Tuesday, September 14, 2010

From a Bride-to-be's Kitchen!

If you were sitting with me as I write this, you'd smell the aroma of fresh-baked banana bread coming from the kitchen! It is such a joy to have a kitchen! You may be accustomed to your own, and think I'm a little crazy for being so excited about mine, but this is my first kitchen! During my four years of college, I lived in the dorms and never had a kitchen past a refrigerator and microwave. When i moved to California, my tiny garage-renovated apartment had a small stove, but no oven and little counter space. (Is it silly that I miss that little space anyway? It was perfectly cozy!) Now, in the townhouse that will become the home for my fiance and I in just 25 days, I'm sitting at the kitchen table (borrowed from my wonderful cousin) waiting for the loaf of banana bread to be ready to come out of the oven!

Ask anyone that knows me well and they'll tell you that I'm not a cook. I would argue that this has less to do with my ability to cook and more to do with my lack of opportunity to cook. I have loved making new recipes since I've moved into the new place! And I think my lovely fiance would agree that most of them have turned out to be quite delicious!

Be prepared for my new blog, coming soon: From the Newly Wed's Table . . . or something like that!

I'll leave you with this delicious, and very simple, recipe from the Alpha-bakery Cookbook by Betty Crocker!

3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (3 large bananas)
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup chopped nuts, optional

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a loaf pan. Mix sugar, bananas, oil, and eggs in a large bowl with a wooden spoon. Stir in remaining ingredients. Pour into pan. Bake until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 60-70 minutes. Let cool in pan 10 minutes, then loosen sides of loaf from pan and remove from pan. Let cool completely before slicing.
 

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