Sourdough Banana Bread

I have recently endeavored to make my own sourdough starter and have for the most part been using the King Arthur Flour website for all my recipes. However, one of the kids recently asked me to make banana bread from some of the brown bananas on the counter and I wondered if there was a sourdough recipe. Voila! I found this lovely recipe from Cultures for Health. I have so far made if from discard, but tonight I am making it with actual starter. We shall see how it goes!

Nana Wee's Banana Bread

This recipe is from my friend Dawn (aka Egg Basket) and her grandmother Wee. It is fantastic and I highly recommend it. I wish I had taken a picture of it fresh out of the oven yesterday. I wish I could some how affix the aroma of it to the internet.

Ingredients
1/2 cup Crisco
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 ripe bananas
3 heaping Tablespoons sour cream
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
2 cups sifted flour
1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup chopped nuts.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a 9x5x3 pan. 
2. In a large bowl, cream the Crisco and sugar. 
3. Beat in the eggs. 
4. Add bananas and mix. 
5. Add sour cream and mix. 
6. Add lemon juice and mix.
7. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. 
8. Add the flour mixture to the banana mixture and mix until the flour is damp. 
9. Fold in the nuts.
10. Pour into greased and floured baking dish. 
11. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes. Enjoy. 

Bread and Butter Pickles

I finally made a recipe for these that worked! It is straight out of my Ball jar book. I am excited to have enough of them to give away this year. The best part is that when they were done and I started to can them, the family was outside working or playing on a cool October afternoon. So I decided to bring a warm ladle outdoors for everyone to try.

Who knew that warm pickles had a spot to be hit!? It was PERFECT!
Even the baby loved them, and yes he is wearing his big brother's batting helmet.

Bread and Butter Pickles
*I doubled the recipe the first time I made it and it was perfect!

Ingredients
4 pounds 4 to 6 inch cucumbers, cut into slices
2 pounds onions, about 8 small, thinly sliced
1/3 cup canning salt
2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons mustard seed
2 teaspoons turmeric
2 teaspoons celery seed
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon peppercorns
3 cups vinegar

Process

1. If you plan to use a hot water canner, fill it with clean jars and water and bring to a boil.
2. Combine cucumber and onion slices in layers in a bowl. Layer with the salt.
   
3. Cover with ice cubes. Let stand 1.5 hours (or more).
4. Pour into colander.
5. Drain. Rinse. Drain. Rinse. Repeat if necessary and turn batch with your hands. You don't want them to be too salty! Put aside.
   
6. Combine remaining ingredients in a large sauce pot and bring to a boil.
   
7. Add drained cucumbers and onions and return to a boil.
   
8. Pack hot pickles and liquid into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space. (warm pickles made a great snack on an autumn afternoon!)
   
9. Remove air bubbles. Adjust 2 piece caps.
   
10. Process 10 minutes at a rolling boil in hot water canner.
    
11. Yields about 7 pints.
    

Enjoy!

Banana Bread

For such a simple standard recipe, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw one of the ingredients. I kept thinking, "This must be a typo!"But when I looked closer I realized there was no oil or shortening listed. Kristen helped me put it all together and sure enough such a think does exist called spry. This fact clearly dates this recipe as originating sometime between the 1930's and 1970's. My belief is that is has been outdone by Crisco.

To quote my lovely Wiki, "Spry was a brand of vegetable shortening produced by Lever Brothers starting in 1936. It was a competitor for Proctor & Gamble's Crisco, and through aggressive marketing through its mascot Aunt Jenny had reached 75 percent of Crisco's market share. The marketing efforts were phased out in the 1950s, but Aunt Jenny and her quotes like With Spry, we can afford to have cake oftener! have been reprinted in books such as James Lilek's Gallery of Regrettable Food. Though the product is discontinued there are anecdotal reports of it being used through the 1970s."

Aunt jenny is pictured above. It's fun to know that that face was a contemporary of many women in my family. Without further ado, here is Mima's Banana Bread

Ingredients:
1/2 cup spry (* my guess is today you would use Crisco*)
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
3 bananas (but Mom wrote in 4)
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup nut meal (*I use crushed or ground nuts*)

Process:
Mix in Given order and bake in moderate oven for 40 minutes.

*to me a moderate over is 350 degrees.