My Best Banana Nut Bread

Dear readers, this past weekend was my very first farmers market selling bread on our town square. It was so much fun! The whole experience was an all-around success. I made new friends, got to know some local farmers, and even traded a few loaves for some fresh produce for next week's baked goods!

In preparing for this fun adventure, I went to some of my tried-and-true go-to recipes. Here is my very best banana nut bread. I've been making it for 10 years or so, and it's evolved with tweaks here and there. These little babies sold like hotcakes on Saturday morning!

My Best Banana Nut Bread
originally based on a recipe from Allrecipes.com

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
A pinch of nutmeg
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1 1/4 cup mashed banana
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

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

Sift together the flour, baking powder, soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar in a large bowl. Add the butter, eggs, banana, and vanilla, mixing just until combined. Stir in the nuts, if desired.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the bread comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack. Enjoy!

Care Bears Cloud Cake

One of my very first cookbooks when I was a little girl was the Care Bears Party Cook Book. It had lots of kid-friendly recipes for fun and festive treats. To this day, I still make a dessert that is based on a recipe from this cookbook. It's called Cloud Cake. I have included the original recipe and my simplified version below.

I usually make this light and easy dessert with just strawberries, but for the Fourth of July? Red White and Blue Cloud Cake just seemed right!

Cloud Cake
from the Care Bears Party Cook Book

1 pound cake
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup raspberry jam or fresh berries with their juice
Frozen whipped topping or fresh whipped cream

Slice your pound cake loaf horizontally and remove the top half. Pour half of the orange juice over the bottom half of the cake. Then spread with raspberry jam or fresh berries and juice. Replace the top of the cake to make a sandwich. Pour the remaining juice over the cake. Top with whipped cream and more berries if desired.

Red, White, and Blue Cloud Cake

2 cups strawberries, hulled and sliced
1/3 cup sugar
2 cups blueberries
1 loaf-sized pound cake
Frozen whipped topping or fresh whipped cream

Combine the strawberries and the sugar in a bowl. Cover and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Stir the strawberries again - they should be nice and juicy. Set aside.

Cut slices of pound cake. Top with the strawberries and juice. Top with some blueberries. Add some whipped topping, and then decorate with extra fruit on the top. Serve immediately - enjoy!!!

Slaw Dawgs!

What do you call it when you put cole slaw on a hot dog in Georgia? Well, a Slaw Dawg of course!!!

Okay, so maybe this isn't a real "recipe" but come on - the pictures alone justify this post! Plus, I wanted to be sure to share with you my favorite way to cook hot dogs in time for the Fourth of July next weekend. So here are my Slaw Dawgs!

Slaw Dawgs

4 tablespoons butter or margarine
4 all-beef hot dogs
4 hot dog buns
2 cups of prepared cole slaw
Ketchup and mustard

Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the hot dogs and allow them to cook, turning occasionally until they are brown and crispy on all sides.

Remove the dogs from the pan and add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter. When it has melted, place your hot dog buns in the pan. Allow the buns to brown, turning so that each side is crispy.

Put your hot dogs in the prepared buns, and top with slaw, ketchup, and mustard. Doesn't get much more summery than this, folks!!!

Southern Hominy with Squash and Mushrooms

This dish was inspired by what I had on hand in my refrigerator and from a few different recipes I browsed recently online. We have so much squash these days from our own garden and from our CSA baskets, as well. But no one in our house is complaining - you've never tasted squash unless you've eaten it fresh from your garden - so sweet and fresh!

Hominy with Squash and Mushrooms

4 slices of thick-cut bacon
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup diced onion
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 can hominy, drained and rinsed
2 small yellow squash, sliced into 1/4" thick half-moons
2 small zucchini squash, sliced into 1/4" thick half-moons
1 teaspoon lemon zest
2 tablespoon lemon juice
1/3 cup chicken broth
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh chopped parsley

In a large pan, cook the bacon over medium-high heat until golden brown and slightly crispy on both sides. Remove the bacon to drain on paper towel.

Add the onion to the pan with the bacon drippings and cook for about 5 minutes, until tender. Add the mushrooms, hominy, squash, lemon zest, lemon juice and chicken broth. Continue to cook over medium-high heat for 5-6 more minutes, until all the veggies are tender.

Break the bacon into bite-sized pieces and return themn to the pan. Season the veggies with salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot and garnish with the fresh chopped parsley.

Georgia Peach Cobbler

Yes, dear readers, I know I just posted a recipe for peach cobbler a mere three days ago, but are you seriously complaining?? Peach cobbler is the best!! And this one is different - you'll see . . .

So this recipe comes from our across-the-street neighbor when I was growing up - my mom's friend Mary. It used to be that people thought I was crazy when I would make this recipe, but nowadays, I think there are a few similar versions floating around the internet.

Basically, you melt a stick of butter in a pan. (This is the way any good southern recipe starts, right?!?) Then you pour your batter into the melted butter and pour your peaches over the top of the batter. The best part is that you aren't supposed to stir! How easy can this get?

And the final product? Crispy butter-fried dough puffs up and bakes all around the juicy-sweet peach slices. Again, the hint of cinnamon (barely a whiff) really brings out the depth of that golden peach flavor.

Georgia Peach Cobbler
From my mom's friend Mary

4 cups fresh Georgia peaches, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
A dash of salt
3/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the sliced peaches and the 1/2 cup sugar in a medium bowl. Cover and refrigerate for several hours, until the juices start to run.

Place the butter in a 9x13" baking dish. Put it in the oven for 3-4 minutes, until the butter is completely melted.

Meanwhile, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl. Add the milk and stir just until combined.

Remove the dish with the butter from the oven. Pour the prepared batter over the butter. Do not stir!

Next, pour the peaches over the batter and butter. Do not stir!

Finally, sprinkle the cinnamon evenly over the top. Return the dish to the oven and bake for 45-50 minutes, until the batter sets and turns a golden brown on top. Serve hot with vanilla ice cream.