The starting gun has gone off and the race has begun.  Everything back to normal - at least, what that normal is for ten months of the year.  I know that there are a lot of mixed emotions for people at this time of year and it doesn't necessarily mean that you and/or a dependant are heading back to work or school.  I'll be honest with you, I'm usually at the bitchy, grouchy, having-bed-head end of the spectrum.  Things are changing though.  I am making a conscious choice this September to grit my teeth and be okay with it all.
Think of everything that we no longer have to think about.
Routine:  We no longer have to decide when to get up (or not) and when to go to bed (or not) and when to eat (or not).  The worry of it all has been taken off of our hands.
Bills:  For those of us on a ten month contract, by the time we get to the end of August we are frantically calling banks and credit companies deferring payments and scraping change out of the kids piggy banks to buy milk.  We look longingly through the window of the dollar store and wonder what it might be like to have disposable cash to spend in said shop.  Canned beans become our best friend and we figure that things like meat and toilet paper can wait.  For us, as of today that knot in your stomach can disappear (well maybe after the first paycheque).
Penmanship classes:  All of those cheques we are writing for school uniforms, karate, piano lessons - Yes, those cheques mean that we no longer have to be concerned with our failing penmanship.  After a week or so our writing is back in top form.
Keeping track of time:  You know how in the summer we so easily forget important dates - birthdays, anniversaries, etc.  We don't even know what holiday you are celebrating because every day feels like a holiday.  Maybe we've slept through two days.  Once September hits that's all behind us.  We live by your calendar.  In fact, we may have to have your calendar on our person at all times.  No worries about forgetting our own birthday... or sleeping through it.
Cream:  We no longer have to wonder about whether we have enough cream for our morning coffee because we no longer have our morning coffee at home.  We have our morning coffee once we get to work or maybe in the quiet, bliss of our very own car on the way to the job or school that we love.

No more worries about which flowers make you sneeze.

Overeating: (Not that this was a worry for anyone of us in the 'Bills' category) The summer is time for sweet indulgence.  When we are not sleeping or drooling on the couch, we are usually eating.  There is so much ice cream and watermelon, BBQ'd burgers and kebabs, pasta salads and grilled eggplant.  How is anyone supposed to stop?  And there is nothing but time.  Time to eat.  That worry is now long behind us.  Things will stop growing soon and it doesn't matter anyway because we don't have time to stop and eat.  Most days it's 1:44 in the afternoon before I remember to eat and then I'm in the middle of a class or a meeting or a client call.  We swallow some hummus at 3:50 and two leaves of lettuce (not in season) at 6:45.  That's called a diet people.


So, as you can see, I have decided to make a 180° turn and become an optimist.  I'm pretty sure that this  optimism is gonna last too.
In the spirit of optimism and less to worry about, I give you banana cake which is totally healthy because it's got all this brown flour that's going to make you happy and believe in the existence of unicorns.


Red Fife and Buckwheat flour Banana Cake adapted from Attune Foods and A Sweet Spoonful
makes 1 9x9 cake

1 cup Red Fife flour
1 cup less 2 tbsp Buckwheat flour
2 tbsp all purpose flour
1tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cardamom
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
2 eggs
1 cup (about 3 med bananas) ripe, mashed banana
1 tbsp vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk (or 1/4 cup milk mixed with 1/4 cup plain yogurt)
1/2 cup granola, muesli or oats
icing sugar for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 350°F
Butter and flour a 9x9 baking dish.
Combine all of the flours, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and cardamom together.  Mix well and set aside.
Whisk together the sugar and butter until fluffy.  Add the eggs and continue to whisk until completely incorporated.  Add the ripe banana and mix well.  Add the vanilla and mix.
Add the flour mixture to the banana mixture.  Mix until the flour is completely incorporated with no lumps.
Add the buttermilk and continue to whisk until completely mixed.
Add the granola and mix.
Pour the mixture into the prepared pan.
Bake for about 35 minutes, turning the pan half way through.  The edges of the cake should be pulling away from the edges and a cake tester should come out clean.
Cool for about 10 minutes and remove the cake from the pan and cool on a cooling rack.
Sprinkle with icing sugar once cooled.