Dear
Creative Chefs,
My
kitchen has been a place of great
activity since I wrote to you last
<smile> and should be so for another
day or two. One might think we were
starting a “banana bakery” by the
looks of things. Yellow bunches with
brown spots line an entire wall of
counter space and call to be peeled,
cut, smashed, and more!
The
other day, my husband came home with
a huge box of these bananas that he
considered a great treasure for only
$2.49! When he told me the price he
paid, I must admit to expecting a
bunch of black and rotting fruits.
Imagine my delight at discovering
beautifully ripened bananas with a
yellow skin similar to sun beams
from a late afternoon sky!
If you
want to browse through some
interesting web sites on bananas and
possibly find some nice recipes ---
visit this webpage:
http://galileo.spaceports.com/~banana99/
Please
visit knowing I haven’t checked out
all the sites on here and have no
idea what the content might be. I
did find the one on Australian
Bananas adorable:)
Be
prepared for frustrating pop ups as
I’m finding more and more need to
battle lately!
The
Lord provided a way to share all of
the calories and hand mixed love
present in the breads and from
scratch puddings I’ve made so far!
There has been something to serve to
my precious friend of 15 years who
has been out of the US and then out
of this state for some time now. Our
visiting was done with a cup of
coffee in one hand and a chunk of
banana nut bread in the other!
There
was pudding to serve up ---not only
to my thrilled kids (we don’t eat
things like this often:) but my
nieces and nephews as well.
Blake’s mom has been sick with the
flu for 2 weeks and it was so nice
to fill containers with the banana
pudding they love so much and
deliver to them. The recipe came
from their nanny of many, many
years. She started out when my
husband was a little thing:)
Having
so much to offer from my kitchen and
seeing how happy it made those
gracing our door reminded me of the
need for prepared hospitality! I
have enjoyed collecting make ahead
coffee cakes for the freezer ,
quick and sweet breads, casseroles
that go from freezer to oven and
more. So much has been going on in
our lives that these gifts for
serving Christ by loving others
haven’t been available. I am making
a note in my book to start this
beautiful tradition back and it will
start with banana bread! It is just
a delight to have something ready
for any kind of unexpected angel!
The
two recipes I used for bread came
from allrecipes.com. I have my
cookbooks easily accessible and hope
to use more from them this year but
it is nice when in a hurry to have
one with reviews!
Banana Bread I
This is our family favorite. Prep
Time: approx. 15
Minutes. Cook Time: approx. 1
Hour . Ready in: approx. 1 Hour
15 Minutes. Makes 2 - 7x3 inch
loaves (16 servings).
Printed from
Allrecipes, Submitted by
Nikki
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup white sugar |
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup butter, melted
3 bananas, mashed |
Directions
1
Grease and flour two 7x3 inch loaf
pans. Preheat oven
to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2
In one bowl, whisk together flour,
soda, salt, and
sugar. Mix in slightly beaten
eggs, melted butter, and
mashed bananas. Stir in nuts if
desired. Pour into prepared pans.
3
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees
C) for 1 hour, or
until a wooden toothpick inserted
in the center comes out clean.
Janet's
Rich Banana Bread
This is the moistest banana bread
that I have ever
tasted. It's also very easy to
make! Prep Time: approx. 10
Minutes. Cook Time: approx. 1
Hour . Ready in: approx. 1 Hour
10 Minutes. Makes 1 - 9x5 inch
loaf (15 servings).
Printed from
Allrecipes, Submitted by
Virginia
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour |
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2 medium bananas, sliced |
Directions
1
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175
degrees C). Grease a
9x5 inch loaf pan.
2
In a large bowl, stir together the
melted butter and
sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla,
mix well. Combine the flour,
baking soda and salt, stir into
the butter mixture until
smooth. Finally, fold in the sour
cream, walnuts and bananas.
Spread evenly into the prepared
pan.
3
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees
C) for 60 minutes,
or until a toothpick inserted
into the center of the loaf
comes out clean. Cool loaf in the
pan for 10 minutes before
removing to a wire rack to cool
completely.
I made 4 loaves of bread between
these two recipes and 4 (13X9X2)
pans of banana pudding between the
following two recipes:
Miss Dovey’s Banana Pudding Recipe
Miss Dovey is in her 80’s and she
started preparing this recipe from
her mother’s instructions when she
was 8 years old! I have yet to make
it quite like hers but I’m getting
closer each time I try:)
I’ll write it as I wrote it while
this dear woman was making this in
my kitchen as I watched.
6 eggs. Separate the whites and put
them aside.
You just mix these yolks with 2 cans
of milk and anything that will hold
about a cup of sugar…don’t matter
what it is. Stir these until they
good and mixed and… oh, yeah, don’t
forgit the vuhnilluh flavorin’ …a
spoon or so.
When it’s good and mixed, put it in
a pot on the stove at high heat
until boiling … makin’ sure to never
miss a stir. The stirring has to
keep going without one step away
from it. Once it reaches boiling
like “this here” you turn down the
heat a bit and keep stirring like I
told you.
When it gits “like this” …
(*thickens*)… take off from stove
and put in a pan you already put a
layer of nilla wafers in and a layer
of sliced bananas over those.
(Cookies, sliced bananas, then
pudding mixure) and just keep
layering these until you are done.
Get your oven good and hot while you
are mixing up your egg whites with a
teaspoon of sugar. When it is
whipped up nice, spread it on top of
your pudding and bake until it’s
good and brown.
Banana Pudding
From: “Southern Cooking” by Mrs.
S.R. Dull
2 dozen vanilla wafers
6 bananas
1 pint sweet milk
3 eggs
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Pinch of salt
First make a boiled custard of the
milk, sugar and yolks of eggs. To
this add vanilla and salt. Into a
pudding dish put a layer of the
wafers, then a layer of sliced
bananas. Over this put a portion of
the custard. Repeat untl all is
used; usually three layers of each
is required, having bananas and
sauce on top. Make meringue of the
three egg whites, using three extra
Tablespoons of sugar; put on top and
bake in moderate oven until brown,
about 10 minutes. Serve hot or cold.
As with any of the recipes I will
share in these letters from my
kitchen (unless there are some tried
and true by others and/or very
special to make exceptions to this
ruleJ)
--- all recipes shared here have
been tried by my hand and turned out
well. The banana breads and puddings
went in a matter of hours!
One last “gift” I’ll share is
something to make you feel nurtured
after all the kitchen work!
Enjoy the following creative use of
your bananas (and other fresh
fruits!)
Bananas are great “grab-and-it”
treats because all one has to do is
peel, eat, and throw away the
natural wrapper. This sweet fruit
can be included in recipes from
bread to meats. Another delectable
way to find full use in bananas is
in natural beauty treatments! In the
book, “Natural Beauty For All
Seasons” by Janice Cox, I found out
that since bananas are rich in
potassium, Vitamins A, B, and C ---
they “help replenish moisture and
shine”.
Even
though I have written that I
wouldn’t share a recipe until it was
tried and true by me… I’m making an
exception since this isn’t to eat! I
am going to whip this up tonight and
try it on my hair so if you want to
wait to see if I post a horrible
review of the experience before
trying it yourself… feel free! :)
Banana
Hair Conditioner
(from
the above mentioned book!)
1
mashed banana
1 Tablespoon honey
Mix
together the banana and honey until
smooth and creamy. Wet your hair
with warm water and massage the
conditioner into your hair and
scalp. Wrap your hair in plastic
wrap or use a towel around your
head, and let the mixture condition
your hair for 20 minutes. Rinse your
hair well, and shampoo and condition
as usual. You will notice that your
hair seems thicker and your shampoo
will really lather.
Yield:
2-3 ounces, enough for 1 treatment.
Love,
Sandy
©2004
Sandy Willoughby