Happy SAINT Valentine's!

My four year old had his first school Valentine's party at preschool yesterday. He was so excited and of course brought home lots of candy!

Since he attends a Catholic preschool I knew that this was perfect time to break out the Happy Saints to create Valentines for his school friends and teachers. I saw this idea last year at Equipping Catholic Families, and was so happy that  I now had the chance to make them!

Of course its more fun if the you make them together. At my son's age cutting is still difficult, so my husband did that, but Sam was happy to help me glue and write his name.

 I don't know if the boys ended up with boy saints and the girls ended up with girl saints or not, but I hope that whoever each child got, they enjoyed seeing their Happy Saint Valentine reminding them about the love of God!

Of course you could also go really crazy and make St. Cyril and Methodius cards instead!

 This post is linked up on the Equipping Catholic Families 2014 Saints Linkup! Check it out!

Best Banana Bread

When life gives you mushy bananas, make banana bread! Quick breads are great for an impromptu cooking project because they're, well, quick! As much as I love yeast breads sometimes its nice to just mix, pour, and bake. Banana bread isn't normally my favorite, but this recipe from my trusty family cookbook turned out quite well and was very tasty, especially topped with real butter. I personally would enjoy the addition of things like nuts and even coconut, but I know that my four year old wouldn't eat it that way, so we made it plain. The recipe in the cookbook was labeled "World's Best Banana Bread." I changed the title slightly here because I made a couple of adjustments based on what I had on hand around the house.

Best Banana Bread

Ingredients:
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (optional)
2  ripe, soft, well mashed bananas
1/4 cup sour cream
2 large eggs beaten lightly
6 tablespoons of butter, melted and cooled
2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions:

Combine dry ingredients up to and including the walnuts in a large bowl.

Mix the remaining ingredients in a medium bowl.

Gently fold the banana mixture into the dry mixture with a rubber spatula until just combined and batter is thick and chunky. Scrape into a 9 inch loaf pan.

Place bread on the lower middle rack of the oven and bake at 350 for 55 minutes; until loaf is golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool 5 minutes then transfer to wire rack.