Banana Nut Muffins

We love muffins at our house! I have even been called the Muffin Mom in years past. Here is the most popular recipe I use.

1 stick butter
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 large bananas mashed
2 cups flour
1/2 teas. salt
1 teas. baking powder
1/2 teas. baking soda
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
1 teas. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Prepare muffin tins with either non-stick spray or paper liners.

Beat butter, sugar, eggs and mashed bananas together. Toss in flour, salt, baking powder and soda and the milk, mix until dry ingredients are moist - not a good idea to over mix. Stir in vanilla and nuts. Using an ice cream scooper that has the lever fill muffin tins 2/3 way full. I like to place a pecan half to the top before baking, but in the pictures you will see I didn't; I forgot and crushed them all.
Bake for about 15 minutes. Remove from tins immediately. Serve with last weeks Amish Breakfast Casserole.


I made a batch of multi-sized muffins for the various sizes of appetites I feed regularly. They are so yummy warm with a little butter melted inside - or not.
I have linked to some of these fabulous parties.
~jan

Y.U.M.M.Y

So, I am currently doing The Master Cleanse. 

For personal reasons, It sounded like a good option for me. Its supposed to clean out toxins and some people have said it helped with their food intolerance's, which I have a few...Its too early to say if its working but, if anything, it will convince me that I do have some self control :)

When I get off this crazy ride I fully intend on having myself a "free day" once a week or so, to eat some delicious treats that life shouldn't go without!

I thought I would share these YUMMY goodies with y'all so you can taste for yourself the wonderful-ness of splurging, cheating or whatever it is you call taking a break from our endless detoxes and diets that we as women put ourselves through.

Treat #1:  Raspberry Freezer Dessert

This recipe totally tickles my taste buds and 

I am sooo happy that Judy from Cranberry Morning shared this with me. 

YUM!

Check out the link for the recipe...you'll be glad you did.

Treat #2:  Coconut Ice Cream with Caramelized Bananas

The taste combination{s} are AMAZING! 

I heart ice cream. Its not too heavy so I don't feel like a pig when I eat it,

[as long as I don't eat the whole container!] 

Again, check out the link for the recipe...Ashlie & Alfred rocked my world with this one;)

Treat #3: Easy No-Bake Oatmeal Cookies

I seriously LOVE making no-bake cookies. 

These are easy and SUPER yummy....a nice break from the chocolate-y ones I usually make. 

You just gotta check this link out! 

This is just one of the crazy good recipes Liz has to offer!

A special thanks to these bloggers for sharing their divine recipes.

Keep doing what your doing...for the taste buds!

Lotsa Love,

Amanda

Scenic Sunday

Mormon Rock in Southern California

The Best Breakfast Casserole

This is my new favorite recipe for breakfast and brunch. Don't let the cottage cheese fool you. IT and the Swiss cheese make the recipe!! I do make this 'semi-homemade'. I used the package of Real Bacon Bits (not granules of imitation)and all the cheese I bought pre-shredded- it was on sale of course. There is a suggestion for using cold baked potatoes and shredding them, but I semi'ed and bought a frozen bag of shreads. This is more hashbrowns and bacon than eggs - which is why it appeals to me.

I make this the night before and then pop it in the cold oven before preheating so the glass dish warms with the oven and doesn't break. I served this recipe this past Saturday for a brunch celebrating my son's 18th Birthday! It was a hit as always!

Amish Breakfast Casserole
• 1 pound sliced bacon, diced
• 1 medium sweet onion, chopped
• 6 eggs, lightly beaten
• 4 cups frozen shredded hash brown potatoes, thawed
• 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1 1/2 cups small curd cottage cheese
• 1 1/4 cups shredded Swiss cheese
-In a large skillet, cook bacon and onion until bacon is crisp; drain. In a bowl, combine the remaining ingredients; stir in bacon mixture. Transfer to a greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. glass baking dish.
-Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for 35-40 minutes or until set and bubbly. Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting.

I originally found this recipe here...
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Amish-Breakfast-Casserole/Detail.aspx where you will find other suggestions to mix it up a bit. I have used variatons of different cheeses, and I always go back to swiss.

My photo didn't turn out too well, so I used one from allrecipes.

Quiet Books

New grandbabies + new sewing machine = WAY too much fun for Lorie!

I've been working on birthday gifts for some of the babies in my life and this is one of the books I made for a friend's child's first birthday last week.

Presenting:

Including the cutest blue octopus in the world:

The most adorable green baby dragon:

 A darling yellow chick:

 A friendly tiger:

 And a stripey zebra.

This one was a warm-up for my granddaughter's birthday later in the month! I've had so much picturing the babies learning their colors and being quietly entertained by these books made specially for them!

Sweet Baby Handprints

Phew! And we're back! Happy February, everyone! 

I've missed being here. A lot! Weddings, funerals, and missionary farewells are {hopefully} done for the year. 

For Christmas each year since my son was born, he has (well, I have) made a hand print gift for my Mom. 

For his first Christmas, we made her a t-shirt with a reindeer

For his second Christmas, we made a giraffe painting, and we've stuck with framed paintings in the years since. 

Third Christmas

Fourth Christmas

This year we deviated from the jungle theme, and made an undersea painting, and added his baby sister's footprint (the squid) to make it a family affair.

This has been a sweet gift for Tutu (grandma), even though it makes us all a little sad to see how much his little hands are growing!

I found this blog useful for hand and footprint art ideas. I found it very useful to glob the paint onto hands and feet instead of dipping and stamping. I used regular non-toxic acrylic paint, and it washed off very easily. As my boy got bigger, he was able to finger paint the other elements (grass, trees, the sun) by himself, which of course makes him so proud.

<3 AmberLou

A Cute Valentines Gift

Last year, I wanted to do something on Valentines day for my daughter's Oma & Uncles.

She just loves them to death!

So I got crafty with:

-empty glass soda bottles [and the carrier thay came in.]

-craft paper and supplies.

-ribbon

-paint

-V-day candy

I covered each bottle with paper and ribbon and made a tag with each initial of my mom & siblings so they knew which was theirs.

I then filled them with assorted red, pink & white candies. [wash the bottles out first!]

I painted the 'Dads Root Beer' case with red paint just so it would cover any place where there wasn't any paper.

After it was dry, I decorated the case with paper and replaced the bottles and wall-ah. It was so simple and easy to make but it was adorable and a non-traditional way to deliver your Valentines treat.

Some candy that fit down the long neck bottle are:

-any kind of M&M's

-candy corn

-red hot candies

- candy hearts

-gumballs

There are too many too list.

You dont have to stick to the color theme in the candy if you dont want:)

-Amanda

we link to these lovely parties