My kitchen has been a place of great activity since I wrote to you last
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! Hand mixed lovein the breads and from scratch puddings I’ve made so far were available to give! 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 ---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 (that I lost the recipe to and could just cry over it!) 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. (notes from allrecipes site)
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
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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! (notes from allrecipes site)
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
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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 (a book "Grandmother Willoughby" owned)
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
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