A girls night out and a few recipes to share

I went to a girls night out at the church last night. We all brought projects of our own to work on. I worked on a baby album as a gift for my new niece that we'll be having a baby shower for next month. It is a simple little book where the recipient can add a photo of the newborn and then a photo of the baby for each month of the first year. There is also a page at the end to record "baby's firsts."

We ate lots of goodies and it was a fun time. I enjoyed seeing what everyone else was working on too. I had a request to share the caramel popcorn recipe for the popcorn balls I brought last night to share.

Caramel Popcorn (from Desiree Reading)

Pop 2 bags of microwave popcorn and remove any unpopped kernel
In a sauce pan combine: 1 cube of butter, 2 cups brown sugar, 1 cup light corn syrup

Bring to a boil

Add: 1/2 can of sweetened condensed milk

Return to a boil

Pour over popcorn and mix well

Form into popcorn balls if desired

I was also telling Shelly about a easy and yummy recipe for banana bread last night and so I though I'd post that too. I picked this one up from the Real Simple magazine. I like to make it with vanilla pudding and since my kids don't like nuts, I never use them either.

Banana Nut Bread

1 box yellow cake mix

1 package Jell-O instant banana cream pudding and pie filling

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup veg. oil

2 ripe bananas, mashed

4 eggs

1 cup chopped pecans

Mix all the ingredients well. Pour into 2 large or 4 small greased loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 -45 min.