Banana Walnut Muffins

Ah, rainy Sunday.  One of those days that just begs for the warm smell of baked goods to be wafting around the house.  Lucky for me, I had a bunch of overripe bananas sitting on the counter that I had to do something with--so I did my usual "what to do with leftover fruit" thing which is bake muffins.

Now why muffins?  Sure, there are breads, jams, tarts and pies which all would have easily used up the bananas, but for me muffins are the best because if well wrapped, they can go in the freezer and last for months.  Then, for a healthy-ish dessert, I just pop one of them in BabyBella's lunch box (still frozen) and it's defrosted by the time lunchtime rolls around.  (Recipe after the break)

Pecan Pie

I love pie.  Any and all pies.  Peach pie, apple pie, cherry pie, chicken pot pie, shepherd's pie...they make me happy.  Of course, just saying the word "pie" makes me think of David Cross' guest appearance in Just Shoot Me. 

Anyway, with that said, I invited myself over my brother's for dinner the other night.  I absolutely adore big family dinners but my house is too small to fit our ever-expanding extended family in so my solution is to invite everyone over my brother's then bring the food.  It's a good solution all around--he has the space, I enjoy cooking for a small army, and we both like any excuse to get everyone together.  With it being summer, dinner was traditional family picnic favorites such as seasoned burgers, hot dogs, potato salad, and tortellini salad.  But I was in the mood to do a little something different for dessert so decided to tackle my very first pecan pie. (More after the break)