The Best Banana Bread

I have a weakness for good Banana Bread which I inherited from my mother.  She has made fabulous Banana Bread for as long as I can remember.  I came across a recipe on Pinterest that uses sour cream that sounded so good, I just had to give it a try.  I'm sure glad I did - it's fabulous!  Of course I had to share it.  :)
Source:  Your Homebased Mom

Sour Cream Banana Bread

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
1 cup mashed ripe bananas
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Directions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour bottom only of a loaf pan (or use 3 small loaf pans).  In large bowl, beat together sugar and oil.  Add eggs, bananas, sour cream and vanilla; blend well.  Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup; level off.  Add flour, baking soda and salt; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened.   Pour into prepared pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes (about 40 minutes for smaller loaf pan) or until toothpick inserted in center comes clean.  Cool 5 minutes; remove from pan.  Cool completely.  Wrap tightly and store in refrigerator.  Makes 1 loaf.

Christmas Story Advent

This year I decided to do something a little different to count down the days until Christmas.  I got together 24 children Christmas books (some new ones along with favorites we've collected over the years) and wrapped each one separately.  Each night we read a few verses relating to the birth of Christ and then let Winston pick a story to open and read for bed time.  He's loved this and so have I.  I thought I'd share a few of our favorites

The book pictured above "The Sweet Smell of Christmas" was a favorite of mine as a child.  All three of my boys have loved it too.  How can you not love a story that has yummy scratch and sniff pages?

What would Christmas be without a great nativity story with wonderful pictures and verse. 

This is one of the new books I bought this year.  It's about a camel named Humphrey who carried the treasures of the three kings and was able to meet and present the Christ child with his own gift - a wonderful and touching story.

This fun and silly alphabet book is Winston's favorite story this year.  It's full of darling pictures and a fun verse about a family's Christmas Eve with relatives from A to Z.

What would Christmas be without Phineas and Ferb.  This is a fun story about how these boys find the perfect Christmas Tree for their city.

What would Christmas be without this old classic - The Night Before Christmas.  We've owned this book since Zack and Bo were little and have read it every year on Christmas Eve - keeping the magic of Christmas alive.

I've so enjoyed our nightly story time.  This is a tradition we'll continue each year.

Christmas Egg Souffle

If you're looking for a great recipe for Christmas morning, I have one for you - Christmas Egg Souffle.  I love this stuff!  Cheesy eggs with a touch of green chilies - Mmmm!

It's super easy to make and can be baked ahead of time and heated back up (that is if you can wait to dig in).  I even make it for dinner sometimes - like tonight.   :)

Christmas Egg Souffle

Ingredients:

10 Eggs

2 cups cottage cheese (small curd)

1/2 tsp salt

1 4oz. can chopped green chilis

1/2 cup flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 lb. Monterrey Jack Cheese, grated

1/2 cup melted butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x13 pan.  Beat eggs well.  Add cottage cheese, salt, chilis, flour and baking powder and mix well.  Stir in grated cheese and melted butter then pour into prepared pan.  Bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick poked into the center comes out clean.  Enjoy!

O Christmas Tree

I love our Christmas tree.  It's a family tradition of ours to get a real tree each year and our tree this year is such a beautiful shape and color.  An added plus - it makes our house smell so nice and piney. 

Another tradition of ours is buying a special ornament each year for our boys.  We started this when Zack and Bo were little and it's been a fun thing each year to add to their collection not to mention I enjoy shopping around for each year's ornament.  I love looking at our decorated tree and reminiscing about all the ornaments we've accumulated over the years - it adds to my holiday magic.

Don't get me wrong, I do love to see others theme decorated trees and admire their beauty, but for me our smorgasbord Christmas is the most beautiful of Christmas trees.