My ultimate favorite Banana Bread recipe!

If you're like me you love how convenient store bought goodies are. However, I keep feeling more and more turned off by all the additives they put in. I know some of it is to make it stay fresh but I have been making a real effort to find cheap easy to make recipes for my favorite treats.

I have adored banana bread since birth pretty much. But with my nut allergy I can't usually buy store bought stuff because it has walnuts. If you can have walnuts and like them in your banana bread feel free to add some to this recipe! I have so many allergies and sensitivities that I prefer to make grow or raise most of what I eat. I'm blessed to live on a large ranch where that is possible! Anyway down to the nitty gritty here's the recipe for my favorite moist banana bread!

Cook: 1 hour Yield: Makes one loaf.

INGREDIENTS
3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar (can easily reduce to 3/4 cup)
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon 
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

You don't even need a mixer!

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, cinnamon, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

This recipe is sure to please and the best thing about recipes like this is you can do it with or without nuts or cinnamon. I love customizing my own recipes! Good luck and have fun baking!

Beginning Nail Art Tools.

I LOVE NAIL ART. That being said sometimes I don't feel like getting out tools. They can be messy and a hassle. I do own and use many nail polish tools but some days I use my "cheater" tools. These are great for kids and beginners too! Here is a list of my tools.
- A Sharpie.
First I'll give you a helpful tip rubbing alcohol or even some hand Sanitizers remove Sharpie from skin and most surfaces. So Sharpies come in so many colors you can usually buy them individually at a office supply store and when using them for nail art all you have to do is draw, wait for it to dry, then use a good topcoat. Make sure you get enough topcoat on your brush or it can smear. The best part of this is if you mess up then use rubbing alcohol on a cotton pad to remove and try again!
- Liquid Eyeliners
Liquid eyeliners are a great alternative to make stripes! I have wet n wild liquid eyeliners in nearly every color they make. I use them more for my nails then my eyes! With this tip if you mess up wash your hands and start over. To seal in your design once you're happy with it just wait until it's totally dry and use topcoat!
- Toothpick.
A toothpick is my preferred dotting tool. I can adjust the size with scissors and a nail file. Just cut as much of the tip off as you need to make it bigger and then use a  metal nail file to level the new tip!
- Bobby Pins
This one is fairly well known but they work great as a larger dotting tool!
- Tape
One of my favorite manicures to do is cut out random shapes in tape place them on my nails then sponge on different colors onto my nail. You can even put several tape pieces on one nail and remove one or more and then sponge a new color on!
- Makeup sponges
My final tip is those cheap little makeup sponges. I always use these to sponge on polish. They work great and you can create beautiful ombre designs or even sunsets.
Try one or all of these and let me know how they work for you!