B is for Banana Bread

Over the last month, I have gone back to working normal, 40 hour weeks.

I got a new pair of glasses AND a new pair of shoes.

I have had the great fortune of watching one of my best friends tie the knot (I made her cry with my toast), and conspiring with my husband's cousin (and the best man at our wedding), who finally popped the question to his girlfriend of four years.  We've been keeping the secret (and holding her engagement ring at our house!) all summer and I'm so happy that it's official and I can take my secret Pinterest board public, and I'm looking forward to their big day!

Now, let's talk about a joyful kitchen. 

A clean one, certainly, if you take pride in a cleaning job well done.

(I just feel like a domestic goddess when I have a clean kitchen and something yummy to eat.)

A messy one, because that project baking away in the oven is totally going to be delicious.

A warm room, full of good people, good food, and if you're lucky, good wine.

A simple recipe that never lets you down.

Quick breads - no kowtowing to yeast here!  (water too hot, water too cold, blah, blah blah - I'm scared of working with yeast, can you tell?)

Banana bread.  I love it so much. 

I like to make it on the weekends and we eat it for Sunday breakfast... Obviously throughout the week too.  It takes us more than one breakfast to eat an entire loaf of bread.  It takes me back to childhood, and reminds me of this Alpha-Bakery cookbook I had when I was a kid.

amazon.com

Did you have an Alpha-Bakery cookbook?  I have no idea what happened to mine, but I can remember being obsessed with it.  Especially 'E is for Elephant Ears', although I never did make them.  I can also remember thinking it made a spectacular gift for me to color the edges of some 3x5 index cards and copy down recipes from this book.  I, of course, did not give the book proper credit.  Those recipes were 100% from the kitchen of Maggie, thank you very much. 

And so, banana bread.

Blueberry Cream Scones (or Let Them Eat Blueberries)

As previously discussed; blueberries, it's time to eat them.

I happen to be located near enough to Leduc Blueberries to get fresh blueberries every summer.  I mean, everyone can probably get blueberries from the grocery store, but they are so much better when you can get them right from the source.  I usually end up with a 5 pound box, and  I eat them fresh for as long as I can, but I always have to freeze some, because my husband, of course, doesn't really care for them.  Not even in pancakes.  Muffins only, but how many muffins is one girl expected to make?  So today's project, in an effort to use up last summer's blueberries, is blueberry scones.

Cream Cheese Stuffed Mini Monkey Bread

Have you ever had monkey bread?

It's usually made with canned biscuit dough, butter, and cinnamon sugar.

And it is delicious.

 

Bonus points if you make your own biscuit dough.  I did not.  I did change things up a little bit and started with prepared sweet roll dough, cream cheese, and cinnamon sugar, and I ended with something amazing.  And when you have a sweet, ooey, gooey, cream cheesy breakfast-ish pastry, what do you do next? 

 

Top it with more cream cheese in the form of a glaze.  Yup, I went there. And you'll be happy I did.

I have to be honest with you - this recipe is an absurd amount of work.  Delicious? Yes.  But very tedious and labor intensive.  They will be amazing, and everyone you share them with will be really impressed by your level of dedication and thoughtfulness.

Breakfast Burritos

Ah, the weekend. 

Saturday morning is a time for rest, relaxation, and of course, delicious breakfast.  Of course it's nice to go out and have someone else cook breakfast for me; restaurants always have more choices than home, and the cooks are usually better at making pancakes than I am. 

But some Saturday mornings, I just don't have the gumption to make myself presentable and venture out in to the world.  Some Saturday mornings, I stay in my pajamas until afternoon, drink coffee until I get the shakes and can barely stay awake for more than a few hours at a time. 

For those (or any) Saturday mornings, I present chorizo and black bean breakfast burritos, inspired by my husband's constant requests for what he calls "Mexican Eggs", and my inability to eat scrambled eggs turned pink by all the chorizo's seasonings. 

They're delicious, but I can't get past the visual.  What's the solution?  Just wrap it in a tortilla.  And after all, what looks less appetizing that the insides of a burrito anyway?