banana bread

It's been a great first half of the week! The BYU women's tennis team had a home match yesterday so I got to enjoy that all day! I love that the matches are outside now. Mike had a BYU intramural basketball game last night, and once again... they dominated. His team is so good, which makes watching the games even more fun. After his game, we went to dinner with the Weekes family at our favorite place, Outback. I love getting together with everyone, we have a great time. Especially with cute little Gwen running around! That girl is an absolute doll. McKenzie told me the first thing she said when she woke up from her nap Sunday was, "Where's Whitney?" Talk about making my heart melt!

UVU intramural football started last week, the boys won their first game and have another one tonight. I love basketball, but football is where my heart belongs :) So happy my athletic hubby is great at both. Their games get me excited for Fall!

I made cinnamon banana bread last night, it was really good! I posted this picture on my Instagram and some friends asked for the recipe. Here it is!

Cinnamon Banana Bread:

For the bread:
- 3 over-ripe bananas, smashed up
- 1/3 cup melted butter
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp baking soda
- dash of salt
- 1 1/2 cups flour

For the cinnamon "swirl":
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 Tbs cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350. Butter and flour a loaf pan. You can use a 9x5 or I used three smaller ones. Keep a close eye on it in the oven and adjust the time as needed.
2. Mix bananas, butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla together. Sprinkle baking soda and salt around on top of the banana mixture. Then gently stir in flour. Be careful not to over-mix!
3. In a small dish, mix together 1/3 cup sugar and 1 Tbs cinnamon.
4. Add 1/2 of the batter to the loaf pan and then sprinkle half (or a little more, it tastes better IN the bread than on top) of the cinnamon-sugar mixture over the batter in the pan. Add the rest of the batter, and then sprinkle the leftover cinnamon-sugar on top.
5. Bake for 50-60 minutes (for a 9x5) and 35-40 minutes for the smaller pans. I did mine for 40 minutes but it probably could have been taken out a little earlier.

Enjoy! I'm off to my piano lesson, I'm hoping one day I have something to show for it. When your parents encourage you to take lessons when you're younger, do it! (Sorry mom!) It's so much easier than learning now. It takes a lot of practice, but I enjoy it. There's something so beautiful about music! Have a wonderful Wednesday!