Well, tomorrow is shaping up to be an exciting day.  The women’s ministry at our church is hosting “Ladies in the Word.” Not only will it be a full day of fellowship and Bible study, it offers yet another opportunity for me to conquer my fears.  How is that?  Well, I get to brave the traffic on the Belt Parkway all by myself.  To boot, I will work on my highly undeveloped parallel parking skills — on both the Queens and Brooklyn side! I grew up riding the subways, and taking taxis. City driving and parallel parking are brand new experiences.

I hope to get there by 8am to help set-up with a handful of other women. I’ll also bring a couple of goodies.  I’m a working gal so words like “quick” and “easy” mean a lot on a Friday night.  My breads are not the most beautiful things in the world, but they ARE good.  Now, just a heads-up, the recipes I’m about to share are SUPER top-secret so please don’t tell anyone where you got it.  And if you DO tell someone, make sure to tell THEM not to tell anyone. (“Horton Hears a Who,” anyone?)

So, here you go. This first is a recipe that I’ve shared here before.  It’s one of those no-fail, go-to recipes that every baker should have hidden in their stash.

Christina’s SUPER Top Secret Banana Chocolate Chip Bread Recipe
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoon oil
2 eggs
1 cup banana (2 medium ripe)
Cream all together

2 cups of flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Mix in separate bowl. Gradually add to wet mixture above.

1/2 cup of chocolate chips — fold in last.

Bake in loaf pan at 350 degrees for 50-60 mins or until toothpick comes out clean.

The next is a new recipe that someone passed on to me.  Once again, quick and easy wins the day!  And by the way, for both of these I made a simple glaze — and I mean simple! Completely optional of course, but glaze recipes are below if you are up to it. I could have drizzled the glaze in much more aesthetically pleasing manner, but it’s late and these breads will be served sliced anyway.  No one’s gonna see them like this but you!

Christina’s SUPER Top Secret Lemon Blueberry Bread Recipe
1 cup sour cream
1 cup white sugar
3 large eggs
zest of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup oil
1 and 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour (divided as per below)
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 and 1/2 cups fresh blueberries

In a large bowl, stir the sour cream, sugar, eggs, lemon zest, lemon juice, vanilla extract, and oil. Set the wet ingredients aside.

Gently mix 1 tablespoon of flour and blueberries together and set it aside.

In a separate  bowl, whisk the 1 and 1/2 cups of flour, baking powder, and salt. Gradually add the dry to the wet mixture until smooth.  Fold in blueberries last.

Bake in loaf pan at 350 degrees for 50 – 55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Optional Glaze Recipes: 
Quick Vanilla Glaze:  Mix 1 cup of confectioners sugar, 2 tablespoons of milk, 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla.  Tada!

Quick Lemon Glaze:  Mix 1 cup of confectioners sugar, 2 1/2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Vuala!

So, there you have it! Quick, easy, and delicious! I hope you have a beautiful day tomorrow and if you remember, pray for me as I conquer my fear of city driving and parallel parking!