BANANA BREAD: OUR MOTHER'S

VESPER MAZINE 2013 AT 88

(recipe below)
Our mother's birthday was November 8th.  She was born in 1924.  Her first cookbook was  "Searchlight Recipe Cookbook".  

I don't know the year her's was published but I do remember my Dad and her using it.  Yes they cooked together.  We made and pulled taffy from its pages, and made my favorite, "Divinity".  Of course there was the old standby, "Fudge".  I don't remember if she referred to the cookbook for any other recipes but I was a kid and my favorite thing was sweets.  We lived in the Missouri boot heel, at that time

Other recipes I remember Mom making were from the packages of the ingredients she purchased.  We had Oatmeal cookies from Quaker Oats (to this day I have to use those oats, store brand doesn't do it for me).  We had Libby's pumpkin pie and Nestle's Toll house cookies, favorite foods she made from treasured ingredients.

Our mother Passed away April 2, 2014.   Her favorite place to be was in her kitchen.  It was decorated with everything red, her favorite color.  She even had a red convertible with a black top.  She bought a red leather jacket to wear when she was driving it.  It is (yes, it is still in the garage) a 1988 Chrysler Lebaron, fully loaded with black leather interior..  It only has 30,000 miles on it.  You see, she was the only one to drive it, it only went shopping and back,  pampered in the garage.
This isn't her car, it is a picture of a car exactly like hers.
http://www.greaterdakotaclassics.com/carpages/88_lebaron.htm

On her counter no matter where she lived "The Searchlight" cookbook resided.  In later years I don't remember seeing her referring to it, but it was always there.  When she passed away my siblings and I were allowed to use her kitchen (the kitchen was hers and she was always in control of it) .  We pulled out the cookbooks, remembering days now gone.  Hidden among the pages of her books were notes she had written to herself and several small snippets with recipes hand written on them.  Between the Searchlight's pages was her recipe for BANANA BREAD.

This was not a recipe I remember from my youth.  It was one she made for maybe the last thirty years.  I was never around when she made them, but every time I visited there was a Banana Bread waiting on the counter to be consumed.  In her memory, I am sharing this recipe with you.  

MOTHER’S BANANA BREAD

Our Dear Mother, Vesper Mazine 

I haven’t any idea where she obtained the recipe from.  She baked them in small loaf pans.  The following ingredients were on a scrap of paper in "the Searchlight"  The ingredients are in the order they were written down.  I have added my edits in red.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Bake 1 hour

½ cup shortening. (At the bottom of the note it says “Cream Butter”.  I don’t know if she used butter or shortening.)  I used butter because it was handy on the counter.

1 Cup sugar

1 teaspoon Baking soda

2 Cups flour

2 eggs

¼ teaspoon salt

3 bananas

1 cup chopped nuts (I think she used pecans…but black walnuts work too.) I didn't put in any nuts.

3 tablespoons sour milk. (I used butter milk)

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I haven’t been there when she made the cakes so I can only surmise how they were prepared.  The following is my interpretation of her recipe. 

I greased and floured pans, putting parchment in the bottom of the pan. I used two 8 1/2" X 4" X 2 1/2" loaf pans.

Sifted flour, Baking soda, and salt together.  (I don’t remember mother pre sifting any cake's flour.)   I sifted ingredients together to make sure there were no clusters of baking soda in the final cake.

Creamed shortening and sugar together until light and fluffy…when I was little she always did this.  I break the eggs in a separate cup and pre scramble them before adding them to the nice fluffy sugar and shortening.  Beating till thoroughly incorporated. 

Take the ripe bananas and mash till mush and add the 3 tablespoons sour milk to it. 

Alternately add  flour and bananas to the creamed mixture (1/3 flour, ½ bananas, 1/3 flour, ½ bananas and 1/3 flour). Stir each addition till incorporated but don’t over beat.

Fold in the chopped nuts.  Turn into prepared pans. Bake till done in center.  Turn out on cooling rack.

I baked my 2 pans for 30 minutes at the 325.  They weren't ready.  I put them back in for 15 minutes. The extra 15 minutes was perfect.

The breads finally cooled enough to cut.  The breads were moist without being dense.  The slice I had I consumed with a nice cold glass of buttermilk, a very delicious combo.

It is getting colder, baking will take the chill out of the house.  

Make a memory, bake a batch of Banana bread.

Mom would be thrilled I shared her recipe with you.  She loved reading the blogs I wrote.  

She loved the tutorials for baking. She loved seeing her great grands in the lime light.  

First Great Grandson
http://organicinstlouis.blogspot.com/2011/05/bluebirds-for-kids.html

First Great Grandaughter
http://gloriouscreations.blogspot.com/2011/01/rag-quilting-for-little-ones.html

Gloria, First Daughter, First Child 

(She had 4 daughters and 2 sons in 18 years.  She and Dad were married 70 years April 11, 2014)

Other blogs by me:

 http://glosgarden.blogspot.com/

Where I have stories of my cats and other pets

a blog about my courtship with my husband,

and a blog about my most embarrassing moment.

A "Soap box" blog where I do air my opinions.

 http://organicinstlouis.blogspot.com/

blogs about the wildflowers on our farm

Organic methods we use, some cooking and some poetry,

blogs about Seed sprouting, insects, and garden pictures

Blog about an endangered beneficial beetle

http://pitbulladog.blogspot.com/

Chronicling our adventures with a dumped Pit Bull Pup,

 who has become a hidden treasure.

All recipes, pictures, and writings are my own.

I give credit for items which belong to other people in my blogs .

Please do not copy without permission