Baking (and cooking but only because I have to)

As most people know, I don't like to cook. Now...I didn't say I CAN'T cook, I said I don't LIKE to cook. And despite some of my guy friends telling me I'd never find a husband because of it, I'm quite okay with it. On the other hand, I do like to bake (at least way more than I like to cook).

Living up at about 6,000 feet makes baking a bit of a challenge. I used to never pay attention to the special "high altitude" directions on cake and brownie mixes, but now I wish I had those mixes more! Recipes to bake from scratch don't offer the special "high altitude" directions and we've had our fair share of baking "issues". So thanks to my Pinterest addiction (which I highly recommend), I've found some great recipes:

Banana bread

The best things about this banana bread recipe is that it is specifically for high altitude baking. It's also the most moist and really banana tasting bread I've ever had! (And remember bananas are only like 7 cents a piece here).

Recipe:

• 5 large, ripe bananas or 6 small bananas
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter or margarine
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/3 cups flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 3/4 cup Chocolate chip, raisins and/or walnuts may be added 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mash the bananas in the mixing bowl. Add the butter, sugar and eggs to the bananas. Cream the bananas and egg mixture thoroughly. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Grease a standard size bread pan. (I use our skillet...it's perfect). Pour the batter evenly into the prepared pan. Bake 55-65 minutes or until inserted knife comes out clean.

No Bake Cookies!

Chocolate Oatmeal No Bake Cookies...These are really good and because I don't have to really bake them, they turn out great. (Well except the time it had been raining for 2 weeks straight making them too moist to ever really solidify, but they still tasted good).

Recipe:

• 1/2 C Butter
• 2 C Sugar
• 1/2 C Milk
• 4 Tbsp Cocoa
• 1/2 C Peanut Butter
• 3- 3 1/2 C Quick cooking Oats
• 2 tsp. Vanilla

Add the first 4 ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a rolling boil, and boil for 1 minute. Stir in the next 3 ingredients and drop onto wax/foil paper. Let cool until set.

In our house we take turns cooking dinner. So I have to cook every Monday and Thursday nights. As previously mentioned, I don't like to cook. On top of that, it's definitely different cooking here versus in the US. Being the daughter of a Pampered Chef, I'm often lost without all of my cooking gadgets and pre-made ingredients (especially crescent rolls). So again, I've relied greatly on Pinterest and have made some things very successfully and others not so successfully, but at least my housemates aren't too picky :)

Feel free to pass any recipes my way that you think might work here!