear though - this is not the end of VeggieGirl's Kitchen Adventures ;-)



**On another note, please don't forget to send your recipes to Abbie of the "Foods That Fit" blog for the Blogger Cookbook. I have actually entered some of my own favorite recipes already.

Please see this post for more details about the cookbook; and check out this post for details about her latest giveaway!!