Banana Nut Bread

Fall is right around the corner and I'm starting to crave comfort food. How about you? 
The other day, I had two bananas that were turning brown quickly. In an effort to not waste them, I pulled out my recipe cards and turned them into banana nut bread! As you can see, it didn't last very long at home. 

Recipe
3 ripe bananas (okay, I only had two, but it still worked)
1 egg, beaten
1 stick of melted butter
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup chopped nuts like pecans or walnuts

In a large bowl, mash the bananas, add the egg and butter, mix well. Now add the sugar and flour. Last, fold in the nuts. Pour into a 9x5 inch loaf pan that is greased. Bake at 350 for 55 minutes to an hour. Enjoy!

Blueberry Coffee Cake

I got this yummy recipe from Whimsical Creations 
Lately, I've been looking through my recipe books and blogs searching for easy to make, yet super yummy new recipes. I stumbled across this one for Blueberry Coffee Cake and had to try it. If you haven't noticed, blueberries are still in the market and are priced well. As for my family, we know a lady from church who has a small blueberry patch on her land and lets us pick until our hearts are content. At home, I wash all of them, lay them out on the table overnight to dry well. In the morning, I store them in freezer bags and place them in the freezer till I'm ready to use them.

Here's the recipe (I tweeked it a bit for my home):
For the cake
2 cups self-rising flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup soft butter
3/4 cup milk
1 egg
2 cups blueberries (drain them well if you are using from a bag).
Toppping
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup soft butter
cinnamon to sprinkle on top

Oven 350
Grease baking dish.
Blend all ingredients except for the blueberries

Then gently blend in the blueberries

Pour into greased baking dish and spread out to make even

Sprinkle on topping and then cinnamon

Bake for 45-50 minutes

Enjoy!

Iced Tea

My mom is from the South. She taught me early on how to make sweet tea. I must say, I tend to leave out the sugar and add my own sweetener. But when I have company, I add the sugar. For my friends who are from the Deep South, they want me to add even more.

Here is how you make it:

In a small sauce pan, fill 1/4 with water. 

Add 5 teabags 

(We use Lipton. Try flavored kinds too, it works well with them)

Let simmer for about 7 minutes. The water will look dark brown.

In your pitcher, fill about 3/4 full 

(remember, you will be adding more from the stove top)

Put in a metal spoon if you are using a glass pitcher like I am. It will take the heat. If you don't, your pitcher may crack 

(hot and cold mixed together will do that, the spoon prevents this from happening).

With another spoon, press tea bags against the side of the pan to get the tea out more. Then, pour the tea water into the pitcher. Discard the bags. 

For sweet tea: Add 1/2 cup of sugar. 

For really sweet, sweet tea: Add 3/4-1 cup sugar.

Mix it all up. Add ice. Serve. 

Yellow Day

Yellow Day

Like our previous Red Day, we set the day aside to surround ourselves with yellow. Every opportunity I could think of to show him the color yellow, I would try. In the top picture, we gathered our yellow toys. He did a pretty good job until he brought me a green tractor!

Yellow is a pretty easy color to find books on. Big Bird is yellow, ducks are yellow, the sun is yellow and I picked out Curious George because of the Man with a Yellow Hat. 

Each day, to give myself a chance to cook or clean up, I put a video in for Ben to watch. Here, we have Big Bird and Curious George. 

And for snacks, I gave him Kix cereal, lemonade, dried pineapples, Funyuns.  For real food, I gave him bananas, corn and squash.

We usually do a craft on our color days. I had intended to have him paint a paper plate yellow and make it look like the sun. But grandparents called and asked to join them at the park. The park won out for the day's activity.

Have you tried color days with your kid? Or are you planning to soon? If so, what ideas do you have for books/videos for the other colors?