Well, hello there.  Long time, no see (er, read?).  Yep, it's happened again.  Here's summer, I think I'll have so much more time... and no, not at all.  But isn't that life?  Jobs, college packing, my horse, family, and friends are the names of the games these days.  Life may be busy, but it's been awesome at the same time.  I feel like I'm spending my last summer before I head off to college the right way!

Oh, and the food has been awesome too.  Here's a few products that I've been lovely lately and definitely recommend snatching up if you're fortunate enough to come across them.

Now, about that banana bread.  In my opinion, it is the best banana bread I have ever had.  The rest of my family loved it too, thought they admitted that it wasn't super sweet.  That's what I loved about it - you can enjoy it at breakfast, lunch, or dinner and not feel like you're eating dessert.  Of course you can definitely have it for dessert or even all four.  And yes having it for all four in one day is totally acceptable (at least it better be or I'm in trouble! ;)  Before I share the recipe, let me apologize for the beyond awful picture.  Night + phone camera = one bad picture.  Just sayin'.

Hola!  I know this is a bit (okay, a lot) late, but how was your Thanksgiving?  Hopefully, you were able to spend time with your family and get you hands on some super yummy food.  That's what I did!  And the family bit is why I didn't get a chance to post over Thanksgiving break... any spare time I spent with my brother!  He came back from college for the holiday, and there was no way I was going to pass up a chance to spend time with him.  It was definitely the best part of break. :)  The second best part was the time spent with my other family, and the third part was, of course, the food!!! :P  Want to see a picture of my plate??

Now the run down:  bread roll (my mom and I made them), cranberries that my mom made, Katie's Bread-Free Vegan Stuffing (what I mad for vegetables as it had carrots, zucchini, celery, spinach, tomatoes, and onion), lentils, and Peruvian potatoes that my mom and I made together.  Everything was delicious!!!  I was one happy muncher!  I was especially glad that the rest of my family (not exactly the biggest veggie lovers) really liked the veggie dish - it felt good to make something healthy that everyone enjoyed. :)  Afterwards, my dad and brother were too full for dessert, but I really wasn't!  And besides, there's no way I'm turning down dessert. :P  So my mom and I dug into Katie's Chocolate Pumpkin Pie that I made with a homemade graham cracker crust.  Side note:  graham crackers were invented by Sylvester Graham about 180 years ago.  Random, I know.  But as I was typing "graham cracker," I became curious as to who invented them and just had to find out!  Apparently he was also a vegetarian and a health advocate (if we can believe what we read).  Any-who, back to the pie:

It was a bit odd at first because our mouths were expecting pure chocolate, but there was the slight pumpkin flavor too.  We ended up really liking the flavor!  Note: the piece above isn't the one I ate on Thanksgiving; it's one that I ate with lunch.  Yes, with lunch.  Life is too short to save dessert for the end of the meal. ;)

Okay, on to the garlic bread!  I actually made this recipe a while ago, but the reason it's taken me so long to post is that I wanted to come up with a vegan version too.  Unfortunately, I still haven't come up with the right one.  I decided to go ahead and post the non-vegan recipe first, and then I'll post the other version once I get it right.


Easy Cheesy Garlic Bread
Need something to accompany pasta?  What about lasagna?  Maybe looking for a quick snack?  This bread has you covered!  Ready in under 10 minutes, this recipe can easily be made to serve any number of people!
Serves 1

Ingredients:

• 1 slice bread of choice (I use Rudi's 7 grain bread, but a crusty bread would be really good!  I'm sure you could also use an english muffin - oh, I'm going to have try that!)
• About 1/2 tablespoon of butter
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 ounce shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions: 

1. Set your oven to broil.
2. Spread the piece of bread with the butter (you may need to soften the butter to make spreading it easier).
3. Sprinkle the garlic powder evenly over the buttered bread and follow with the cheese.
4. Broil for 5 minutes or until the cheese bubbles and begins to brown.

Question:  Who has Christmas decorations up??
We've put up our lights, but I really want to get out some inside decorations.  For me, the day after Thanksgiving marks the Christmas season, and my spirit is in full force!  

Happy weekend everyone!