Holiday Nesting

Working from home has it's positives and negatives. I miss the in-person camaraderie with my coworkers, the side conversations that break up the day and actually leaving the house....BUT there are lots of things to be thankful for. Like, having more energy to do the little things I want to do. My energy level is different when I don't have to drive to the office and drive home, make dinner and collapse on the couch. Being home, I think I actually accomplish more work and do more than I did in the office but it's a different kind of tired at the end a work-from-home day. Hard to explain.

But anyway....that's all a long way to say that I've had more time to enjoy little things around the house. My new chickens have started laying eggs and I'm loving the green eggs. This is a first for me and I'm so happy with them!

I've been baking sourdough bread again. My starter went weird on me for a while but it's back! My family LOVES this bread. We inhale it as soon as it's out of the oven. It's been a year now that I've been making this bread from the same starter. I'm happy I decided to do this. It's also been really fun to see all of the quarantined people making bread too. This whole time in history has brought back older traditions.

I've been gift knitting but my brain hurt...so I gave my Paloma sweater some love. Simple stockinette was just what I needed.

My mom used to make orange and clove decorations at Christmas time. They always smelled so nice around the house. I used some oranges for decoration, but I used them as garland. I have to be honest...this was my second attempt. The first time, I put them in the oven and forgot all about them. They came out VERY done! Lol. Second time was much better. I dried them for a few hours in the oven, let them sit overnight and then strung them with some yarn, pine tree clippings and hung them around the house.

Many people had a big nor'easter winter storm. We got a tiny dusting and then all rain. It's what was forecasted for us, as it usually is for the Jersey Shore. I guess it's a fair trade-off for being only minutes from the beach. But I'm jealous of those big snow fall totals just west and north of us!

 

Only 7 days until Christmas....I guess I should finish getting presents! I'm VERY behind this year.....

Banana Bread

Every time I spell "banana" I hear Gwen Stefani in my head. B-A-N-A-N-A-S Go Bananas, Go, Go Bananas. hee hee.

Anywho....I had some old bananas on the counter and they were past their snacking prime so I figured banana bread would be a perfect use for them! I did a quick search on Pinterest and found this recipe:

Copycat Starbucks Banana Bread Recipe

Here's the recipe: I followed it exactly but i didn't add nuts. I had to bake mine for 55 minutes. It was delicious and I would definitely make it again.

COPYCAT STARBUCKS BANANA BREAD RECIPE

 

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1⅛ cup sugar
• ½ cup vegetable or canola oil
• 2 tablespoons buttermilk or milk
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• 3 bananas mashed very well
• ½ cup chopped walnuts (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Add flour, baking soda and salt to a small bowl and set aside.
3. Mix egg, sugar and oil and stir until well combined
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir well. The mixture will be thick and dry.
5. Next add milk, vanilla and bananas and stir until incorporated.
6. Mix in walnuts and pour into a loaf pan.
7. Cook 50-75 minutes, checking regularly until a knife comes out clean.