Banana Cranberry Bread......YUMMMMMM!!!!

I am not one for banana's, you would never catch me eating one plain, but I do enjoy a good banana bread. I had some holiday baking to do for clients over the weekend so I decided on a recipe that I found in my new The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. This is the second cookbook I have purchased from the Test Kitchens and I love it. They test every recipe to find the best variation.

This banana bread recipe calls for plain yogurt which I think really helps to keep the bread moist. As I am sure that I have mentioned (one more than one occasion) I do not like nuts, so I used dried cranberries instead.

This is by far and away the best banana bread I have ever eaten! Peter really likes it to, but says until I add the walnuts in it will not be the best he has ever had....maybe next time! ;-)

Slow Cooker Beef Stew

I love my crock pot and I tend to use it a lot during the winter when we are craving heartier meals. It is so handy, especially for weeknight meals. There is nothing better than coming home to the smells of something cooking and knowing that all the work is done for you and all you have to do it enjoy!

Tonight I tried a recipe for slow cooker beef stew from my latest cook book purchase (it really is an obsession) The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. The recipe was easy to follow, but I did cheat a little bit and didn't brown the meat before putting it into the crock pot. This was for two reasons, 1. I was too lazy to do it the night before after having just cooked another meal and 2. I really didn't have time to do it this morning before leaving for work. However, the dish was still fantastic and really hit the spot on this dreary, rainy day.

Amish Friendship Bread.....Last Post (I think).

I have really enjoyed the whole process of making this bread. It was very easy to find the basic starter on the web but finding a winning recipe to make the actual bread was the hard part.

The first recipe I tried was this one which was just OK. The main reasons being that it had few ingredients, lots of cinnamon (YUM) and no nuts or fruits. It made the kitchen smell fantastic, however it was fairly dry and lacked flavor.

Then I was on to the winning recipe. Although this one calls for walnuts (yuck, yuck, yuck), raisins (sort of yuck) and dates (can't say I have tried one but I am thinking they taste similar to a raisin) everything else about it appealed to me, I just left these ingredients out, but I am sure if you are a fan of these it would still be great.

Unlike the first recipe it calls for vegetable oil, applesauce, and instant vanilla pudding all of which would made the bread very moist. What a hit! I made two loafs the first go round and Peter and I basically had it for dinner that night and ate almost all of one. Then I made four more loaves to share with the family for Thanksgiving and I had none left to show for it after people left for the evening.

I will be making many loafs for Christmas gifts this year, I am so excited!!!