"Fall" into the moment with homebaked bread

Ever since the leaves started turning beautiful oranges and reds, I've been craving Thanksgiving food. You know, like turkey, potatoes, pumpkin pie, and warm home baked breads.

Today, when I woke up, I decided to give in to one of my cravings and make some banana bread. I love the banana smell the fills our house while it's in the oven baking.

I know, I know. You are yelling at the monitor right now at me saying, "YOU are baking?" Yes, but I cheat. I buy it in a box and just add the eggs and oil and water. I really can't mess that up-at least most of the time. It turned out yummy and when my kids get a whiff of it, it won't last long.

Now, for those of you that want the true homemade banana bread, I've found some recipes for you from some of my favorite food blogs.

The first one is from the best food blog ever, Pioneer Woman, or PW as she's known by her readers. She has a terrific recipe to share and of course there's butter-lots of butter.

Pioneer Woman's Banana Bread
2 sticks (1 cup) butter, softened
1 1/2 cups PLUS 2 tablespoons sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe (overripe is good, too) bananas
4 cups plus 2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder1 1/2 cups sour cream
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease and flour bundt pan.
Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs one at a time, beating for a few seconds after each addition. Add mashed bananas and beat.Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
Add dry ingredients and sour cream alternately to the mixing bowl. Beat well until all combined.
Pour into bundt pan and bake for 1 hour 10 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Invert on a cooling rack and allow cake to cool slightly before slicing and serving with softened butter.

Doesn't that sound yummy? Try it, I dare you.

The next recipe is from Simply Recipes. This is a wonderful food blog that's pretty famous too. They have all sorts of recipes and I just knew they had to have one for banana bread. It just wouldn't be right if they didn't.

Here is their banana bread recipe:

Banana Bread

Ingredients
3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar (can easily reduce to 3/4 cup)
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
Method
No need for a mixer for this recipe. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

Not in the mood to bake? I couldn't find anyone selling banana bread on Foodzie, but I did find one on Etsy from Switched Baked Goods. Their banana bread is vegan. Dairy-free, egg-free and nut-free.

Doesn't that make you want to lick your monitor? Picture yourself sitting on a big comfy chair, all wrapped up in your favorite throw and eating a big piece of banana bread and a glass of milk. Are you feeling it yet? Now, go make or buy yourself some bread...

Cupcakes, Cupcakes.

Anyone who reads my other blog, Six Feet Under Blog, knows that I have a soft spot for cupcakes. I love to look at them and eat them and I just get all tingly when I'm around them. I would eat cupcakes every day if I could-it's a good thing I can't bake or I'd weigh 400 lbs!

Anyway, I have a favorite food blogger that shares my passion except she actually can bake and she's good at it. Her cupcakes are so beautiful, you would feel shameful eating them.

Her name is Kara, and her blog is:

Kara's Cupcakes

She has made cupcakes for every occasion and seems to always have someone's birthday to do. I wish I lived next door so she would make cupcakes for me. Kara? Would you consider moving to Iowa?

She posts wonderful photos and gives you great ideas for special occasions. I wish I knew how to do the frosting that she does. It looks like whipped cream, so fluffy. She even has made cotton candy cupcakes.-what a cute idea!

So, you've got to see some of her creations.

Like this...

Or this...

Strawberries and chocolate? I'm in heaven.

Are you craving a cupcake now? I know I am. I hope the bakery is still open...

Foodzie

When I found out about the new Foodzie, I was in heaven. This place is like Etsy, only with food instead. The design is very cozy and it's like a small town shoppe, but on the internet. What a great place for bakers and cooks and anyone who has a food product to sell. They give you a chance to connect with the small food businesses and to try good food. Wondering about their standards on who they let sell on their site? Not to worry. The sellers must treat it like a food business should be treated; they must have a license and insurance.

A fun way to shop for edible items in my opinion. They have everything from cheese to lobster and fun goodies too. I am partial to the sweets myself and have been picking which products that I will be ordering to review and I would love to someday get on their mailing list of reviewers that they send a review basket of the latest goodies.

So, look for many foodzie products to show up on here and go visit yourself-I'm sure there is something for everyone's taste buds.

Halloween Recipes Reviews

Halloween is fast approaching, and there are so many cute recipes you can do to celebrate!

I've done some searching and found some great Halloween recipe ideas:

Witch Cupcakes

courtesy of Parents.com

Ingredients :
1-1/2 cups chocolate frosting
1 package (4-3/4 ounces chocolate cones (Nabisco Oreo Cones)
Orange nonpareils
1 can (16 ounces) vanilla frosting, divided
Neon-green food coloring
12 cupcakes, removed from paper liners
Chocolate chips
Green and red tube icing
Mike and Ike Tangy Twister candies
Chocolate Jimmies
Directions
1. Place chocolate frosting in a freezer-weight zip-top bag and snip off a small corner. Pipe base of cones, dip in orange nonpareils, and set aside.
2. Place 1/2 cup vanilla frosting in a another zip-top bag and snip off a small corner. Tint remaining frosting green and frost cupcakes.
3. Turn cupcakes on sides, then place decorated cones on top. Using vanilla frosting, pipe eyes on cupcakes. Attach chocolate chips for pupils and pipe a dot onto chips. Use red icing for mouths, green icing for warts; shape candies into noses. Pipe chocolate icing onto cupcakes for hair and sprinkle with chocolate jimmies.

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Pumpkin Spice Roll

courtesy of Kraft.com

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup powdered sugar
3/4 cup flour
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon CALUMET Baking Powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup chopped PLANTERS Walnuts
4 ounces PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 cups COOL WHIP or COOL WHIP French Vanilla Whipped Topping, thawed
2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease 15x10x1-inch baking pan. Line with wax paper; grease and flour wax paper. Sprinkle clean towel with 1/4 cup of the powdered sugar.
Mix flour, spice, baking powder and salt; set aside. Beat eggs and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on high speed until thickened. Add pumpkin; mix well. Add flour mixture; beat just until blended. Spread evenly into prepared pan; sprinkle with walnuts.
Bake 15 minutes or until top of cake springs back when touched. Immediately invert cake onto towel; remove pan. Carefully peel off paper. Starting at one of the short sides, roll up cake and towel together. Cool completely on wire rack.
Beat cream cheese and 1/2 cup of the powdered sugar in medium bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add whipped topping; mix well. Carefully unroll cake; remove towel. Spread cream cheese mixture over cake. Reroll cake; wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 1 hour or until ready to serve. Sprinkle with the remaining 2 Tbsp. powdered sugar just before serving.
Yield: 10 servings

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Chocolate Mice

courtesy of Allrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS
4 (1 ounce) squares semisweet chocolate
1/3 cup sour cream
1 cup chocolate cookie crumbs

1/3 cup chocolate cookie crumbs
1/3 cup confectioners' sugar
24 silver dragees decorating candy
1/4 cup sliced almonds
12 (2 inch) pieces long red vine licorice

DIRECTIONS
Melt the chocolate, and combine with sour cream. Stir in 1 cup chocolate cookie crumbs. Cover and refrigerate until firm.
Roll by level tablespoonfuls into balls. Mold to a slight point at one end (the nose).
Roll dough in confectioners sugar (for white mice), and in chocolate cookie crumbs (for dark mice). On each mouse, place dragees in appropriate spot for eyes, almond slices for ears, and a licorice string for the tail.
Refrigerate for at least two hours, until firm.

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