It's officially autumn. And all I want is blankets and baths and books and pumpkin bread.  I have two secret weapons. One is my Banana Bread. The other is this Pumpkin Walnut Bread.

Banana bread. The ultimate in classic cozy baked goods.

Warm, cozy, and perfect with a cup of tea.

I made this for my flatmates my first year in London, and I think I may have won their love through it. We would often demolish an entire loaf in an afternoon. That's how good it is.

It's fluffy, moist, and not too sweet. Plus it's made with oats and there's big pieces of banana in there so it's healthy, right?

Recipea:
Prep time: 15 minutes / Bake time: 40 minutes
Makes one 9×5-inch loaf

3 medium or 2 large ripe bananas, mashed
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup brown sugar (can also sub coconut sugar)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1 cup ground oats (grind your own in your blender - or you can just use another cup of flour instead)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 heaping tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 additional banana, sliced into chunks
Granulated sugar and a teaspoon of whole oats for topping

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.
Lightly grease and flour a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan.
In a large mixing bowl, mash the bananas well with a fork.
Then add the sugar, oil, and vanilla extract, and mix well.
Sift in the flour, ground oats, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
Mix until the wet and dry ingredients are just combined.
Fold in banana chunks.
Pour into to the baking pan and sprinkle with extra sugar and a few oats if you’d like.
Bake for 40 minutes. The top should be lightly browned and a knife inserted through the center should come out clean.

Olive bread. Manna from heaven.

If I had a nickel for every time I've accidentally polished off an entire olive loaf in one sitting, I'd be a rich woman.

What's not to like?! Olives? Good. Carbs? Good.

I thought bread was going to be super hard to make and/or it would be an all day affair, waiting for it to rise and whatnot.

But this bread is suuuuper easy, and you can be stuffing your face with warm fresh bread in less than an hour and a half. Just enough time for you to stage some sort of fake emergency that gets everyone out of your house so you can be alone to eat the entire loaf in peace.

Plus you get the added bonus of your house smelling like a bakery for the rest of the evening. Yes, please.
Recipea:

2 cups (250g) of bread flour
1 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of sugar
1 teaspoon of dry yeast
2/3 cups (150 ml) of warm water
1 tablespoon of olive oil (plus a bit more for greasing)
Olives (I used plain black and green and I also threw in some kalamata which had been packaged in oil and italian herbs. I used 6 whole of each, and then chopped up 4 of each to have some smaller pieces in the bread as well. I like a high olive to bread ratio, so use less if you'd rather!)

Mix flour, salt, sugar, and yeast together in a medium bowl.

Chop and/or add whole olives (whichever you prefer) to the dry mixture and mix well.

Make a well and pour in the water and oil.

Mix with a fork until it is sticky, then knead the dough for 5 mins on a floured surface. If you added barrels of olives like I did, it will be weird at first when you're trying to knead because the olives will sneak out. Stick with it, soldier. They will stick into the bread more as you knead.

When the dough is elastic and smooth, place into a lightly greased bowl and cover with a tea towel.

Let sit for 45 mins - 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 210 degrees celsius.

Once it's risen, form onto a greased, floured baking sheet and lightly grease the top of the loaf.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the bread is evenly golden brown all around, and is hardened on the top. Better to overbake a bit than underbake on this one.

Let cool, slice, and eat entire loaf in one sitting without shame.

This soda bread though, you guys. I can't even.