by Hollie McAfee
All summer, I do as little cooking as possible, mostly feeding my family sandwiches, grilled food and ice cream. But when the cool, fall weather hits, I really like to get back into the kitchen and whip up some great stuff! There’s something about the smell of baking apples and cinnamon that warms up a home.
Quick breads are an old standby for me. Although they are only “quick” compared to the process of rising and baking yeast bread, it’s easy to stir everything together and pop it into the oven for an hour. Kids love the smell of banana bread when they walk in the house after school! I toss overripe bananas in my freezer, and take them out occasionally to make my grandmother’s old banana bread recipe. If we want a real treat, I add Reeses’ peanut butter chips to the dough! Elvis was on to something with that peanut butter and banana combo.
Another of my favorites is the easiest peanut butter cookie recipe in the world:
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
Mix together, bake at 350 for 13 minutes. Voila! No flour! Melt in your mouth cookies!
I also love to make anything with apples. Apple crisp is easy, and apple pie is a real treat when I use my mothers homemade crust recipe. Flaky!
I’d love to bake yeast bread, but my house is too drafty and cold for proper rising. Maybe a bread maker!
Anything I can put in the crockpot is a win-win this time of year. Easy, and smells great! Roast beef. Chili. Stews. You name it!
What are your favorite things to cook in the fall?