TORNADO POOP

If  my brain is traumatized by viewing the miles of devastation left behind by the tornadoes, those who are in the midst of it must be reeling! Imagining what it will take to clean up that tornado destroyed scene, leaves me dumbfounded by the enormity of the task. 

Praying for for those recovering from this disaster and the families and friends who have lost their loved ones. Possessions can be replaced, people cannot.  All that debris represents peoples lives. Their belongings have been chopped, shredded, mixed with dirt and spit out as a miles of #tornadopoop.

And this is just the beginning of tornado season!

BANANA BREAD

Banana Bread

This smell fills the house and makes my mouth water! Don't you just love to smell fresh-baked anything? Guess who woke up and said, "Something smells good!" And the commercial says the best part of waking up is coffee. Really?

This is my tried and true, handed-down-from-my-mom recipe for banana bread. 

As you can see I've made a few notes over the years to make sure I get consistent results. 

The baking times vary depending on the size of loaf pans I use. 

I use the single loaf size if we aren't planning to share a loaf.

You may notice this inverted loaf is gently coated in sugar. Instead of greasing and flouring a loaf pan, try grease and then lightly sugar it instead. I do this when I bake cakes too. You'll note this came out of the pan smoothly.

These two are a nice size to use when I want to make one and then take a fresh-baked loaf to a neighbor (sorry I didn't do that this morning Dayna)!

These Pampered Chef loaf pans are what I use when making mini loaves for bake sales or special little gifts for the holidays.

Here's the easy part:

Preheat the oven to 350.

Measure carefully and stir together the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.

In the blender put the eggs, ripe bananas, sugar, and lastly the butter.  

(I cut the butter into 4 chunks.  It seems to blend easier that way.)

Pour the banana mixture over the dry and mix them together.

Pour into the prepared pan or pans and bake!

My large loaf took 50 minutes today because the bananas were a bit large.  So always test your loaf with a toothpick to make sure it's thoroughly baked. The toothpick should come out clean when inserted in the middle.

Invert the loaf pan onto a cooling rack and let that melted sugar soak into the bread for about 5 minutes.

Slice and enjoy! 

I make this bread often and keep it on hand for JoPapa's breakfasts.  I haven't tried shipping this, but if you ask me nicely, I might be convinced to send or bring one to you...for the right price of course.

:-)

Or, you might try baking it yourself so your house will smell as yummy as mine!  Your family will love it too!

FRUITY MUFFINS

These have to be healthy! They are filled with so much yummy goodness! Even though the original recipe says not to freeze them, I always do.  They are delicious once they are re-warmed.

The original recipe also calls for margarine, but I've switched to using butter. Have you noticed how weird margarine is these days? Recipes don't turn out the way I expect when I cook using margarine for some reason. Can you say "hydrogenated"? If you have read any of my posts you know I ALWAYS follow recipes exactly. Not! Tweaking a recipe is a sign of my creativity!

Let me know what you think of these sweet, healthy muffins when you make them! Or...for the right price, I can bake a dozen and send (or deliver) them to you! Enjoy!