With Upstate New York blanketed in a blizzard, let’s make it quick, and keep it safe. Record low temperatures reported almost everywhere, again, let’s make it quick.

Wishing everyone a safe trip to wherever they may be going, hopefully home. Sharing here a recipe for best banana bread ever, and, you can make it quick. Perfect antidote to a snow day. Have been baking and gifting these loaves for years, one of our very fit friends calls it crack, in good jest. Almost everyone has 2 or 3 overripe bananas on the countertop, photos shown we had 6, yielding 2 cups of mashed, and 2 full-sized loaves. Should you not have sour cream on hand, simply use vanilla or plain yogurt, thinking you probably have that in the fridge.

Banana Bread | The Martha Stewart Cookbook | Collected Recipes for Every Day (love how the title divides the every day, just like here)

makes 1 large loaf of 4 small loaves

1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temperature

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup mashed very ripe bananas

1/2 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan or several smaller pans.

With an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, beating well.

Sift the dry ingredients together and combine with the butter mixture. Blend well. Add the bananas, sour cream, and vanilla. Stir well. Stir in the nuts and pour into the prepared pan.

Bake 1 hour, until a cake tester comes out clean. Turn out onto a rack to cool.

ps. These loaves freeze well. Sometimes I substitute and/or add unsweetened chocolate chips, 1/2 cup per loaf. Recipe doubles well in a KitchenAid stand mixer. Photos shown I baked two.

pss. School closed again tomorrow, let’s make it quick, :).

psss. my copy here is dog-eared, even has scribbles, it’s so well-loved.

Stay safe and warm, every day dress, xoxo.

 

Saturday night, all tucked in, going nowhere, and couldn’t be happier. Travel, while great, has me roasted.

To compensate, it’s been all things work and domestic. Brussels sprouts, clipped off with kitchen shears, combined with some olive oil and good old kosher salt, and roasted in the oven. Almost like eating potato chips, ha.

Baked the cookies for the new neighbors, they’ve been here since August, and delivered with, shocker, a bottle of wine, always feeling just a bit behind. 🙂

Every day dress, roasted, and baked.

Thanks everyone for reading. Thinking this might be a good little feel good about what you do blog. Thinking that if you like to dress and you like to cook or even simply like to eat, you might find something of interest here. Everything we all do matters. For those that like numbers, site visits are about 200 per day, so you all out there, small group and couldn’t be happier, seem to keep coming back. Thank you.

Have a great and safe weekend. xo

 

Haven’t posted since last week Saturday, busy week. Two weeks in France can set you back a bit, no complaints.

Travel abroad teaches so much. Always fun to bring it home. Tonight’s dinner snapped on the iPhone made from last weekends ham for the dozen or so teenaged girls for a Sunday morning post football game sleepover. Ham and Lentil Soup and Grilled Gruyère Sandwiches on days old sliced crusty bread. Anything I read about French cooking tells me that they never waste a thing, use everything to everything.

Every day dress, bring it home.

 

There’s something so soul satisfying about pulling leaves off of a basil stem. We’ve been watering those things all summer long and now it’s time to pull in the harvest. Even from a small kitchen pot garden it’s a gratifying thing when you make time for pesto.

Pesto tolerates time in the freezer, yikes, the only thing in there now is ice cream and gelato.

Every day dress, make time for pesto.