Delicious Any Way You Slice It

I'm about to kick-off an extended weekend with family and I couldn't be more excited.  My mother-in-law and father-in-law are flying in tomorrow and we can't wait!  The boys have been counting down the minutes 'til their arrival since we found out they were coming a few weeks ago.  I love it when they come to visit!!!!  The last time we saw them was in July at the airport in Indy and we said "see ya later" through tear filled eyes.  Needless to say, we can't wait to hug their necks tomorrow.

My in-laws are pretty much amazing and I just love the way they love our boys.  Even though we only see them four times a year (not NEARLY enough), when we're all together it's like no time has passed and I love that my boys feel the same way.  They adore their grandma and grandpa.

(let's refer to this set of pics as "the ones where my youngest didn't want to be in pictures"...)

Since they'll be visiting through the weekend, we'll be hosting our weekly Sunday Funday with my side of the family so that everyone can see each other while my in-laws are in town.  I love it when both our families are together!  Family visits mean LOTS of food and here's what's on the menu this weekend....

FRIDAY NIGHT DINNER

Chili Pasta Bake  and Apple Dumplings for dessert (both new recipes! I'll report back next week!)

SATURDAY MORNING BREAKFAST

Comfort Bake

Blueberry Crunch Coffee Cake

(These recipes are new, too!  Can't wait to share next week!!)

SUNDAY MORNING BREAKFAST

Butterscotch Cinnamon Rolls

(be on the lookout for this recipe in the next couple of weeks!!!)

SUNDAY FUNDAY FARE

Daddy's brisket (hands down, the BEST around)

Homemade Fiesta Cream Corn

Cucumber & Onion Salad

Baked Beans

Parmesan Potatoes

Eclair Cake

Reese's PB Poke Cake

photo via Six Sisters' Stuff

MONDAY MORNING BREAKFAST

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread (recipe below!)

WEEKEND MUNCHIES

S'Mores Popcorn

Jalapeno Popper Dip

Whew!  That's an awful lot of food and I need to finish up this post so I can start prepping it all.  I love being able to pre-prep our food so I don't spend too much time in the kitchen away from the family.  Another reason we'll be eating out Saturday afternoon and night :)  

As you might have noticed, we'll be eating Chocolate Chip Banana Bread for breakfast on Monday morning and my bananas are *almost* ready for this recipe!  If you love banana bread, you MUST try this version!!!!  It's definitely the best....and the easiest...I've attempted.  I'm not a fan of the nuts and this recipe calls for NONE.  Yay.  And it makes a TON.  6 loaves to be exact.  I baked some last week when my bananas were starting to brown and sent two loaves to school with Mr. Spouse, gave three away to my grandma, aunt, and cousin, and then...of course...kept one for myself :)  Ahem...for us.  This recipe is not only delicious, but perfect for gift giving, too!!!

CHOCOLATE CHIP BANANA BREAD

via House of Smiths

3 C. flour

1 1/2 C. sugar

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

3 eggs

3/4 C. butter (1 & 1/2 sticks), softened

1/2 C. buttermilk

4 large bananas, mashed

chocolate chips (optional)

cinnamon (optional)

frozen strawberries, thawed (optional)

peanut butter morsels (optional)

Okay....that's a lot of "optional" ingredients, but let's get to that in a second.  

In a large bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt).  Set aside.

In a smaller bowl, mix together eggs, butter, buttermilk, and bananas using an electric mixer.  

Now mix the dry and wet ingredients together using that same electric mixer.  Don't fret when your batter turns out a smidge lumpy.  That's a-okay!

Grease your loaf pans.  I use SIX of the smaller disposable pans (3.75" x 2.5" x 8") so that I can use all of the batter at once.  Again, you'll get about 6 loaves of bread using this recipe.  Evenly pour out the batter into each pan and go ahead with your "optional" ingredients.

Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes (mine baked a little closer to 40 minutes with this last batch!)

Now here's where the optional ingredients come into play.  This bread is AMAZING on it's own, but after making so many loaves, we started to add in a few things here and there to jazz it up just a bit.  Chocolate chips are my family's personal favorite.  Once I have the batter poured into my loaf pans, I add those extras in and mix well (in the pan) until combined.  Works great!  Then I can get several different loaves with one batch of batter and one little mess :)  

Some combos we've tried and loved:

Chocolate chips and coconut flakes

Chocolate chips + peanut butter chips/morsels

Peanut butter chips/morsels

1/2 C. frozen strawberries, thawed (strawberry banana bread is GOOD!!!!)

1/2 tsp. cinnamon (just the right hint of cinnamon!)

Anyway you slice it, this bread is DELICIOUS!!!