A new cookbook and Banana Bread

I baked Banana bread yesterday. Its not the first time Ive made it of course but it is the first time I used this recipe. I am finding some interesting cookbooks at the Goodwill lately. This one is just one of those plastic ring bound types created as a fund raiser. This one is thru Eddie Bauer which has an outlet here. But I saw this Banana Bread recipe and thought Id like to try it. The problem with these types of recipes from all over that people send in is,  that they are not tested and I think are not even proofread. I saw many mistakes. But I made this one and added some salt to it too since I know most call for that. It makes two nice size loaves and the recipe doesn't say that either. I added a cup of choc. chips and a cup of pecans too. My bf just loved it. Its moist, rich and very tasty. Next time tho I think I might add one more banana to make the flavor more intense.

Banana Bread Makes 2 loaves

3/4 c. butter
3 eggs
3 really ripe bananas
2 tsp. vanilla
1 c. sour cream
1 1/2 c. sugar
2 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. b. soda
1 tsp. b. powder
1/2 tsp. salt

Opt.
1 c. chocolate chips
1 /2 c. chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Sift dry ingredients together and set aside. Mix all wet ingredients in a mixer. Slowly add dry ingredients into wet.  If adding opt. things stir into batter before putting into greased pans. I lined the pans with a strip of parchment paper that ran the length of the pan. This kept it from sticking but also helped remove the breads by lifting the strips once a knife was run along the sides of the pan after baking. Bake 45-60 min.

It was very moist and the recipe said 45min. It was not enough and I have a convection oven. So at that point if they still look very soft and jiggly, keep baking. Test  at the 1hr. point then and if stuck with a skewer or pick it comes out clean, its done. Let cool on a rack for a few min. then remove pans and finish cooling.

This bread is very moist and rich. I like this better than the other recipe I used long ago. While it doesn't have cinnamon in it like the other, I dont miss it in this. Perhaps if the chips and nuts were not used cinnamon might be a nice addition.

Cold Curried Banana Soup

I rarely eat cold soups but there was one I used to make for the restaurant I worked at. I never had a soup like this before and I fell madly in love with it. I ate this every single day we had it on the menu. And for a long time I was the only one in the place that knew how to make it. I left and came back to that job a couple yrs later. Someone mentioned it and the chef wanted to put it on the menu again but no one knew how...............hehehe except me. You see I would wander around that kitchen and make sure to write down the recipes for everything there that we made, that I just loved. Dont skip the mango chutney.....you will be sorry you did.

And so here's the recipe:

Curried Banana Soup

Oil
1 lg. onion, peeled and sliced
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
3 c. chicken stock
I 1/2 tsp. curry powder
4 bananas, peeled
Sour cream or creme fraiche
Mango Chutney
Toasted sliced almonds

Drizzle a bit of oil in a stock pot. Saute onions and garlic. Add all ingredients except last 3. Those will be your toppings. Cook 10 minutes , then puree the soup. Chill.

When ready to serve top cold soup with a dollop of sour cream, mango chutney and sprinkle on a few toasted almonds.

*The garlic is optional but not the onion. You want to saute them till soft.

BANANA SPLIT BIRTHDAY CAKE..

I made this for my sons 13th birthday party. Hes now almost 35yrs old and still talks about this cake. He wanted a toga party with his buddies and they wore those even in our hot tub! So in keeping with his decadent theme I made this cake. BTW they didn't get any plates. As in old Roman days I let them be pigs. I gave them each a fork and told 'em to eat up. They just loved it and it all went too!

First I baked a boat shaped cake like banana splits come in, sort of oval. I used double heavy duty aluminium foil to shape the pan and put it on a lg. baking sheet to support it. I used pound cake mix which I like to use for all my shaped cakes. I think I used two boxes of it for this. Pound cake is a bit sturdier and I figured would hold up longer under the huge amts. of ice cream.

Once it was baked I carefully peeled away the foil and put the cake on a big sheet pan with a lip around it (good for catching melting ice cream if they cant eat it fast enough!) I cut into it to make a lip around the edge so it would hold the melting ice cream inside mostly and took out a bit of the cake too. You do not want to go deep tho or you wont have a bottom to it. Reserve the cake to use in between the rest tho.

Next I scooped on lots of different kinds of ice cream and layered it with sliced bananas, nuts, chocolate fudge topping, caramel topping , strawberry topping, the reserved cake and whipped cream and cherries. If your freezer is big enough you can make it ahead of time and freeze it solid then take out to thaw and soften a bit before you top with whipped cream and cherries. Give the kids a fork and let em at it!

Sour Cream Banana Bread

I had some banana hanging around getting reallllllly ripe. When I was sick I sent my son to the store for me and told him to get some things for my grandsons lunch too. He came home with this huge bunch of bananas I knew we weren't going to eat. So today I decided since its cooler outside and I need to use up a few things, I'd bake. I found this recipe for what sounds like a really yummy banana bread and of course I can never leave a recipe alone so I tweaked it. I had some applesauce I wanted to use up from dinner the other nite and I found this paste vanilla from Traders Joes that I wanted to try. Its sort of syrupy and thick not like the usual extract and has bits of the vanilla in it too like when you use whole pods. Your supposed to be able to use it just like regular extract only it would be much more flavorful since you have the bits too.

So here is the recipe as I found it and changes I made will be in parentheses. The guys in this house pronounced it yummy!


BANANA SOUR CREAM BREAD MAKES 4LOAVES
1/4 c. white sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
3/4c. butter
3 c. white sugar (I substituted 1 c. for brown sugar)
3 eggs ( I used 4 because I added applesauce too)
6 very ripe mashed bananas
1 16 oz. container sour cream
(1 c. applesauce with cinnamon)
2 tsp. vanilla ( I used that new vanilla paste)
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
3 tsp. baking soda
4 1/2c. all purpose flour
1 c. chopped walnuts (I used chopped pecans)
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Grease 4 7x3in. pans. (I used 8x4in. pans) In a small bowl , stir together 1/4c. sugar with the 1 tsp. cinnamon. Dust pans lightly with the mixture.
In a large bowl, cream butter and 3 c. sugar.



Mix in mashed bananas, eggs, sour cream, vanilla and cinnamon.



Mix in salt, baking soda and flour.



Stir in nuts.



Divide into pans.



Bake 1hr. or till toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from pans and cool.

Its darker than what you expect for banana bread because of the brown sugar. I added that because I didnt have enough white sugar here. The bread is very moist tho. I do not see much point in dusting the pans with cinnamon sugar. I can only taste a bit on the edges not enough to me to warrent added extra sugar to a dish with quite a bit of it in already. Next time I think Ill skip it, considering theres plenty of cinnamon in it already. I also think I would add double the amt. of nuts in it as I dont think there is enough for 4 loaves for my taste. The men in this house just loved it tho and one took a whole loaf to share with the guys at work.