New and Improved

For those who read my blog when I (occasionally) updated, and for those who are complete newbies to my crazy antics, I think I've found a niche that I can continually write about without boring you (or me for that matter). Now I'm not new to the blogging world, this is attempt number three. The first two tries obviously ended in months of no updates. I even tried writing about my life (I do have some crazy stories) but inevitably, I got bored. Shows how interesting my life is right? This is attempt number three, and I've decided to blog about something I truly care about: Cooking. Well, baking mostly.

For going on four years now my entire life has taken place on my college campus. I live, learn, and work here. This means that the entirety of the Housing complex serves as my taste testers. Every time I test a new recipe, either my staff, the residents on my floor, or my fiancée (poor boy gets to try everything, even that which goes terribly wrong) gets to evaluate what I've whipped up. Generally it tastes amazing (my chocolate chip cookies), but sometimes I wouldn't serve what popped out of my oven to a single soul (the time I made cupcakes and accidentally added twice the amount of baking powder...). To put it simply, I'm a baking-fanatic. The easiest way to make me a happy camper is to genuinely love (and compliment) what I'm feeding you.

Through this love and passion, a new blog is born. My new goal for the Internet world is to regularly update this blog with my favorite recipes, new recipes I hope to try, and the general antics that go on in my kitchen. All I can say is I hope those around me have quite an appetite.

Today I'll leave you guys with an amazing picture of the banana bread I just took out of the oven and the recipe that goes with it.

Banana Nut Bread

based on a recipe from www.vintagevictuals.com

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

2/3 cup white sugar

1/3 cup butter, softened

2 eggs

1 1/2 cup mashed banana (about 4 bananas)

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (which ever is your favorite)

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease a loaf pan and set aside.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Add the butter, eggs, mashed bananas, and vanilla to a large mixing bowl and combine.

Slowly add the flour mixture to the banana mixture until just combined and stir in the chopped nuts.

Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake for 50-55 minutes or until a knife inserted into the crest of the bread comes out clean.

Cool loaf in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack.

Tips and Tricks

1) Keep the loaf wrapped in aluminum foil. This will keep the moisture in the bread.

2) Refrigerate the bread for about 2 hours before serving. (Unless you're like me and can't wait ten minutes before cutting into it)

3) Do not lick the bowl. Just trust me.