Not much smells better than almond extract.

I did that whole baking thing again tonight. E even helped, if you count helping as him being the best bebe on the planet, patiently waiting to be fed a bite of sweet potato in between each ingredient I added to the bowl.

He's awesome, if I haven't mentioned that before.

This really is the same recipe as one I've posted before, but this time I decided to test the orange extract I bought for a to-remain-unmentioned-because-it-failed-miserably recipe, and and use the sliced almonds I had in the fridge rather than spend the time chopping walnuts. Like I said, I had a hungry baby directly affecting my multi-tasking abilities. And if he's borderline happy, I'm not about to push it.

As usual, I waited for the hubby's review. Because let's face it—if I spend the time making it, most of the time I'm going to happily eat it. Whether it's blog-worthy or not, however, requires a more critical tongue.

"Is it good?" he asked, as I handed him a healthy slice. "It's good," I assured him. Five minutes later he was cutting a second (even healthier) slice. "Uh, yeah," he said. "It's good. Too good."

And so here you go.

Banana Almond Bread
2 very ripe bananas, mashed with a fork
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
1.5 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp orange extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup sliced almond

Heat oven to 350.
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl until just mixed. Pour into greased bread pan and cook for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle. If it gets brown too quickly (check after 30 minutes), throw a piece of aluminum foil lightly over it.

Let cool before removing from pan and slicing.

Oh god, I'm a mother who bakes.

To be honest, I mostly decided to make banana bread because when I mentioned it would be a good use of some old bananas, my mom snorted a little and claimed I wouldn't do it. Don't dare me, Ma. I'll do it.

The rest of the reason was that my man Lil' E (his gangsta name) was sound asleep and I was dying to get off the couch and do something different. Plus, I have a gorgeous new oven and hadn't gotten to use it yet.


This is pretty much the easiest banana bread ever, by the way. Throw it all in at once, mix, and cook. Which, as we know, is really the only way to do it in my book.


Banana Bread
3 very ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
1.5 cups flour
1/4tsp salt
1tsp baking soda
1tsp vanilla
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup walnut pieces

Heat oven to 350.
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl until just mixed. Pour into greased bread pan and cook for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle.

Let cool before removing from pan and slicing.

-posted out of laziness from my iPhone.

Olive Cheese Bread

I cannot get enough bread these days. My absolute best friend is currently the Il Fornaio loaf at Fresh & Easy. It's the best heat and serve loaf ever. Ever. And they come in full loaves and little personal sized ones if you're not planning on gorging yourself (right.). Carb heaven, let me tell you.

And what makes fresh bread better? Cheese. And Olives. Obviously. Damn it, Sam.

No joke, these are ridiculous. Maybe you don't need to pile them as high with olives as we did, but if you do, I'm certainly not going to judge...

Olive Cheese Bread
2 to 3 minced garlic cloves
olive oil
1 shallot, thinly sliced
Regular or reduced fat crumbled blue cheese or gorgonzola
Kalamata olives, chopped

Heat over to 425.
Cut bread in half, lengthwise, and lay crust side down. Drizzle olive oil lightly over bread, then sprinkle with garlic, using a knife to spread it out a bit. Arrange shallot in an even layer across bread halves. Top with cheese and olives, then bake about 15 minutes. Serve hot.

More pumpkin. Yay!

I'm going over to my girlfriend's house this evening for a pajama and movie night...normally this group likes to drink, but at least three of us are currently knocked up, so we're going to do the next best thing-snacks.

I volunteered to bring caramel corn, which didn't turn out exactly as planned...but I am now bringing my new specialty, Creme Brûlée Corn.


There is a reason I hate my oven. And this is why. Luckily, I love burnt sugar.

In case the other ladies don't, however, I decided to bring a back up...and all I had in the house on hand was stuff for pumpkin muffins. Made in the toaster oven, thankyouverymuch. And quite delicious. Look at me baking. This is sooo the kid's fault.


Pumpkin Muffins
1 1/3 cups sugar
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup water
2 eggs
1 14oz can organic pumpkin
2 cups flour (I mixed white and wheat)
1 tsp baking powder
A little more than 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp salt
Hershey chocolate rectangles (opt.)

In large bowl, mix sugar, oil, water and pumpkin. In small bowl, mix flour and other dry ingredients and spices.

Add dry ingredients into pumpkin mix, and mix gently until just combined.

Fill lined muffin cups 3/4 full. Insert one chocolate piece in the middle of each muffin, if using. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes.

Makes 18 muffins.


-posted out of laziness from my iPhone.

Shut up, I'm being domestic!!

Hubby got home from work this evening right as I was mixing batter for zucchini bread. He kissed me hello, then immediately made a face as he glanced at the bowl.

"Um, what...That looks...pukey."

Hello to you, too. And guess what? Youuuu don't have to eat any. (Of course, 40 minutes later I got an, "ok, that smells really good." Too late, my love. All mine.)

Have I mentioned I want carbs? Even if it means I have to bake (gah!) Man, all I can do is thank my dermatologist for recommending Cera-ve to me, cause it has saved my life. My ring fingers are monumentally itchy these days, but the rest of me is doing shockingly well. I am, however, still trying to be conscious of the health factor, and am trying to eat whole-grain versions of things when I can. Low-fat doesn't hurt, either, so I decided to experiment a bit and see what I could do with what seemed like a rather generic zucchini bread recipe.

I substituted most of the white flour with whole grain, and substituted oil with applesauce, which cuts 850 calories and 112 grams of fat from the loaf.* I didn't mess with the sugar, because it needed to be edible.

Verdict? It tastes healthy. But not in a bad way. Moist and wheaty and yummy. And don't worry, dear Kris...the baby is getting plenty of fat. I think. But now you've got me all paranoid about it...

Oh, and preggo brain over here measured in 1 tsp of baking soda instead of baking powder before I realized I was an idiot, so I ended up using 1 tsp of each (soda and powder) instead of the recommended amounts. It didn't affect the taste, but it did make the thing a little...heavy...and didn't rise like it probably should have.

I so love having the baby to blame for my dumbassness. I'm totally using this to my full advantage for the next 6 months. And probably longer. Best. Mom. Ever.


Health(ier) Zucchini Bread
1/2 cup white flour
1 cup wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1.5 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup applesauce
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 zucchini, grated

Preheat oven to 350
In medium bowl, combine flours through salt. In Large bowl, combine applesauce, sugars, eggs, and vanilla. Stir in zucchini. Add in flour mixture, and combines gently until just mixed (don't over stir it)

Coat a bread pan with cooking spray (or butter it). Spoon in batter. Cook 55 minutes (Or between 50-60 minutes depending on your oven. If you're not sure it's done, insert a toothpick in the middle and if it comes out clean and not sticky, it's done.) Let cool for 30 minutes, then remove loaf from pan and place on a wire rack until cool.


*The original version says 1/10 of a loaf is a portion and has 253 cals/13g fat. I'm saying that's ridiculous on all counts, and for a far more realistic 1/8 of a loaf portion, my version has 210 cals/2g fat. Or eat the whole damn thing for 1680 calories and 15g of fat. You're welcome.