I'm trying to make good on that promise I made to knock out sweets until Easter. Progress report? It's not going too well... But let me explain! M was here last week for spring break (so please excuse the lack of posts), so I obviously couldn't say no to dessert after breakfast, lunch, and dinner when I had guests! And to be honest, I had a weird fainting spell a few days ago, and I think it's from the abrupt drop in my blood sugar. I didn't see a doctor or anything like that, but if that's what really went down, that should be a good gauger for how much candy I have on the regular. 

So to compensate for sweets during this Lenten season, I turned to fruits. More specifically bananas. With sugar and lemon! Also known as the Asheville School Banana! Asheville School? Wuzdat you ask? Well, most of you probably didn't know I attended boarding school for a little bit back in high school, huh? Anyway, they do bananas a little differently over there, and it's a total game changer.

All you need is a banana, a wedge of lemon, and some white sugar.

 You just cut up your banana however you want to. I sliced mine vertically cause I'm having them on top of some yogurt, but I think tradition says to cut the banana once horizontally with the peel on. 

Sprinkle desired amount of sugar onto the banana, then squeeze your lemon all across. The lemon juice will melt the sugar and coat the banana and you're left with a tart and tangy mid-afternoon delight. Super fast and super easy!

But because we're being good and opting out of refined sweeteners, I just drizzled honey onto some yogurt and topped it off with my cut up bananas and lemon. It's just alriiiiight with the honey... :) Let me know how you like it!

You know how I know autumn is here? When everything becomes pumpkinized. You know what I mean.. It's pumpkin spiced everything from lattes to muffins to candles. For myself, I think I'll opt for something a little less fancy and little more hearty. 

To make enough for two, you'll need:

1 pumpkin

Half a cup of sweet glutinous rice 

A cup of cold water

2-4 tablespoons of sugar or whatever sweetener you prefer

A pinch of salt

That's it! Probably the shortest list of ingredients out there!

Cut open your pumpkin, then gut out all the seeds until it's fully hollow in the center.

It was right around this time when Captain came around with his puppy dog eyes, begging for scraps as usual. There's nothing for you here today!

Divide your pumpkin into sections. Be careful with this step as pumpkin skin can be quite tough! It got pretty close to losing a few fingers today.. Just follow the natural groove of the pumpkin for guidance, but they won't need to be all the same size, so don't give yourself a hard time. Afterwards, place your pumpkin pieces onto an oven-safe tray. 

I used a cupcake baking tray so all the pieces could roast standing up, but, again, not a big deal! 

Carefully slide in your tray into a hot oven, and bake for an hour at 350 degrees Fahrenheit (that's 176 degrees in Celsius). An hour is a pretty lengthy time to just wait around so take this time to clean up the dishes, catch up on some reading, or watch Celebrity Masterchef on TV. Can you guess which one I picked? 

After 60 minutes, take your beautifully burnt orange pumpkin out of the oven and set it down to cool. In the meantime, take your soaking rice and dump in into a blender and whiz it up until it turns into this milky liquid. You'll have just made your own replacement for rice flour! Pretty neat. 

Once the pumpkin has cooled down enough to hold, pull the skin off the meat, and then throw your pumpkin pieces into the blender with your rice milk, and blend, baby, blend.

In the end, you'll have a wonderfully thick and velvety mixture of pumpkiny goodness. Pour it all into a pot and place it on the stovetop under a low heat. Add your sweetener and your pinch of salt at this time, taste test, then add more to your liking. 

And there you have it! Autumn comfort in a bowl. The ultimate way to warm up on a chilly October day. I hope you enjoyed my first ever recipe here on CI. This porridge is one of my grandma's favorites, and hopefully you'll like it just as much, too.