Shopping and Baking.. What could be better?

Today my lovely daughters and I had a great afternoon shopping. Savannah (married for a whole three weeks!) came over and had quite a few wedding gift cards to Bed Bath and Beyond that she was eager to spend. But first we decided to go to the ultimate fabric store downtown! We all love this store and every time we go, we spend hours just walking around feeling the fabric, and talking about all of the things we could sew. Now I know you non-sewers are probably wondering how in the world one could spend ten minutes in a fabric store let alone hours, I understand, I have those same feelings about auto parts stores, gun shops, and tractor supply stores, ( all places my husband can spend hours in) but fabric stores are right up there with Christmas morning in my book. However, as much as we love to go to this particular store, we get totally overwhelmed when we walk in and most of the time we leave there with very little in the way of fabric, and a lot of lofty ideas about things we would love to create. Today we actually came out with fabric and plans of things to actually make out of said fabric. Ciara decided that she wanted to try her hand at sewing and she bought some yummy cuddly fabric that she will make a patch work type blanket with. Savannah bought the same type of fabric in different shades that she plans on making a baby blanket for her sister-in-law with. Afterward we stopped for lunch and then onto Bed Bath & Beyond. Savannah was able to buy most of the remaining things on her Bridal registry with the gift cards that she had. We ended our trip by stopping off at Hobby Lobby and taking advantage of their Simplicity pattern sale. All in all it was a great afternoon. I feel so blessed to have these special times with my precious daughters. Now onto the baking part of the day. This morning I saw these sad bananas on the counter



These old bananas were past their prime. No longer young and firm, they were ready to be re-purposed.

Oh bananas I feel your pain!

Anyway, what better way to re-purpose old bananas then to give them new life as banana bread! Through the years I have tried a number of different Banana Bread recipes, but I can honestly say I always go back to my tried and true recipe from a cook book that I received as a wedding gift twenty three years ago. This recipe is basic and easy and I have always had great luck with it. As you can see from the page in my cookbook, I have used it a lot!



This recipe is so yummy, and while it is not totally healthy, I'm quite sure it can be modified to a more healthier version. Here is the finished product. This loaf is going to be wrapped and put into the freezer until we are ready to eat it.



Banana Bread
1 cup sugar
1 cup (2 medium) mashed bananas
1/2 cup butter softened
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Heat oven to 350. Grease (not oil) bottom only of loaf pan. In large bowl, blend first 6 ingredients, beat 1 minute at medium speed. Stir in remaining ingredients just until dry ingredients are moistened. pour batter into loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 50 - 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. cool 5 minutes, remove from pan. Enjoy!