Banana Blueberry Muffins

I always make sure to buy extra bananas when I'm at the grocery store, knowing full well a few will over-ripen and get mushy, leaving me no other choice than to make banana bread! It is such a hit in this house and how can I say no to my little girl asking for her "ana bed".

There are a gazillion banana bread recipes out there. I've made many over the years that have turned out so flavourful and tasty but I've also come across those not so good ones that are so dry with no flavour and nobody in the house wants to finish it. I discovered this recipe only about 3 months ago on All Recipes, but I foresee it being my go-to recipe from now on. I just like how easy it is and the end result is so moist with lots of flavour and not overly sweet. 

I have bags upon bags of blueberries in the freezer from last summer when we went blueberry picking, that I really need to use up, so I decided to add some to the recipe - even though I was going against the husband's wishes. He doesn't like people messing with his banana bread. He likes it straight up and pure, but he admitted he was wrong and was amazed at how much more flavour the blueberries added. 

I usually make my banana bread as a loaf but I'm taking some for my friend this week who just had a baby and figured it would be much easier taking muffins instead of trying to cut nice slices of the loaf but instead completely destroying it as I usually do. 

Recipe courtesy of allrecipes.com with slight modifications

Makes 1 loaf or approximately 24 muffins

Ingredients

• 
  
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 3 bananas, mashed
• 2 eggs 
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/3 cup sour milk (I just use whole milk) 
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 - 2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease an 8x4 inch loaf pan.
2. Combine sugar, butter, bananas, eggs, flour, baking soda, milk, salt and vanilla extract in a large mixing bowl; beat well. [Add blueberries and mix gently]. Pour batter into prepared pan [or muffin tins].
3. Bake in a preheated oven for 60 minutes (or approximately 22-25 minutes for muffins), or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. 

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Crockpot Onion Mushroom Chicken

This is a really simple, super delicious chicken recipe. My mom used to make this (in the oven) when I was a kid and I would get so excited anxiously awaiting for it to be ready. I've made a few of my own modifications throughout the years and have recently started making it in the crockpot instead of the oven to let the flavours even more so infuse. The aroma throughout the house is absolutely amazing, it'll be a long 3 hours waiting for dinner! 

Ingredients

6 - 8 chicken thighs, with or without skin

1 can mushroom soup

3/4 cup light sourcream

1/2 package dried onion soup mix

2 tsp lemon juice

6 mushrooms, chopped

1/2 white onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

Cornstarch to thicken sauce

Directions

Lightly cook chicken in frying pan until nicely browned on the outside. 

In crockpot, mix together mushroom soup, sourcream, onion soup mix, lemon juice, mushrooms, onions, garlic, and salt and pepper.

Add chicken to the mixture and coat with sauce.

Cook on High for about 3 hours, or until chicken is fully cooked. In a separate small bowl, combine cornstarch with cold water and mix into sauce until thickened to your likening. Serve over rice alongside vegetables of your choice. Enjoy!

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Cards

I love making my own cards for special occasions, but the problem is is that I don't have all the fun tools like the Cricut to make fancy schmancy ones, so I have to keep it simple and be creative with what I have. I usually stock up on pretty paper and cute little embellishments every time I go to Michael's and get creative from there.

I've made so many cards over the years but never even thought to take pictures of them until recently. It was probably when I joined Pinterest a number of months ago that I realized that I, too, could be sharing some of my work. So here's just a select few of my cards, but I'll be sure to post more in the future....that is, if I remember to bring out the camera before I give the card away.

Oooh presents ~ super simple birthday card
Thanks to this site for my inspiration

Both of the above cards inspired by links I found on Pinterest

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