How to Avoid Mistakes When Shopping for Bronzers!

Regardless of the season, I always wear a bronzer.  As summer fades, I use it to keep my summer glow.  In the colder months, I think it is a life savior for adding a bit more warmth to my pale face in addition to blush.  However, I have not always made the best color choices with my light coloring when it came to buying bronzers until I learned this helpful trick.

Look at the line of bronzers that you are interested in carefully.  I found it best to avoid coppery shades because they have the most orange color.  Instead, look at the choices and pick out the ones with more brown color to them.  You want to find either some pink to that brown or peach in the bronzer to be the safest bet.  Something else to consider is your own coloring and how dark those shades that you're comparing should be. 

On the other hand, bronzers that have a combination of gold, pink, and bronze are surefire bets to help you appear like you've been in the sun.

If you follow this simple advice, you can't go wrong in your purchase.

Sample My Delicious Homemade Banana Cream Pie and Live It Up!

Here is my delicious homemade banana cream pie!

Why could be more perfect for a hot summer day than cooling off with a piece of homemade banana cream pie?  With ripe bananas mingling with rich pudding goodness, made even smoother with evaporated milk, and this recipe takes comfort food to a whole new level before being poured into a pre-baked crust.  All it takes is one piece of this chilled pie and you are bound to feel joy as you bite. 

The secret of bringing out the most banana flavor is to let your hot pudding filling cool first before pouring into the banana-lined crust.  This way you won't slightly cook those sliced bananas and lose any bit of that delicious fruit to heat.  Another plus about allowing this filling to cool is that your sliced bananas will not turn dark, but keep their same appearance. 

As I mentioned, I have made many types of pie crusts.  I used to make the traditional shortening type, the hot water method, some recipes that used vinegar in the crust, and still others had baking powder in the mix as a part of the crust until finding my cherished oil pie crust.  All the other crusts can be tricky to work with when it comes to how flaky the texture of your dough will turn out.  On the other hand, my oil pie crust is so easy to make and never undermines your pie-making confidence so it turns out every time with tender, flaky crust.

So the next time you have bananas and are in dire need of a smile, I hope you are tempted enough to make this recipe.  Trust me, but it can do wonders to brighten a day and those around you!

a piece of my homemade banana cream pie

My Homemade Banana Cream Pie

10-inch baked pie shell
2/3 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 (12-oz. size) can evaporated milk
1 can  water
4 egg yolks
1 tablespoon of vanilla
3 large bananas


Take your eggs out  to leave at room temperature while you're baking your pie shell.  This will make it easier for you to separate them.

Stir together sugar, cornstarch, and salt in your pot.

Now that the eggs have warmed, you can separate the whites from the yolks for the pudding filling.  Refrigerate the whites for other uses.

Add the yolks with the milk and gradually stir into the dry ingredients in your pot. 

Cook over medium heat, carefully stirring until the mixture thickens and boils.

Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.

Press plastic wrap over your pudding mixture in the pot and allow this to cool at room temperature before pouring into the baked pie shell that you will line with sliced bananas.

Chill the pie thoroughly for about two hours before serving.  You can eat it plain or top with whipped topping or whipped cream before feasting on this.