Banana, Bread Pudding

If you know me personally, you know I love to bake. Fall and Winter are the best times to bake as there is just something so cozy about comfort foods. For me, baking is all about comfort. I don’t really like to make anything fancy or elaborate. Easy, and being able to use ingredients I have on hand, is always my idea of good baking.

About a week or so ago, I was feeling the urge to bake and wanted to try something different. I looked around my kitchen and noticed I had some really ripe bananas and in the bread drawer, lots of heels and miscellaneous buns and rolls. So, I quickly did a google search for Banana Bread Pudding and came up with this easy recipe.

Banana Bread Pudding

1 loaf day old French bread, cubed with crust on (I used the above mentioned bread and it was just fine)

1 quart milk

3 eggs

1 c. sugar

2 T. vanilla extract

4 ripe bananas, mashed

1 t. nutmeg

1 t. cinnamon

whipped cream

Optional ingredients which I didn’t use: dash of myer rum, 1 c. raisins

Put cubed bread into a large bowl and pour milk over all, let stand 1 hour. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray 9 x 13 baking dish. In another bowl, beat eggs and add sugar and vanilla. Stir this mixture into the bread mixture. Fold in mashed bananas and spices (raisins if desired). Pour evenly into baking dish. Place uncovered in center of oven and bake 1 hour and 10 minutes. Remove and cool. Serve with whipped cream. Enjoy!

I wish I had a picture of the end result to show you, but unfortunately we all gobbled it up too fast.  It was very tasty.

The pictures on this post obviously have nothing to do with Banana Bread Pudding.  I just thought I would share some images of some of the pretty things I’m enjoying around the house today.

We are having some really wet and windy weather here in the PNW. Perfect for staying home and baking. I think I’ll make a pie… I hope wherever you are, you are warm, dry and cozy.

A Little White Wednesday Project and my Stars Booth

I bought an industrial cart from my good friend, Mitzi when we had our fall clean-out garage sale. It sat around in my house a few months and I finally got the motivation to tackle the project I planned with it.

Here is the before picture.

And here is what it looked like after I worked my magic. (ha ha)

A little wrinkly, but so much cuter and very practical to use in my laundry room. I was sick of dirty clothes on the floor, so now I have a big enough place to put them. I used a drop cloth for the outside, a vintage sheet for the inside and the lace was a large piece I bought from Amy of Charlotte’s Brocante. She got it on one of her buying trips to France and I had it for sale in my Stars booth until a few days ago when I brought it home to use on this project. Love that I found a use for it.

Speaking of Stars, I finally remembered to take my camera last week when I went in to do a complete booth re-do. It was fun moving things around and I have to say that I’m pretty happy with how the space is looking right now.

As you can see, I have quite a different color palette from my Monticello space. It’s fun to have two completely different looks going on. Did you notice the cabinet in the above picture? Do you remember when I showed that cabinet before on my blog? If not, here is the before picture.

I got this cutie last summer from a dealer who was getting out of the business. I had never seen anything like it before. To those who may cringe over the fact that I painted it, I apologize, but honestly, the wood was in sad shape in several places and I personally really like the way it turned out.

Hope you all are having a good week.  This rainy weather we’re having is just making me want to get cozy and eat a lot of comfort food. On my next post, I’ll share a recipe I made recently that was a huge hit with my family. TTFN!

Waiting Just For Me

Is that a song title? If not, it should be. I guess I should google it. Let me explain the title of this post, as I’m sure at this point, you might be a bit confused. Last week after futzing with my booth at Monticello, I headed home and stopped at a couple thrift stores along the way. Didn’t really find much except a cute vintage picture frame which I felt I paid too much for. There were a few more thrift stores on the route home, but I was feeling tired and discouraged, so I decided to head home.

At the last minute, I decided I would just check out the Value Village store. I’ve had good luck there in the past, so I thought, what the heck. I headed straight to the jewelry counter and took a quick inventory as I’m always on the lookout for some cute rhinestone/vintage jewelry to use in my projects. This is what I found.

Now, to most people, this wouldn’t look like much, but to me…well, let’s just say that my first thought was this was waiting just for me because, let’s face it, I am that self-centered.  $2.99 of vintage pink and rhinestone goodness! Here’s what it all looked like out of the bag.

Those chippy pink flowers with the rhinestone centers are awesome! Love them so much, can you tell? Guess what else was in the jewelry case, waiting just for me?

Vintage rhinestone earrings plus a spare. Love these too! And the best part, they were 50% off!

Today I had to head back to Monticello to clean up my booth after selling another pink cabinet. I finally remembered my camera so I took a couple pictures.

It was so hard to get the whole thing in at once. It’s a really small space, but as usual, I have a lot packed in there. The little white hutch and the white drop leaf table were purchases from Sylvi’s sale a couple weeks ago. They are perfect for my space.

On my way home today from Monticello, I stopped by that same Value Village and found nothing, but I tried another thrift store and look at what was there waiting just for me.

A big old bag of vintage buttons. Lots of great ones too. Here’s just a few I quickly picked out.

Am I a lucky girl, or what?

So, for all you junk loving peeps out there, tell me I’m not alone in my thinking that some junk is out there waiting just for you.