Fleece Blankets

I've had a big bag of fleece scraps sitting in the house for over a year now. Finally, out of disgust for continuing to store them and not doing anything with them, I decided to put them into the yard sale pile and just get rid of them.(I am constantly torn between decluttering and resourceful frugality!!!) These scraps were from several service/sharing projects I helped to do with the kids at church last year.

I felt really good about getting rid of them, but since they were still setting in my house-by the back door this time- I was still walking past them every day. Last week, while thinking of some easy projects to work on while recuperating from my wisdom teeth extractions, I remembered the fleece and decided to go ahead and cut squares out of them and make a throw blanket or two to give away.

With about 2 hours of work, I had all the squares cut out and arranged into 3 different throw blankets-one clearly for a girl, one for a boy(Andy loves how this turned out to be Redskins colors! It wasn't planned this way-that's just how it turned out.:-), and one smaller sized blanket to use up the rest of the blocks.

I got these out last weekend and was thrilled with how fun they were to put together. This turned out to be the perfect project for learning to use my new sewing machine which I have had for a year now without using it!

I will be backing these with a solid piece of fleece;hopefully bought on sale or with a 40% off coupon at Hancock's. Instead of quilting the blankets, I just plan to tie them instead. These will be so warm and cuddly when finished-I can hardly wait!

Banana-Carrot Bread/Muffins

Ruthie asked for the recipe for banana-carrot bread/muffins. Here it is!!! I'm sorry that I don't have a picture to post, but I can assure you these are extremely delicious!

This is actually a plain banana bread recipe that I added shredded carrots to on a whim a couple of weeks ago. Yummy! It added a nice touch to an old favorite.

As with all quick breads, these can be made into either loaves or muffins.

Banana Bread

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
2 eggs
4 T. milk
2 cups flour(I use mostly whole wheat pastry flour and it works great.)
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup mashed bananas(appox. 2 bananas)
1-2 cups shredded carrots(optional)
1 cup chopped nuts(optional, but walnuts or pecans are really good!)
a handful of wheat germ (optional)

Mix sugar, oil and eggs well. Add milk. Mix dry ingredients together and add to sugar mixture. Last, add bananas and any of the optional ingredients desired. Pour batter into greased bread pans or muffin tins. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. (Muffins won't take quite as long to bake-check after 25 minutes or so.)

This recipe will make one large loaf(regular bread pan size), about 4 mini loaves or about 18 muffins.

Enjoy!

This Week's Menu

Here's our dinner menu for the week!

Monday-ham slices, steamed zucchini, green beans and tomatoes, dinner rolls

Tuesday-leftover sloppy joes from lunch with guests

Wednesday-chicken & rice, leftover green beans and tomatoes

Thursday-spaghetti pie(from freezer),salad

Friday-spinach quiche, fruit slush, banana-carrot muffins

Saturday- chicken patties on rolls, pickles, salad or fresh veggies