Banana Bread Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese Glaze

I love a good piece of banana bread! What I don't love is an elaborate recipe requiring skills in the kitchen which I clearly do not have!  Which is how I settled on this recipe.  The thing I like most about is that it's a nice mix between a bread/cake texture which I really prefer with banana bread.

Ingredients:

1 box cake mix - I used a white cake mix but yellow would also work
3 very ripe bananas
3 eggs
2 sticks of butter - softened
3/4 cup of oil
1/2 cup of water
1 cream cheese frosting

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees or to the temperature listed on your box cake mix if it differs.  Mix bananas, eggs, butter, oil and water.  Slowly add cake mix until well blended.  Pour batter into a well greased bundt cake pan and bake approximately 35-45 minutes or until tooth pick inserted comes out clean.

Once the cake is cool enough to remove from the bundt pan heat cream cheese frosting for a few seconds (10-15) in the microwave until is it soft enough to drizzle with a spoon over the cake.

Deco-Mesh Cross Wreath

Deco-Mesh wreaths seem to be really popular now.  This past Easter I used deco-mesh to make a 'Cross Wreath' for mom.


I started with a basic wooden cross as the frame for the wreath.  You will need some pipe cleaners or something to secure the mesh to the wooden frame since it does not come with ties already attached.

Start by using your pipe cleaner to secure the mesh to the bottom of the cross.  I used matching color pipe cleaners so they would blend in with the mesh.

I worked my way up the cross gathering the mesh and securing it with the pipe cleaners.  Make sure you try to use the SAME LENGTH of mesh for each 'poof' and secure it to the frame in EQUALLY spaced sections.  If you don't keep things even there is a tendency for the mesh to look 'lop sided' and uneven.

Once I finished working my way up the cross I started with the left and using the same technique mentioned above I worked my way across to the right side of the frame.  In this picture I'm almost finished.

After the mesh was evenly secured to the cross frame I worked in a few flowers mother had on hand. Plain deco-mesh can look a bit boring, especially if it is a solid color.

I worked the flowers in to the deco-mesh and tucked them in amongst the 'poofs' just to add some color and depth to the wreath.

And here's the finished product... I would have preferred some different colored flowers but there are times when you use what you have because it's easier and way more affordable... and this was the case with the deco-mesh cross wreath.. at any rate... colors and flowers can easily be changed!  I hope you enjoyed the tutorial on how to make a deco-mesh cross wreath.

Save A Lost Candle Wick & Make Your Own Candle

I love candles.  I like the way they smell, the way they look and especially the subtle light they add to a room.  So, I'm reluctant to get rid of them just because the wick has burned down too far.

This is a common problem for me.  The wick burns down the center and before long it's buried underneath the wax.

I used a spoon (and at times a butter knife) to slowly chip away the wax above and around the wick until the wick was visible and far enough above the remaining wax to light with a lighter.

(This picture doesn't exactly show the visible wick but you can tell by looking I've slowly been chipping away at it.)

Once I have the wax cleaned out from around the wick .....I take the wax I chipped away.....

And put it in a microwave safe container...

Microwave a few seconds at a time, it will start to look like this until the wax is fully melted

And now it's fully melted.....

Work quickly and place a wick in the bottom of whatever you want your candle in... (I put chapstick on the bottom of the wick to 'stick' it to the glass candle holder)

Pour the melted wax into your container...(the pink stuff you see is the chapstick I used to set the wick in place).

And... because I'm lazy, clearly I'm not going to hold the wick in place until the wax is dry... hence the fork... and because it kept sliding on the granite surface... I steadied it with a pot holder

And Finally!... the finished candle!  Just trim the wick and there you have it.  Another useful candle made with recycled wax from the candle with the burned down wick!

And here's the candle with the lost wick which is now back in action.