Southern Living Banana Bread

Banana bread is another great quick bread that is simple and fast to make.  Both my mom and grandma made it frequently and it was always a favorite of mine.  Almost weekly my grandma would send me back to the dorms with a loaf to share with friends or to have for breakfast.  Such a great treat as a poor college kid! 

I go back and forth between a family recipe and a recipe from the Southern Living Cookbook.  Here is the Southern Living recipe that I am a huge fan of, I hope you love it as much as I do!

I realize there are tons of SL cookbooks so here is a picture of the one this recipe is from.

Banana-Nut Bread
Prep: 15 mins
Cook: 1 hr
Cool: 10 mins.

Ingredients:
2 cups self-rising flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup chopped pecans, toasted (I never toast mine)
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
3 very ripe bananas, mashed (1-1/2 cups)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup plain low-fat yogurt - Optional (I never include this and it is still very moist)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Grease and flour bottom of a 9"x5" loaf pan; set aside.
Combine first 4 ingredients in a large bowl; make a well in center of mixture.  In another bowl stir together melted butter, mashed banana, eggs, yogurt, if desired, and vanilla; add to dry ingredients and stir until moistened.  Pour batter into prepared pan.
Bake at 350* for 1 hour to 1 hour and 5 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool on pan on a wire rack 10 minutes; remove from pan and cool completely on wire rack.
Yield: 1 Loaf

For Muffins:
Spoon batter into lightly greased muffin pans, filling 3/4 full.  Bake at 350* for 19-21 minutes or until lightly browned.  Remove from pans immediately.  Let cool on wire racks.
Yield: 20 muffins

Family Favorite Zucchini Bread

Zucchini is flowing abundantly from our garden and I am always looking for a good way to use some up.  One of my favorite ways is to make zucchini bread.  In high school I took a cooking class and we made zucchini bread using this recipe.  I made it with my mom at home and soon it was a family favorite.  We have used it exclusively since then and love it every time.  I made a double batch this morning and we have already dug into one loaf.  I made 2 regular sized loaves and 3 mini loaves from a double batch so I can put some in the freezer for a later time. 

Enjoy this great recipe!

Family Favorite Zucchini Bread

1 C. sugar

1-1/2 C. shredded zucchini

2 eggs

3/4 C. vegetable oil

1-1/2 tsp. vanilla

1-1/2 C. flour

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1-1/2 tsp. baking soda

1-1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 C. raisins (I omit this ingredient)

1/2 C. shopped pecans or walnuts

1 TB. flour

1.  measure dry ingredients.  set aside

2.  measure liquid ingredients.  set aside

3.  grate zucchini on large side of grater.  set aside

4.  mix raisins and/or nuts with 1 TB. of flour.  set aside

5.  sift together 1 and 1/2 C. flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt

6.  in another bowl, beat eggs with whisk

7.  stir in oil, and sugar and mix well with wooden spoon

8.  stir in vanilla and zucchini

9.  stir in dry ingredients 1/3 at a time, stirring well after each addition

10.  stir in raisins and pecans

11.  pour into prepared loaf pan  (greased and floured)

12.  bake in preheated 375* oven for one hour

13.  remove from oven and set on cooling rack 10 minutes before unmolding

14.  cool completely before wrapping

 

For mini loaves or larger loaf pans make sure to watch them as they frequently don't take the full hour to bake..

Cherry Time

Last week we wanted to finish picking cherries before the birds got them all.  We had a net to cover the tree but the tree has grown so much that it only covered about a third of it.  Once the birds get one taste of the berries we don't stand a chance at getting any.  Michael took the time to finish picking what was ripe and we took to processing them.  We washed them and then ran them through a crank pitter that we borrowed from my mother in law.  It was a slow, sticky and messy project but it was a success!  This is the first harvest we have had from this tree and probably could have done another light picking but we were cherried out.  We ended up with three, 2-cup bags that we froze.  Michael loves cherry pie so maybe we will make one for the 4th of July. 

Do you have any 4th of July plans?

An action shot of Michael working the pitter.