I think you could say that this past Saturday was perfect in NJ. The leaves are just starting to turn colors and it was still warm outside (I would like it to start cooling down, but I’m not complaining).
My husband brought me a pumpkin spice latte while I was just hanging out, reading in bed – truly the perfect day.
We really couldn’t go anywhere because of some major road closures and traffic, so I visited a local farmer’s market for the first time and bought my produce there. The place was a little strange and dark (basically a small grocery store that only sold fruits, vegetables, and eggs) and some of the other shoppers looked a little odd, but once I got past that, I decided it was the best place ever.
Everything was so much cheaper than Shop Rite, and I bought a lot of produce – peaches, apples, bananas, eggplant, string beans, eggs, tomatoes – for only $15. Needless to say, Eric was pretty happy with my discovery, as well.
One really cool feature of this Farmer’s Market was the “clearance” section. I was able to buy a bunch of browning/ bruised bananas for only $1 – Perfect for banana bread!
Eric’s grandma has a great recipe that he grew up on, but I’m assuming it’s a family secret, so I won’t share on here 🙂
Instead, here’s another one of my favorite banana bread recipes from Food Network:
Ingredients
1 cup granulated sugar
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
3 ripe bananas
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
Directions
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan.
Cream the sugar and butter in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
In a small bowl, mash the bananas with a fork. Mix in the milk and cinnamon. In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Add the banana mixture to the creamed mixture and stir until combined. Add dry ingredients, mixing just until flour disappears.
Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Set aside to cool on a rack for 15 minutes. Remove bread from pan, invert onto rack and cool completely before slicing.
I also love my fiestaware loaf pan – it’s a great color! one Eric’s mom’s wedding gifts to us 🙂
As far as my other projects, I’m definitely working on a huge pile of different things, and can’t wait to share with you all!
But this week, I just wanted to share my banana bread success!
