I confess…I love to bake!  Baking relaxes me and puts me in my happy place. Since my teen years, my favorite go-to dessert to bake has always been banana bread. The smell of the baking banana bread in the kitchen and tasting the moist banana nut bread with melted chocolate chips fresh out of the oven is the best reward. So many have asked for the easy banana bread recipe with two tasty extra ingredients, and so ta-dah, here it is!

My family was overzealous pantry purchasers. We lived a ways out in the country on a farm, and we never knew when drifting snow would close our rocky off-the-beaten-path road. Even though I’m now a city-dweller, I carried that tradition into my own home, maintaining pantry items to stock up on – sometimes to the extreme. Which really worked out for me during the COVID-19 pandemic, when grocery shelves were emptied of the pantry essentials. Read on for pantry staples for ingredients you should always have on hand.

Who doesn’t love pasta? From spaghetti carbonara to penne arrabbiata, we know that whether traveling the world, dining out, or preparing your meals at home,  delicious pasta dishes often top the list as a favorite. But what makes your classic Italian meal even more delightful is the perfect drink – wine. For all the wine lovers out there, pair your pasta with the right kind of wine — and that’s perfetto! But where to start and what pasta works with which wine? How about these 5 fantastic wines that pair best with pasta dishes?