Sour Cream Banana and Berry Bread

This recipe is super yummy!

Sour Cream Banana and Berry Bread
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 t. salt
1 t. vanilla
2 cups mashed banana
4 cups sifted flour
2 t. baking soda
1 cup sour cream
2 cups cranberries (frozen works best)
Beat butter until soft. Add sugar, eggs, salt, vanilla, and bananas and blend together. Add dry ingredients alternating with sour cream. Blend well after each addition. Fold in cranberries. Bake at 350 in greased a floured pans. Do not overbake. Bread in small pans will bake in about 40 minutes. Bread in large pans will bake in about 60 minutes.

Titan's Family

Here is a picture that Noah drew of Titan's (our new puppy) family. We are close friends of the families that own Titan's mother and father. Titan will be able to see his mommy and daddy often!
Kazz-Titan's father
Olive-Titan's mother
Tazzlena-Titan's sister

Happy 4th of July!

Photos courtesy of Harlan Humphrey (Dad).

More on Me, Myself, and Lies

I have been doing a Bible study by Jennifer Rothschild called Me, Myself, and Lies. I am almost done with week 2 and continuing to glean so much from this study! If you are interested, here is the link to Jennifer's blog.
Here are a few concepts that made an impact on me this week. The first was labels and how we label ourselves. I am a wife, mother, teacher, daughter, etc. But how I view those labels depends on if I am using faith or fate. Fate says that it is just not going to work out (I can't be a great mom) and there is nothing I can do about it. Faith uses God's word to view my situation. For example, I am a child of God...I can change. I am loved.
Another concept that I thought really hit me to the core was about roots and fruits. All the fruits that you could label as sin have a root in our thought closets that is a faulty assumption. For example, if I am struggling with anxiety then the assumption that I am entertaining is that God doesn't care for me and isn't in control. If I am experiencing a lot of difficulty in my relationships then there might be a root of bitterness (that is linked to unforgiveness). The only way to get rid of the sin (fruit) is to get rid of the root through the truth of God's word. Here is a quote from Jennifer,
"We can't will our fruits from blossoming. There is only one way to deal with bad-tasting fruit, and that is to kill the root. A fruit can't be nourished if there is no root.....The weapon of the Word kills bad roots.

4th of July Fun

Here are some fun recipes and crafts for the 4th of July...

Cake Pops (So Cute!)

Kids Recipes

Taste of Home Desserts

Balloon Fireworks

Pinwheels

Fireworks Art

Fireworks Flowers

Summer Salads

We love eating salads in the summertime because there is less heating up the house to use the oven. Here are a couple of our favorites...

Black Bean and Corn Salad (great when you are doing a Mexican meal)
1 cup corn
2 (16 oz) cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro or parsley
2 T. minced onion
1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 T. olive oil
1 t. lemon juice
1 t. minced garlic
1 t. brown sugar
salt and pepper
Combine all ingredients and let salad marinate for at least 30 minutes before eating.

Pasta Salad
1 lb. pasta (we use Pagoda pasta), cooked and drained
2 cucumbers, peeled and diced
2 tomatoes, diced
3 green onions, thinly sliced
8 oz. Italian dressing
2 T. salad seasoning (This is what we use.)
crumbled feta
I normally mix all the ingredients except the feta. Since no one else likes feta here except me, I just add feta to mine. You do need to refrigerate this several hours before serving.

We have Titan!!!

We were able to get him a bit early...isn't he so cute?! He is calm and doesn't bark or whine which is making life easy. He is pretty good about not relieving himself in the house, but we have had about one accident. And the thing I was worried about the most, nighttime, hasn't been a problem. He sleeps in his kennel all night without ever getting up! He are some pictures of him yesterday...his first full day with us!