Banana Muffin Recipe

One of my favorite banana recipes is my Mom's banana cake recipe.  I'd made them into muffins before and my kids eat them super fast but they were basically cupcakes so I decided to start playing with the recipe to make it more of a muffin and a little healthier.  This was teh end result.

Mom's Banana Muffins

2 1/2 Cups Flour

2 1/2 tsps Baking Powder

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

Mix, then add:

1/2 Cup Shortening

2 small bananas mashed

1 tsp vanilla

Mix & Add

2 eggs

1/2 Cup Sour Milk (Just add a little vinegar to sour it)

Beat 2 minutes. Put into muffin pans (I use papers but you can also grease the pans.)  Normal size muffins bake about 12-15 minutes and mini muffins take less.  Just bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Update: I made these with applesauce instead of shortening and added an extra banana for a healthier version.  The texture was more spounge like but my kids ate them up even faster than the others.

Drink It Up

My two-year old loves salad but only if there is some yummy dressing on it.  I'm always surprised when he asks for seconds on the veggies and not pasta.

This reminds me of a Kenny Chesney song entitled "The Good Stuff."  He talks about having his first fight with his wife and going down to a corner bar and asking for "the good stuff."  The bartender laughs and hands him a glass of milk and explains what the good stuff is.  He lists all those life moments that you always remember like hearing your new baby cry for the first time.  Then he tells him go home and appologize to his wife and spend the rest of his life "drinking up" those moments because they're the good stuff.  I'm not a drinker myself but I love the way the bartender in this song took the opportunity to teach him something about what life's really about.  I challenge you to watch for the "good stuff" in your life this week and drink in those moments that make life joyful.  I will do the same and be reporting them back to you next week.

Happy Birthday!

You had a birthday!  He spent the Saturday before crawling around in our very short attic blowing in 15 bags of insulation.  This is the before picture and he commented that we really should have taken an after shot.  He spent the next couple days really sore and now our house is much warmer.

So here's a message for you for your birthday.  You have been in my life for a while now and I can't imagine life without you.  You are the best thing that's ever happened to me and many days you are my hero.  You keep me giong when I'm tired, find my sense of humor when it is long lost, and you are my best friend.  I look forward to the many adventures life will bring knowing with you by my side it will be quite a ride. I Love You! 

Getting The Job Done

I am often awakened in the morning by the sound of small feet running down the hall and small voices calling "Mommy" outside my bedroom door.  This day, the ritual was skipped and my two-year old headed straight for breakfast.  I heard a chair being pushed into the kitchen and the rustling of a cheerios bag and didn't worry about it too much.  When I did get up a couple minutes later I found this little one sitting at the table with a plate of cheerios drenched in milk,  and he was eating it with a copper colored measuring spoon.  The picture really doesn't do he situation justice as it was far more amusing to me than this picture portrays.



This got me to thinking about how many times I've done things my own way in life.   I've joked for years that if there is a difficult way of doing something I will find it.  This would be funnier if it wasn't so true.  As I stood watching my toddler try to eat cereal from a plate I wondered how often the Lord looks down on my getting a job done and laughs a little at my methods.  I always seem to get the job done but often there are much easier, and sometime simpler ways and it I'd only petitioned His help I would have know that.  Here's to looking forward to seeking His help more earnestly in my everyday life.  Even though I'm sure He enjoys a good laugh.

I'm Allergic To Cats

The other day I was watching my friend's little boy for  a bit and we'd gone to a friends house for a visit.  They have two siamese cats that are just absolutely beautiful.  Most days they do the standard cat thing ignoring everyone and stearing clear of the kids.  This day, however, they were wanting attention and I was happy to accomidate them.  We got to talking and the other lady that was there said she was allergic to cats.  This little boy piped up and said, "I'm allergic to cats too."  I didn't think much of it and before to much longer it was time for us to be on our way.

As we drove back to our house the kids were talking in the back seat.  One of the kids asked what it means to be allergic.  I was explaining that it when you're allergic to something you feel scratchy and can get sick if it's a bad allergy.  Right then our littel friend piped up, "I'm allergic to nuts, eggs and cats...I can't eat cats."  I was trying to keep a straight face and didn't have the heart to correct him besides, I saw his logic.  He'd been taught that he wasn't supposed to eat anything he was allergic to.  Luckily I don't think he'll have to worry about eating cats anytime soon. :)

Seasons of Growth

Each Februrary we watch and wait for spring.  There is usually a warm spell sometime during this month that lasts for a week or two and gets everyone excited for Summer.  Then March and April come with their gray clouds and persistant rain and after a while one looses all hope that warm weather will ever return.  (We even had two days when it snowed a bit in the past week.)  Anyway, the flower bulbs planted in my front flowerbeds are eagerly growing despite the gray and I can't explain how much joy I find in watching them poke their first leaves up through the hard, cold ground.  The crocous are always first in bloom and we have purple blossoms right now, they will be followed by the daffodils and early tulips.  Before long the late tulips and irises will be showing their colors and then we move into Summer. 
These flowers steadily growing is one of the things that gets me through the gray months here and got me to thinking about myself a little.  In a way we are all like these bulbs.  They carry a great amount of potential but they are not beautiful when you plant them (usually in Novemeber).  It seems odd to be planting in a time when it's cold and they stay tucked into the ground dormant for several months before the warmth and water cause them to send their first leaves up toward the sun.  Within several more weeks they are blossoming and I'm loving their colorful display.  The flowers pass and the greenery stays for several more weeks before dying off and the bulbs go dormant once again, waiting for the next warm spell.   The next year they begin to divide and create more bulbs and within a couple years there are four or five bulbs from the original one.
In our lives we too have seasons of growth.  I wish I could understand it better but there seem to be times when the Lord looks down and says, I think it's about time for you to do some growing.  These growth times can be filled with frustration and difficulting, questioning and searching for answers but as long as we are reaching for the Son (of God) we will bear beautiful blossoms.  These are the fruits of our labors, the lessons we learn through adversity and can be shared with others.  The newness of the lesson passes (as do the blossoms) and we move on with our lives enjoying the confidence that the new growth has produced.  Eventually the lessons become more internal and maybe we feel they're dormant for a while but that strength has become part of us and though we might not be aware we continue to grow quietly in our hearts and minds until it's once again time to reach for the Son.

Sword And Shield

One day at pre-school we were talking about instruments so I decided we should form a marching band.  I rounded up a couple rattles, two tambarines and the rest were to use pot lids and spoons.  The kids had a blast with the exception of the one that covered his ears and told us it was too loud.  It wasn't long after we'd finnished our pre-school activities that the boys had another idea for the lids and spoons... Swords and Shields!  They were so excited and the littlest ran to the silverware drawer and got out a teaspoon as all the large cooking spoons were taken.

Now every once in a while I hear the boys in the kitchen getting into the drawer full of pots and pans and I know exactly what they're doing.  They are knights or musketeers and are off on some grand adventure.  It's great to be a kid.

Hurricane

Do you ever have one of those days when you feel like the world has gone crazy?  There are days when nothing seems to go right you're stretched too thin and there just aren't enough hours in the day.  It kind of feels like this...



Someone once challenged me to be more sincere in my prayers and on days like this I try to find something to be thankful for.  There are days when the only thing I can find to be grateful for is that the day is over and that is something.  Generally after a good night's sleep the world looks better. 

"Tomorrow is always fresh, with no mistakes in it."

- Anne of Green Gables

Here's to surviving hurricane days and looking forward to fresh tomorrows.

Afternoon Project

My husband has always been into building things and he hasn't had a fun project for a while so last Saturday he said, "I need some glue."  So we headed to the store to get some school glue.  I kept asking questions about what he was up to and the only answer I got was, "glueing cardboard."

He glued four layers of cardboard together and let the boys paint it brown.  He then put a hole in it, taped a black garbage bag on it, cut holes in it and put string through a plastic lid and strapped on.  Add a leaf blower and ....

Shazam!  You have a homemade hoover craft.  I was very impressed and it made for an entertaining evening.  The duct tape had a hard time and required some repair but it was a functioning hoover craft.  I couldn't believe he'd pulled the design out of his head and he later admitted to having looked at some designs online.

In the end I'm still really impressed with this afternoon project and the kids loved having a project to work on with their dad.  Meanwhile, I was reading a book and enjoying watching the three most important people in my life grin from ear to ear.