banana bread

Another winter weekend is upon us and for my family that means another road trip to Stevens Pass for skiing.  Every Sunday in January and February we head up in the car for what really feels to us like a mini vacation.  Since finding our ski legs, we’ve discovered a great way to cure the winter blues; escaping the gray Seattle weather for clear skies and beautiful slopes makes us so happy.  Right along with fun car music, books on CDs and travel games, banana bread has become part of the ritual.  During the week I actually think about making sure I’m going to have the perfect ripe bananas on hand for my Saturday baking.  I will say that – in a pinch – the pumpkin bread mix from Trader Joes has been a nice substitute, but my family still goes crazy for the original.  There’s nothing like delicious banana bread on the way up so early in the morning and again on the way home, tired and starving after all the hard work.

This is a great banana bread recipe.  It’s simple to make and impossible to mess up.  Like most of my favorite go-to baking recipes, this one comes from my friend Stephanie.  She got it while visiting her newly married college friend Renee in California.  Stephanie said, “She was making that stuff for her hubby EVERY morning!!”  Seriously, it’s that good.  Make it as soon as possible – you can thank me later!

Banana Bread

4 ripe bananas
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
Sprinkle of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg
1/3 cup olive oil

Mix together and pour in a non-greased bread pan.
Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, then 300 degrees for 45 minutes or longer until done.

crafty owls

Since our recent snow days, the girls and I have been obsessed with this great owl Valentine’s Day project.  My friend Stacy made the template from a felt owl decoration she’s had for years.  The best part of this project – once I precut a ton of owl bodies and wings and beaks and feet and eyes – is putting the pieces together.  It is so fun to mix and match all the great Valentine’s paper I’ve collected, and each owl looks so cute and unique.  “The possibilities are endless!” said Stacy to me in one of our many phone conversations back and forth about this project.  (Yes, I’ll admit it: we spend A LOT of time talking on the phone about crafting.)  We’ve been mass producing them for friends and family, and my Sophie is going to make them for her class Valentine exchange with sayings like “OWL always be your friend” and “WHOO loves you?” on the back.

I absolutely love the fact that my girls have inherited my craftiness.  We even kicked Drew out of the office (he didn’t really need it anyway) and have turned it into a full-time craft room.  I don’t think he knew what he was getting into when he married me, and my girlies are just the same.  I have to ask Bella where craft supplies are because she is constantly working on her own little projects.  She has a sewing machine and loves to knit and stitch as well as do paper crafts.  And Sophie usually always has a painting going at her easel or is building some kind of elaborate 3D model using paper and glue sticks.  It’s not unusual to hear me yell out across the house, “Where are my Cutter Bee detail scissors?” or “Has anyone seen the Diamond Glaze and Modge Podge?” followed by girls’ quick responses and retrievals.  Poor Drew had better just stand back – in this crafty house he is seriously outnumbered.  We’ve got Glue Dots, and we aren’t afraid to use them!!