ooops, I forgot one.

I listed some of my Christmas presents a few weeks ago, but I left out the biggest gift of all! We got a Kitchen Aid mixer! David surprised me with it, but it is definitely a gift we will share.

I've already used it a bunch of times (brownies, cookies, pizza dough and banana bread), and it is great. Here is my mom's banana bread recipe that does not fail! It is always a crowd pleaser, and I love it too:

1/2 c shortening/butter
1 c sugar (white or 1/2 white & 1/2 brown)
2 well-beaten eggs
3 bananas mashed (black is best!)
1 T sour cream (or buttermilk or yogurt)

sift together:
2 c flour
1 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1/4 baking powder

cream (in the mixer):
- sugar, shortening, add eggs
- add sifted flour alternating with bananas
- add 1 tsp lemon juice and 1/2 cup nuts (nuts are optional)

Bake in loaf pan at 350* for 1 hour

And, the pizza dough recipe we came to through a trial-and-error process (but turned out really well):

3 c. flour
1 c. warm water
2 T. olive oil
1 t. salt
1 package yeast

Dissolve yeast in the warm water, and let stand until creamy. In large bowl, add the rest of the ingredients and stir well to combine (the dough hook on your mixer works great for this). Knead on a floured surface until the dough has formed. Cover and let rise until it has doubled in size (we usually put it out in the morning and let it rise all day, but you probably don't need that long).
After the dough has risen, roll into pizza shape (on a pizza baking stone) and cover with your favorite toppings. Bake at 350* for 20 or so minutes.