Tried and True.....My First Cookbook is Still the Best.....

Tried and True.....My First Cookbook is Still the Best.....

I scanned in the cover of the book, but not being terribly savvy on the PC, I at least got half of it.  Originally published in 1982 in hardback form, the book is now available as a paperback from Sunset Books. I bought this book when I had my first apartment at Hudson's where I worked at the time. It's amazingly still available at Amazon.com. I ordered it earlier today to see if it has the same recipes and food information that my copy contains. (See the link below) Well, wonders never cease...

My son, Dane, is probably the pickiest eater on the planet, so I am constantly searching for healthier food choices for him. More specifically, food that is not in the "processed meat and mac-n-cheese food group."  Last week, I saw four pitiful bananas sitting on my counter and I was determined that they would not go to waste. I searched my cookbooks for something fun to do with them and came up with a few that were kind of fancy and probably wouldn't appeal to "HRH." My mom had been successful in making a banana cake Dane liked, but I wasn't sure if he'd venture away from the comfort of something Grandma Jo made.

THEN....I pulled out old "Tried and True," and took a chance Dane would like the banana bread recipe in my very first cookbook. The recipe was so easy and required just basic ingredients aside from the four pitiful, mushy "nanners" I had.

SCORE!!! Dane LOVED the bread!  He commented that it smelled "awesome" as it baked in the oven and couldn't wait to try a piece when it was finished baking.  He ate it warm and came back for more.  I have to admit, it was delicious and incredibly moist with four bananas added, versus the three the recipe called for.  Plus I sprinkled a tiny bit of sugar and cinnamon on the top before baking it - but not too much, though.  So here it is.....and some "Geeky Stuff" to follow.

ENJOY!

Banana Bread

• 3 - 4 ripe bananas
• 1 cup sugar  - plus 1 tsp. to dust the top of the bread before baking
• 1 egg
• 4 - 5 tbsp. soft margarine or butter - I used real butter
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• Dash cinnamon
• PAM

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.  Spray a 9x5 loaf pan and set aside.  In a large bowl, stir together the flour, salt, and baking powder.  Add the melted butter and egg.  Peel the soft ripe bananas and cut into small slices and add them to the bowl. Stir the bananas until the flour is moistened.  I used an electric mixer to speed up the process. 

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Pour the batter into the loaf pan and lightly sprinkle a teaspoon of sugar over the top and a dash of cinnamon. Bake in the preheated oven for about 55 - 60 minutes, or until a fork inserted into middle comes out clean.  Using a knife, gently release the bread from the sides of the pan and remove the bread, placing the loaf on a cooling rack. Don't leave it in the pan as the heat from the pan will continue to "bake" the bread. Viola! Banana Bread fit for HRH Dane!!!

Here's the link to Amazon.com for the softbound version of my cookbook.



And Now for the "Geeky Stuff".....

Banana History
Bananas are the fruit of Musa acuminata. Acuminata means long-pointed or tapering, not referring to the fruit, but to the flowers giving birth to the fruit.


Antonius Musa was the personal physician to Roman emperor Octavius Augustus, and it was he who was credited for promoting cultivation of the exotic African fruit from 63 to 14 B.C.

Portugese sailors brought bananas to Europe from West Africa in the early fifteenth century. Its Guinean name banema, which became banana in English, was first found in print in the seventeenth century. The original banana has been cultivated and used since ancient times, even pre-dating the cultivation of rice. While the banana thrived in Africa, its origins are said to be of East Asia and Oceania.   The banana was carried by sailors to the Canary Islands and the West Indies, finally making it to North America with Spanish missionary Friar Tomas de Berlanga.

Sweet bananas are mutants!!!
These historical bananas were not the sweet yellow banana we know today, but the red and green cooking variety, now usually referred to as plantains to distinguish them from the sweet type.



The yellow sweet banana is a mutant strain (Wow! "Mutant Strain??" I better not tell Dane!!)of the cooking banana, discovered in 1836 by Jamaican Jean Francois Poujot, who found one of the banana trees on his plantation was bearing yellow fruit rather than green or red. Upon tasting the new discovery, he found it to be sweet in its raw state, without the need for cooking. He quickly began cultivating this sweet variety.


Soon they were being imported from the Caribbean to New Orleans, Boston, and New York, and were considered such an exotic treat, they were eaten on a plate using a knife and fork. Sweet bananas were all the rage at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, selling for a hefty ten cents each.

Bananas are Herbs!!!  and Other Facts

• Although referred to as banana trees, they are not trees at all but a perennial herb. Its trunk is not a true one, but many leaves tightly wrapped around a single stem which emerges at the top as the fruit-bearing flower stalk.

• The fruit fingers grow in clumps known as hands, since they resemble a hand with fingers. The entire stalk, known as a bunch, takes up to a year for the fruit to ripen enough to be harvested. The original stem dies after producing fruit, but side shoots rise from the same underground corm to produce a new plant to be harvested the following year. The fruit itself is sterile, unable to produce a plant from the minuscule dark seeds within.

• Some banana trees continue producing up to one hundred years (Wow, again!), although most banana plantations renew their stock every ten to twenty-five years.

• The tree itself also has uses. The leaves are used as wrappers to steam foods in Latin, Caribbean, and Asian cultures. The banana flower is also edible, but if you eat the flower, you obviously won't get any fruit.

• The banana is a distant cousin to ginger, turmeric, and cardamom, and is botanically classified as a berry.

• There are over four hundred varieties of bananas with the yellow Cavendish being the most favored in America. Americans consume an annual average of twenty-five pounds of bananas per person. Bananas are the world's best-selling fruit, outranking the apple and orange.

Bananas Can Help with Hangovers!!! Yep, it's true!!

Bananas can help cure or prevent hangovers. The main causes of hangovers are dehydration and depletion of potassium, both direct results of alcohol consumption. Bananas are an excellent source of potassium (second only to the avocado) with over 450 mg. per one banana serving, as well as being high in magnesium, which can help relax those pounding blood vessels causing that nasty hangover headache.

Bananas also contain tryptophan, the same amino acid found in turkey that makes you sleepy, as well as high amounts of vitamin C. So, if you're out partying and want to avoid a hangover, drink sixteen ounces of water and eat a banana before heading for bed for a good night's sleep.