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.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies

Well, just like everyone else on the interwebs, I'm about to get obsessed with pumpkin.

BUT - I'll have you know that I have yet to have any pumpkin influenced coffee.

So there.

In case you haven't noticed (or you live in one of those places

without seasons like Florida or Southern California), IT'S FALL!

Who am I kidding, pumpkin spice everything is already here.

Slow Cooker Rueben Dip

Last weekend was the best.  After so many weekends of work and crazy,

I was finally, finally, FINALLY able to take a couple of days off and spend some much
needed quality time with my husband and my friends.
 

Good friends, good food, good times.

One friend visited from California.  Another WON A DANCE COMPETITION. 

That happened.  She's awesome.

Not only did she put on her dancing shoes and pull off a win,
she organized an Afterglow at our favorite local bar.

 With so much to celebrate, and the location making cocktails practically a guarantee,

she also convinced the owner to let us put together a little potluck.

 

And thus, we arrive dear friends, at the point of this rambling entry,

my contribution to the celebration was a reimagining of a classic deli sandwich.

Roasted Garlic Potato Salad

I have worked 180 hours in the last two weeks. 

We took on a huge project at my real life job, and as a result, have almost been living at the office. 

This left no time for cooking, baking, writing about cooking and baking, or running.

This also means that I've been eating take out or nothing at all for almost every meal. 

 

I miss my kitchen.

 

Labor Day, fittingly, is my first day off in a couple weeks. 

We celebrated yesterday with the family at my mother-in-law's

and I decided to finally write the recipe for the potato salad I took. 

 

I'm not a huge fan of classic potato salads, so I came up with this alternative a few years ago. 

I took inspiration from the classic loaded baked potato you can get at any steakhouse. 

How do you make a baked potato better?  Add bacon.

How do you make garlic yummier?  Roast it.

Brown Butter Snickerdoodles

I used to have a roommate whose mom made the best snickerdoodles. 

We kept them in the freezer in zip top bags and they were so delicious. 

Crispy edges, chewy centers, everything you've ever wanted in a cookie. 

How can we improve upon this?

Cinnamon sugar + cookie + brown butter

That's how.