Wlydhare's Hollow

Baking Up Some Comfort and Memories

I savor the lulls in my busy schedule when I have a bit of time to bake. There is something about the the smell of vanilla and the softness of sifted flour, the anticipation of tasting goodies still warm from the oven.

Some of my favorite recipes are the ones my passed down from my mom. Smelling them cooking brings back all sorts of happy memories. She bakes so many good things: cakes, cookies.. oh and her chocolate cream pie that my sister asked for each year for her birthday, instead of a cake! But of all of the things she made, my favorite was banana nut bread.

 
I was in my early teens when I asked her to give me the recipe so I could try making it myself. Fortunately, I have since learned to spell flour properly!

It is important to use nice and ripe bananas, to give the sweetness needed. I also use double the banana listed in the recipe, to make the bread extra moist.

It is also important to make it in my mom's antique mixing bowl, which she passed on to me in my mid 20's. All the yummy things which have been mixed in it, have seasoned it for perfect baking. Hey, that's my story, and I am sticking to it.

 
Oh and the walnuts... the recipe says to use 3/4 of a cup. Ha! You can't have too many walnuts in banana nut bread and of course you need some sprinkled on top for looks!

 
How much is that? 1/2 cup? 3/4 of a cup? I don't know, but it looks right! Oh, and since I have tweaked the recipe a bit, it often needs to cook longer. I use a strand of uncooked spaghetti pushed into the cooked loaf. If it comes out "clean" the bread is done, if it has batter on it, keep it in the oven longer.

 
In case you would like to try, here is the recipe:

   3 cups of Bisquick

   2/3 cup of sugar

   1/3 cup flour

   1 mashed banana (I double and use two bananas)

   1 egg

   1/2 cup milk

   3/4 cup of chopped walnuts (or how ever many you like!)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil a bread pan. Combine everything except the walnuts and stir vigorously till mixed. Add walnuts, holding aside a handful to sprinkle on top.

Pour into pan and sprinkle remaining chopped walnuts on top. Bake 55-60 minutes.

Cool on a rack before removing the bread from the pan. Enjoy!

Mmm, time to find some cool sweetened butter to spread on a nice thick slice! 

Turkey Time is Coming

Busy, busy, busy! So many things to do before we head off to Indiana on Saturday to see my mother and youngest sister. Then off to the Chicago to see my father and middle sister. My dad's birthday falls on Thanksgiving this year, so it will be a double celebration!

Meanwhile, there are so many things going on this week. I promised to make cupcakes for the parent association meeting at the girl's school. I thought it would be fun to make the 
m festive.

It was so hard to not snack! But I am on Weight Watchers with my dear husband and I am determined to support him (and lose some weight myself.) Mmmm, chocolate and candy and icing!

 

Will you adopt me???

And soon there was a full flock!

Today is also special because it is my husband's birthday. He is not just my husband, but my soul mate, muse, rock and best friend! He received very silly cards that had all of us laughing, tissue paper and gifts, and carefully saved up Weight Watcher points so there could be cake! My self-control with the turkey cupcakes was rewarded! Happy Birthday Joe!

Vintage Cookbook Freebie

I enjoy vintage books and magazines and recently acquired a nice stack of an older children's magazine from the 1940s and 50s called Children's Activities.It has really been a delight to go through and it has the most charming projects, graphics, stories and paper-dolls. I hope to scan and share a lot of it, over time. Since it is long since out of print, I believe it does not violate any copyright laws to share this with others. If you know otherwise, please let me know.

The first thing I would like to share is a children's cookbook. Each month during 1955, for one year, various parts of the cookbook were printed in each issue, so by the end of the year you had the whole cookbook. In addition, the recipes for a given month often tied into holidays and events for that time of year, like an Easter supper, or summer buffet. The instructions are really clear and the recipes are things I think most kids in the 10-12 year old range could not only make, but would enjoy eating!

The magazine's cookbook was written by Alma S. Lach and was designed and illustrated by Ed and Barbara Fitzgerald, and is called Let's Cook.

The file is a PDF file, which means you will need a copy of Adobe Reader to open it. This is a free program and can be downloaded here, if you do not already have a copy.

Many of these pages were literally yellow with age and crumbling to pieces, I ran each page through graphic software to try to remove the yellowing and clean up the tears and imperfections as best as possible.

Download lets_cook.pdf

  I hope you enjoy!