If You Have Ripe Bananas, Make Banana Muffins

Recently the bananas we have been buying from the local grocery store have not lasted as long as we would like. We buy bananas one day and turn around to fine them too ripe to eat the next day. So the solution I've found it to make Banana Muffins!! Problem with these, though, they don't even last a long as the bananas because we gobble them up right away!!

Here's a tried and true recipe from Better Homes::
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 beaten egg
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup cooking oil
3/4 cup mashed banana (or about 2 medium bananas)
1/2 chopped nuts (optional)
handful of chocolate chips (optional)

1:: Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.
2:: In a separate bowl, combine egg, milk, and oil.
3:: Add egg.milk.oil mixture to the bowl with flour and other ingredients.
4:: Add mashed bananas to the mix!!

5:: If desired you can make muffins with both chocolate chips and nuts,
or make them half and half like I did. If so, split the muffin mix into two bowls and add chocolate chips to one bowl and nuts to the other bowl.

6:: Spoon muffin mix into a greased 12 muffin cup pan.
7:: Bake for 18-20 mins at 400*
8:: ENJOY!!!

Happy Kitchen Makes a Happy Wife

Cabinets are in... and are starting to get organized!!
There are still a few more dishes to put in the cabinet below, but for now it makes me really happy to have them organized in BRAND NEW cabinets!!



Baking Supplies along with other goodies in this cabinet!!



Canned Goods, Pasta, Spices (just for now until we get a spice rack), and the essentials of Peanut Butter and Honey!!




The cabinet on the Left is the top portion to the tall pantry cabinet and the cabinet on the Right is the lower portion of the same pantry cabinet.

Left Top= chips, onions, potatoes, rice, etc.
Left Bottom= cereal, oatmeal
Right Top= coffee makings, tea, hot chocolate, etc.
Right Bottom= trash can for now, we'll see if it stays long term




I'm so very glad to have our food and dishes back where they belong!! Thanks to Brett, Jacob, and Steve for all your hard work!!

Moving Along...

For the past few weeks we've been working on our kitchen. Talk about a real challenge! We've discovered nothing in this house is normal, standard, or easy. We've had issues with electrical, plumping, walls, doors, floors... everything really. A job that seems fairly easy (like painting the walls) turns into a multiple step process... Here's what we've been doing these last few days!

Step One:: spray walls and remove any remaining wallpaper from the past 50 years as well as layers of glue upon layers of paint.

Step Two:: wash walls really, really, really well.

Step Three:: try to be very patient with spouse, and continue working hard, remind each other we are doing the best we can.

Step Four:: apply a coat of drywall mud by rolling it on all of the walls, then squeegee the mud in order to make wall as flat as can be. Repeat this step three times.


Step Five:: sand all the walls by hand


Step Six:: enjoy white walls while they last (this is the first time in 3 years the walls have all been the same color and texture!)


Step Seven:: remove light fixture in order to paint ceiling


Step Eight:: prime all the walls in order to seal drywall


Step Nine:: gather many paint colors, purchase samples, ask friends for advice, decide upon color with husband


Step Ten:: PAINT WALLS!!!


Step Eleven:: invite friends over to help install cabinets! (don't forget the pizza!)


Step Twelve:: put kitchen back together... this includes bring canned goods back into kitchen from the linen closet, bring back all dishes that have been stored in guest room, bring back all baking supplies from the guest room closet and find a place for all these items in the new cabinets!!

Step Thirteen:: finish kitchen... there's much, much more to do... putting in more countertops, flooring, trim, light fixtures, microwave (plus one more cabinet), buying more things for kitchen

Step Fourteen:: work on the rest of the house (paint living room and hallway, replace front door and door to garage, possibly other projects, and clean house!!

Step Fifteen:: invite friends and family over for an open house!!!