Breakfast

Banana bread is one of life's great wonders. Although different from the recipes that both Corey and I grew up with, we both agree that this recipe produces the best banana bread that we have ever had. Full of toasted nuts and moist, this bread makes us look forward to using those frozen dark brown leftover bananas in our freezer.

One of the most popular places for breakfast, brunch, or lunch in Burlington, Vermont is Penny Cluse Cafe. People regularly wait for over an hour on weekends for a seat and always look happy after filling their stomachs. My personal favorite breakfast at Penny Cluse is gingerbread pancakes with bananas. The morning that we made these pancakes from a recipe adapted from Magnolia Cafe, it felt like Fall for the first time all year and I was yearning for Penny Cluse's gingerbread pancakes. These pancakes, though not quite as good as my favorite breakfast, were delicious. We added diced apples to the batter, which worked well because the batter was very thick. When we make these again, we will up the milk by a 1/4 cup to thin out the batter.

After hearing the horror stories from friends who attempted to make granola (and were left with something that did not taste anywhere near as good as it would need to in order to be worth the long baking process), I originally tried this granola recipe only because everything else that I had made out of this cookbook turned out flawlessly, not because I expected promising results. I was pleasantly surprised when the granola that I made was good enough not only for the bread recipe that it accompanies in the book, but also to be eaten for breakfast with milk. Two points of interest here though. First, this is not the type of granola that would go well with yogurt. It is not the crunchy variety that clings together like you purchase from a commercial retailer (or at least from someone who really knows how to make granola). Secondly, it is SO easy to burn this granola. Make sure that you remove it from the oven when it is golden. If it seems damp still, remember that the cooking process will continue as the granola cools to room temperature and will likely dry up as it does.

Not for the novice jam cooker! If you know anything about making jam, you will see that this recipe is very traditional and does not rely upon artificial pectin or Sure-Jell to aid in the jelling process. For that reason, the name of the game here is "Stir, stir, stir!". If you can get through the process without burning your jam, this is a wonderful simple recipe.