A little bit of fall

Cream Cheese Banana Bread

My fabulous friend Ashley over at Reflecting on the Simple Things in Life asked for banana bread recipes, so here's mine! It's from Southern Living and it is wonderful!

Cream Cheese Banana Bread

Yield: Makes 2 loaves
Ingredients
· 3/4 cup butter, softened
· 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
· 2 cups sugar
· 2 large eggs
· 3 cups all-purpose flour
· 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
· 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
· 1/2 teaspoon salt
· 1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (1 1/4 pounds unpeeled bananas, about 4 medium)
· 1 cup chopped pecans, toasted
· 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation
Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition.

Combine flour and next 3 ingredients; gradually add to butter mixture, beating at low speed just until blended. Stir in bananas, pecans, and vanilla. Spoon batter into 2 greased and floured 8- x 4-inch loafpans.

Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a long wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean and sides pull away from pan, shielding with aluminum foil last 15 minutes to prevent browning, if necessary. Cool bread in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Remove from pans, and cool 30 minutes on wire racks before slicing.

Fashion Friday

You know what is torture? Looking at gorgeous clothes online and knowing you can't wear them because your current wardrobe consists of elastic waistbands and will continue in that manner until April or so.



That being said, maternity clothes have come a long way since our mothers were pregnant with us. No more sailor collars, tent dresses and buttons spelling "baby." Thank goodness! Otherwise the fashion choices alone might have deterred me from having children. Just kidding! Sort of.



When I was pregnant with Brady, I had great luck with the maternity lines at Gap and Old Navy. They haven't let me down this time around either! I've already picked up jeans and your basic long-sleeve tees and a few dresses since I was ready for maternity pants alone at 12 weeks. Here is what is on my current wish list:


Ruffle Print Top







Wouldn't this be cute with black pants for church or work?




V-Neck Argyle Sweater



Perfect with jeans






Cable Knit Sweater





I actually bought this sweater in green earlier this week, but the red is really bright and cheery and will look great at some of those casual Christmas events coming up.






Rosette Cardigan




LOVE IT! That's really all I have to say about that




Cowl Neck Tunic






This looks really comfortable.




Printed Ruched Dress


All you need is tights and boots.


So that's my list for right now. Some people say it's silly to spend a lot on clothes that you'll only wear for a few months, but places like Old Navy, Gap and even Target offer affordable options that resell well. And if there's any time we need to feel good about ourselves, it's when we're pregnant, right???!!!!


Happy Friday!

Easy Sticky Buns

I'm a huge baker and a huge fan of the Barefoot Contessa. I was watching her show last night and she made these Easy Sticky Buns. I haven't tried the recipe yet, but all the reviews online are fabulous, so I wanted to share it here! Don't these sound wonderful on a cold Saturday morning?






Easy Sticky Buns - Barefoot Contessa
Ingredients
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 cup pecans, chopped in very large pieces
1 package (17.3-ounces/ 2-sheets) frozen puff pastry, defrosted


For the filling:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup raisins


Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Place a 12-cup standard muffin tin on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the 12 tablespoons butter and 1/3 cup brown sugar. Place 1 rounded tablespoon of the mixture in each of the 12 muffin cups. Distribute the pecans evenly among the 12 muffin cups on top of the butter and sugar mixture.


Lightly flour a wooden board or stone surface. Unfold 1 sheet of puff pastry with the folds going left to right. Brush the whole sheet with the melted butter. Leaving a 1-inch border on the puff pastry, sprinkle each sheet with 1/3 cup of the brown sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons of the cinnamon, and 1/2 cup of the raisins. Starting with the end nearest you, roll the pastry up snugly like a jelly roll around the filling, finishing the roll with the seam side down. Trim the ends of the roll about 1/2-inch and discard. Slice the roll in 6 equal pieces, each about 1 1/2 inches wide. Place each piece, spiral side up, in 6 of the muffin cups. Repeat with the second sheet of puff pastry to make 12 sticky buns.


Bake for 30 minutes, until the sticky buns are golden to dark brown on top and firm to the touch. Be careful - they're hot! Allow to cool for 5 minutes only, invert the buns onto the parchment paper (ease the filling and pecans out onto the buns with a spoon) and cool completely.

Remember me?

So I've been motivated to get back into blogging since so much is happening in our lives right now. Plus, a number of people I know have started blogging and I always want to be doing the "in" thing, you know. :)

The biggest news in our neck of the woods is that we're going to become a family of four in March!

No, it wasn't a surprise, but it did happen a lot quicker than I had anticipated. We're very excited and will be finding out if we're shopping for pink or blue next Friday. To say I'm counting down the days is putting it mildy!

So between the morning sickness and utter exhaustion, it was a good summer. We made a trip to Gatlinburg over Labor Day with some very dear friends, Brady started Kindergarten and now we're in the midst of fall fun! Brady's going to be Robin for Halloween and Sunday night was his first outing in costume to Boo at the Zoo. Here are a few pictures.

I'm really hoping I can keep up with the old blog this time, so keep me motivated! Have a great day!

The girls are back!

The girls are back! Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda and Samantha hit the theaters yesterday. I loved the series and loved the first movie, so I've been anxiously awaiting the sequal. The critics have toally panned it (1.5 stars, really?), but the fan reviews have been great. I'll be seeing it at 8:20pm tonight!

My Little Graduate

More photos to come soon......................

And note to preschool directors everywhere - Please don't play "Amazing Grace" right before the kids walk out! I did not bring enough tissues for that!