The very best banana nut bread.

Banana Nut Bread
3 bananas, ripe
1 cup of sugar
2 eggs (slightly beaten)
1/2 cup of vegetable oil
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 and 1/2 cups of plain flour
1/2 or more chopped nuts (I like walnuts)

Mash bananas. Cream sugar, eggs, banana and oil.  Add flour and baking soda. Mix well and add nuts.
Spray pam on baking pan. Bake at 300 degrees (preheat oven) around 40 to 50 min in regular loaf pan or shorter time in 3 small mini pans.  Use a butter knife to check middle of bread, done when it comes out clean. The time on this is a little iffy since I usually use the small pans.  Will update when I bake again and check correct time for large loaf.

This is the very best recipe ever.

Brownies from scratch

These are the best brownies and you probably have everything in your cupboard.

Heat oven to 350 degrees

1/2 cup of vegetable oil
1 cup of sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup of cocoa
1/2 cup of plain flour
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of baking powder
3/4 cup of chopped walnuts

Mix sugar, oil, vanilla and eggs well. Add cocoa, stir well, add the rest of the dry ingredients, mix and then add nuts. Stir until all is mixed well.

Spray vegetable spray on 8 inch square pan, pour in batter. Bake for about 23 minutes.  Let cool in pan, cut and eat.  Yummy.  Now you can bake brownies anytime. No need for a box mix. 

A great day for tea and cookies.

My favorite cup is a bone china coffee cup with a Mackintosh design made in Scotland found in a thrift store.

A friend said Kroger was having a great sale, so I went on over. It was OK. I found baking hens for 99 cents a lb. Bought just one and a whole chicken which was smaller. I will do something with that later today.

I found a new tea called Lady Grey Tea by Twinings. It is a fragant, bright and light black tea scented with bergamot, citrus notes of organces and lemons (stated on package). Also I found windmill cookies by Archway.  Well I love the tea, it is not too flowery but just right and the cookies are big, crunchy and yummy. I have always loved windmill cookies. For those of you who have never had windmills; they are spicey with bits of almonds and shaped like a windmill. 

Well today is so sunny, a little windy, the leaves are moving all over the trees, just a perfect day (temperature is 55 but feels warmer).  I like including the weather in this food blog because weather is a big factor in our moods and we sometimes eat because of those moods. Comfort food on rainy days, salads when it is hot, or should I say ice-cream. You get the picture.

1st recipe for my new Recipe Journal on a Saturday in October

Today is the first post of my food blog. It is a rainy fall day but that is what I like sometimes. The leaves are falling and the temperature is dropping a bit from the 72 degrees this morning. On a day like this I think of pumpkin bread. Found a good recipe online.

Pumpkin Gingerbread Loaves

3 cups sugar 1 cup vegetable oil 4 eggs 2/3 cup water 1 (15 ounce) can


pumpkin puree 2 teaspoons ground ginger 1 teaspoon ground allspice 1 teaspoon

ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground cloves 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons

baking soda 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

I added pecans, chopped. I love nuts in lots of my food.

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease two 9x5 inch loaf

pans.

In a large mixing, combine sugar, oil and eggs; beat until smooth. Add water

and beat until well blended. Stir in pumpkin, ginger, allspice and cinnamon.

In medium bowl, combine flour, soda, salt, and baking powder. Add dry ingredients

to pumpkin mixture and blend just until all ingredients are mixed. Divide batter

between prepared pans. I used my 3 mini loaf pans and 2 small round ones.

Bake in preheated oven until toothpick comes out clean, about 1 hour (the mini pans takes less time, you be the judge starting out about 40 min).

Cooling loaves. I dug into one, yummy. I will share 2 of these with friends and maybe freeze the other two.

Looking out my kitchen window. Lots of wet leaves.