Banana Bread Cake

Is January over yet? 

Most of this month has gone by insanely fast. Which is totally fine with me considering I am sick of this dang "polar vortex" crap and my favorite month is coming, February. Can it just be here already? I have lots of things I am soooooo looking forward to!

Over the last month lots of things have happened. Some awesome, some not so good. There is a chance that some big changes  are coming around here, and while I'm excited I am also getting anxiety from it. 

One thing I do to get my mind off of life things is baking. I love it. Not to mention it satisfies my HUGE sweets cravings. I always seem to have 7-8 bananas frozen in my freezer. I can never use them up. So I am always looking for yummy new ways to use them. I love bundt cake so this specific time I was trying to find a recipe to use my bundt pan and I found this keeper.

Probably the most moist banana bread I have ever had. And the sweet cinnamon swirl just added that little bit of extra sweetness to it that put the cake over the edge. I'm pretty sure I ate half myself.

Banana Bread Bundt Cake

adapted from Yes, I Want Cake

• 3 C flour
• 2 t baking soda
• 1/2 t salt
• 1 T lemon juice + scant 1 C milk
• 1/2 C butter, softened
• 1/2 C applesauce
• 1 1/2 C sugar
• 1 t vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 2 C mashed ripe bananas (about 4 medium bananas)

for the cinnamon swirl

• 5 T butter
• 1/4 C brown sugar + 2 T
• 1 1/2 T cinnamon

Preheat the oven 350 degrees. 

Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. Add the lemon juice to a measuring cup, then pour the milk in. Mix, and let sit (don’t be frightened, it will curdle. It’s okay! or you could also use buttermilk, vinegar in place of lemon juice, or plain yogurt instead.)

Cream the butter, sugar, and applesauce together. Add the vanilla, eggs, and mashed bananas and mix until combined.

Alternately add the dry ingredients and the lemon juice + milk to the wet mixture. Mix until everything is well incorporated.

Combine the ingredients for the cinnamon swirl in a small bowl. Set aside.

Pour half of the mixture into a greased bundt pan. Then pour the cinnamon swirl over the batter. Pour the rest of the batter into the pan. 

Bake for 60 -  65 minutes. 

Creative Collective Link-up``~Word(s) of 2014~``

Melyssa at The Nectar Collective is one of my favorite bloggers. She writes all about positivity in your life and I love that. When she first wrote about her new year long link-up "The Creative Collective" I knew I wanted to join in. Of course, leave it to me to completely forget that it started until a few days after the first link-up. However, I still decided to participate in the first prompt!! 

For the first prompt we were supposed to pick a word (or words in my case) for us to focus on for the entire year.

I chose a saying because just one word didn't really fit what I was going for. "Live Simply" are my words for the year. There is constant pressure on me people to have a perfect house or a perfect family. I am always comparing myself to others and am always trying to keep up with everyone around me. This also causes me to spend to much money buying things I don't need to try to make things perfect. Instead I want to try to use what we have and be grateful for what is already around me. 

There is no need for anyone to compare themselves to other people. We need to just focus on ourselves and be happy with what we already have. My goal to live simply is just as simple as it sounds. Stay home and focus on my boys, be creative and use what is already around me, and stop worrying about other people and "keeping up" with them. My art around my words is exactly that. Simple and is made up of things I already had. My little ones crayons, a piece of white card stock and a little pretty calligraphy was all it needed. 

Live Simply. Love Life. Be Happy. 

What Did Little A Say?

One of our favorite Sunday traditions is getting Papa Murphy's pizza for dinner and watching football. This particular Sunday, I got Little A his own Mini Murph pizza kit. (which I've talked about here)

Little A: Mommy! I finished my pizza, I get my tortilla now!

Mom: Your tortilla? You mean your tattoo?

Little A: Yeah! My tortilla-too!!!!!

A Love To Last A Lifetime

This past weekend I had the pleasure of being apart of two very special peoples wedding. One of my very best friends, who has been my friend since 7th grade, and her fantastic fiancé.

These two people couldn't be more perfect for each other. I haven't met too many couples that truly complement the other so well. They lift each other up and make each other better people (didn't think that was possible). They glow when they are around each other or even just talk about one another. And I couldn't be happier for them.

It was a really fun weekend, even with the freezing rain we got Friday night. I must say, walking in heels on an ice rink -parking lot- is quite the experience. The wedding day was gorgeous and, thankfully, not too cold!!

I'll never forget the wonderful memories made. The icy rehearsal, meeting great people, staying up till 1 am, getting ready, watching my best friend walk down the aisle, and pigging out on the most amazing Italian food. Every moment was perfect. I'm so very blessed to have been apart of it all.

What I Learned My First Year of Fantasy Football

Guess what?! 

I am the champion in my fantasy football blogger league!! Who would have guessed it would have been me...not me! Being my first year and not really understanding how to do everything. Beginners luck? Maybe. I learned a few things along the way though. It doesn't have to be as intimidating as you may think!!

1. If you think you have drafted the worst team in history...
    Don't worry yet! There are so many changes that happen during the season. The players that are projected to do really well may end up completely sucking and only getting you 2 points a game. Which leads me to my next point:

2. What do you do when after 3 weeks your running back who was projected to kick booty is only getting you 2-3 points each week? Drop his non-booty kicking a**. There are so many players out there who weren't expected to have a great year and ended up having a great year simply because the starters weren't playing up to par.

3. How do I find these players?
    If you have cable and time to be lazy and watch TV for a while, I highly suggest the Fantasy Football ESPN channel. Yes, there is such a channel and it helped me tremendously. I tried reading about players online but it didn't really help.

4. My starting QB just got injured in the first play of the game and is projected to be out for the next 6-8 weeks.
   Yes, this happened to me. And my back up QB was...well, refer to #2. However, I greatly benefited after another team lost their starting QB because there back-up ended up being awesome. 

5. It's ok if you lose 3 weeks in a row.
    Sometimes you just need time to work the kinks out and find players that are consistent. You can still win even if your having a losing streak.

6. Check your team BEFORE the Thursday night game.
     I completely forgot there were Thursday night games at the beginning of the season and didn't start someone I should have. There he was, on my bench, with 20+ points...oops.

7. Have someone who has played fantasy football help. 
    Whether its your boyfriend, husband, brother, dad, or girl friend who has played before, don't be afraid to ask for their help/opinion. It can make a huge difference when looking for a new player. There were a few times I thought I was screwed and wasn't going to be able to find a new wide receiver or running back, but after a little consulting we found a few that ended up getting my 20 pts a game!

I definitely will play again next year!! It was fun. Plus I think my husband enjoyed talking football constantly with me :).