Recipes and Memories

As I typed the title for this post, I couldn't help but think that it sounds a bit like a sentimental country song.  I can almost hear Miranda Lambert singing it as a sequel to her hit, "The House That Built Me." And that's okay, because sometimes the lyrics to country music touch the soul in a very real way. So feel free, Miranda... put it in a song!

Not long ago, I was looking for my recipe for banana bread.  I'm not one of those organized people who has all of her recipes in a nice binder or recipe card file.  Nope.  I DO have a recipe box that holds some of my recipes, but there's no rhyme or reason as to why those specific recipes are in there.  The rest of them are in two large tattered file folders.  But here's where I get REALLY organized.  One folder holds recipes for main dishes and the other holds recipes for desserts and drinks. I know...pretty impressive.

Anyway, as I sat on the couch leafing through one recipe after another...many of which I confess were put in there with good intentions, but have never actually been made...I started thinking about all the years that I have made these dishes for my family.  Some became traditions that were served for every holiday.  Others were made for our everyday meals.  And then there are those that my kids now tell me they couldn't stand. Hey, maybe I'll pull a few of those out and invite them over for dinner! :-)

Most of my recipes aren't written on pretty recipe cards.  The majority of them are on scraps of paper such as the back side of a math test that my math-professor-dad had given to his students!  And the ones prepared most often are now food stained and splattered.  But you know what?  That makes them even more special to me. These little slips of paper record my family's history in a very unique and special way.

As I sorted through my overflowing folder, I came across some recipes that were written in my mother's own handwriting.  My heart always clenches when I see her handwriting and it doesn't seem like nearly twenty years since she left us. When I look at her flowing penmanship I can almost see her hand writing those words.

It was my mother's banana bread recipe that I was looking for, and while it is in my handwriting, I wrote it down as she dictated it to me. To be completely accurate, this was my grandmother's recipe. My maternal grandmother often came over to our house to help my mom clean.  And I have fond memories of walking into the house after school and smelling the sweet scent of banana bread that grandma had baked, cooling on the counter. I just made a loaf tonight and it's cooling on my counter right now.

Over the years, I have passed this recipe on to my daughter and daughter-in-law and now I'd love to pass it on to you. So, if you have a hankering for some delicious banana bread, I hope you will give it a try.  I'd be honored to include you in my recipes and memories! And let me know how you like it.

MY MOM'S BEST BANANA BREAD RECIPE
Preheat oven to 350 degreees

1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar, mixed brown and white
1 egg
2 cups flour
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 or 3 ripe bananas, cut up

Grease and flour a loaf pan.  Mix all ingredients with an electric mixer. Pour batter into the pan and bake for the first half an hour at 350 degrees.  Turn the oven down to 300 degrees for the last half an hour.  Use a toothpick to test if it is down by inserting the toothpick in the highest part of the loaf.  It should come out clean.  If it doesn't, bake a while longer and test again.  Let cool in the pan on a cooling rack for 10 minutes then loosen by running a knife around the edge of the pan and tipping the loaf out on to the cooling rack.  Yield:  one loaf.

(My daughter's friend, Jamie, gave us a tip that we always do now.  Before baking sprinkle some brown sugar on the top and gently press it into the batter.  It makes a delicious crunchy...if messy...topping!)

I wanted to include a picture of my lovely banana bread loaf, but Blogger wouldn't cooperate! :-(