Best BANANA BREAD

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups flour
• 
  
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 
  
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 
  
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 
  
• 1 egg
• 
  
• 1⅛ cup  brown sugar
• 
  
• ½ cup vegetable oil or butter
• 
  

  1 T. Mayonnaise

• 
  
• 2 T. sour cream or milk
• 
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 
  
• 3 -4 bananas mashed 
• 
  
• ½ cup chopped walnuts or chocolate chips (optional)
• 
  
• INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Add flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt to a small bowl and set aside.
3. Mix egg,  brown sugar and oil and stir until well combined
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir well. The mixture will be thick and dry.
5. Next add milk/sour cream,mayo, vanilla and bananas and stir until mixed.
6. Mix in walnuts or chocolate chips, or both if you are daring... and pour into a loaf pan.
7. Cook 50-75 minutes, checking regularly until a knife comes out clean.

GLAZE {optional}

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons milk

 Combine powered sugar and milk, stirring with a whisk, drizzle over warm bread. Cool completely on wire rack.

Get your butter or ice cream ready....

Flat Screen Tv Restyled

My flat screen television needed a much over do restyle....I was sick of looking at a big black rectangle on the wall of my now French Country dining room...here she was before...

And the after...I made a crude frame with 2 U brackets on the top, so it hangs on the top part of the tv...then I added doo dads from Hobby Lobby Clearance aisle...a little paint left over from the bathroom, and Voila'!!

Needed more distressing...now she is perfect!

Glamkids Christmas Tree Shopping

Shabby Chic Christmas Nativity set in Gold and Mother of pearl finish

French Buttercream

This is a truly decadent frosting / filling. Please note this is not a pure white icing, and as it sits will turn the color of butter.

2 packages (1.3 Oz. Size) Vanilla Cook & Serve Pudding


4 cups Milk


½ cups powdered Sugar


4 sticks Butter





2 Tablespoons real Vanilla extract


Butter and all of the other ingredients have to be at the same temperature to prevent the buttercream from seperating.

In a medium saucepan, prepare the pudding with the milk and sugar, according to the package instructions. Place the saucepan in a cold water bath .. press some cling film lightly against the pudding’s surface to prevent skin from foming). Once cooled, stir the pudding until smooth.

When the butter and the pudding are both at room temperature, whip the butter for about 15 minutes. Once it has become white and fluffy, switch to the paddle attachment and add the pudding, about two tablespoons at a time, at low speed. Once all the pudding has been incorporated, stir in the vanilla extract and any liquor you’d like to add (up to 2 tablespoons).

Makes enough to cover and fill one 9-inch cake.

Tips:
If the buttercream should split, you can try heating (but not browning) a tablespoon of butter and quickly mixing it through the split buttercream.

African Violets

Allenton Volunteer Fire Department Wetdown Cake

A long standing tradition in the fire service, a "wet-down" is a ritual celebrated by many fire departments in the United States in which firefighters commission a new fire apparatus by anointing it with water sprayed from the retiring pumper's tank water or from a neighboring firehouse's apparatus. The ritual dates back to the late 1800's when horse drawn pumpers were used throughout the nation's Fire Service.

Horses that were commissioned for service would be washed along with the pumper at their newly assigned firehouse and backed into the firehouse bay. The firefighters would then fit the new horse with its harness placing the company in service. After every run, firefighters had to hand push their pumpers back into the bay and ready themselves for the next alarm.

When new horses or pumpers were purchased neighboring firehouses, department chiefs, and citizens from the surrounding community would attend the ceremony to celebrate the new powerful addition to their neighborhood firehouse. Local clergy came to bestow blessings upon the horse throwing holy water unto it for long life, strength, speed and good health. The blessing would serve to ward off any evil spirits or "gremlins" that could affect the firehouse's newest addition.

Today, fire departments continue to celebrate this tradition with the help of a driver in the seat and the company's transmission in reverse. After being wet-down and blessed, the company is slowly rolled backwards into the bay while firefighters assist by pushing upfront. Nowadays, the integration of Fire and medical services, Rescue Trucks have earned the right to be included in the ritual. 

I  was honored to do the cake...

 Glitter water and marshmallow tires..oh my

 Dozens of local residents  joined the Allenton  Fire Department on  September 28 2016, to dedicate a new fire truck.

It’s not a common occasion—it’s only once every several years that the city can afford such a purchase—but it was an eye-opening and touching ceremony that has a proud tradition.