Whole Wheat Nutty Banana Bread

Most of my blog entries have been about travel, but the real reason I began this blog was to keep a collection of all my recipes. I LOVE to cook, eat, and do all things food related. So...here is my first recipe blog entry. There will be more to come...

 What you need:

1 stick of softened unsalted butter

1/2 cup of golden brown sugar (packed)

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon of salt

3/4teaspon baking soda

1 teaspon vanilla extract

2 cups of mashed ripe bananas (with brown skins)

1/8 cup of honey

2 eggs

2 cups whole wheat flour

What to do:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Blend together butter, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and vanilla until smooth. Then add the wet ingredients: bananas, eggs, and honey. Again, blend together until smooth. Add the flour 1 cup at a time and blend until smooth. At this time, add nuts, raisins, cranberries, etc.

Pour batter into a greased 9x5 loaf pan and bake for 55 minutes.

Pull bread out of the oven and let cool in loaf pan for at least 15 minutes.

Once cool to the touch, let rest and cool down on baking rack.

Slice and ENJOY!

The Final Product



California Strawberry Festival 2010

Each year, on the third weekend in May, Oxnard California is home to the 'California Strawberry Festival'. It's been many years since I last attended this event, but was excited to hear when a few friends would be going. I tagged along and experienced the sweet deliciousness this festival had to offer.

In addition to the strawberries, the festival is a place to see and purchase local arts and crafts, listen to live music, and eat a variety of festival foods. But let's face it, I went for the strawberries! There was a wide array of strawberry dishes which included strawberry beverages (smoothies, wine, lemonade, margaritas, etc.), chocolate covered strawberries, crepes, strawberry nachos, strawberry pizza, strawberry covered funnel cakes, and there was even a booth to build your own strawberry shortcake.

Home Made 'Cookie Monster' Cupcakes...

Well, it's not an original idea, but it's a cute one! --- The office I work at was having an Administrative Day Potluck to thank all the administrative assistants and clerical staff at work. These potlucks usually consist of several people chipping in a few dollars to buy some sort of entree to share. My co-worker and I wanted this potluck to be a bit different than the norm. She suggested we make cookie monster cupcakes. I thought what a great idea, it would definitely be something different and would give me an excuse to make cupcakes. Needless to say, I haven't made cupcakes in years and I've never used a piping bag before. What an experience! It took me over four hours to complete 24 cupcakes. I think I was in way over my head, but the end result was really cute and tasty!

(Yellow Cake Cupcakes with Chocolate Filling, Homemade Frosting, Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies - Cut in half, White Chocolate Rounds for the eyes)