what CAN'T you do with a banana?

When I was growing up I hated (i know that's a strong word) bananas. The texture of them grossed me OUT! I even had this banana-flavored chap stick--EW! For some reason my palate must've matured when I went to college. One day I decided I would try out a banana and- can you believe it- I liked it! So immediately I called my mom and told her the news. It was one of those "firsts".... 1st step, 1st pee on the potty, 1st taste of a banana.

So yesterday I was searching on blogs for yummy things to make and I came upon some banana pancakes. http://annies-eats.net/2010/08/18/banana-pancakes/ Now that I have a mature palate, I figured it was time to test them out! Can you say, YUM?! I was wishing I had some fresh strawberries to put on them but Adam and Bob wouldn't run to the farm stand..... so I used blueberry syrup instead. MAN, they were good! The recipe says to use a small banana but I used a large one and there was just enough banana flavor. I thought they were very filling but worth it.

This was some thick batter.....

The BEST blueberry syrup. Ever.

Yum Yum! Had to make a little guy so I could make sure they were good!

That's 1 stack of deliciousness!

The final product, so good!

Cookie Fun!

Part of getting into the Christmas Spirit is baking up a storm!!! From as far back as I can remember, baking cookies and other various goodies has surrounded December 25th. I remember being knee-high to a grasshopper and my mom lining the countertops with fudge, nedhams, thumbprints, peanut butter blossoms, spritz, and many other cookies. Of course it was always a convenient gift to give friends and co-workers...not to mention she had 3 girls and a husband who all LOVED her confections!

There was one day in particular I LOVED before Christmas though. It was our cookie-decorating day. Mom's friend Candy would come over with her two girls- Kiley and Kristen. We would literally spend what felt like the entire day creating the most beautiful cookies! All the kids would try to make the BEST-decorated cookies. Meanwhile the adults would create "naughty cookies." No wonder Santa never came for them! I can remember singing along to the Dolly Parton & Kenny Rogers Christmas CD.... and the soundtrack to The Sound of Music. ...oh to be little again!

So it's no wonder as the 25th approaches I start getting the itch to bake. This Saturday I loaded the Dolly Parton & Kenny Rogers CD into the player and sang along while creating some cookies. Man, if only we could've created some cookies this awesome when we were little....

This one is my fave:

book club cake!

Our last book club meeting was for the book: The Help. It was a fantastic story and I just HAD to bring a caramel cake to our meeting. Several times in the book the caramel cake was mentioned. Here is part of the process....

Cakes baked and cooling

The LONG process of making the caramel frosting. This took about an hr!

Boiling the evaporated milk and sugar. mmmmmm

Starting to look more caramely!

Oh yeah!

All I did was pour the caramel on, and it did this!

Caramel cake is complete! And delicious!