Banana Bread

I baked a loaf of Banana Bread today using a recipe that I got from my little cookbook, OUR BEST HOME COOKING.  The recipes in this book are submitted by local residents around our area, and this one was submitted by Lillian McGuire and it's my favorite banana bread recipe.

BANANA BREAD

1 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter or margarine
2 c. flour
3 Tbsp. sour cream
1 c. walnut meats, chopped

3 bananas, crushed
2 eggs
1 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Mix and sift dry ingredients and set aside.  Cream butter and sugar, Add eggs, creamed bananas, sour cream, nuts and flour.  Beat well.  Pour into greased bread tin.  Bake one hour at 325 f degrees.  If you wish to use self-rising flour, omit soda and salt.

Working Together

This afternoon we're working together to breakup the ice in our driveway and getting ready for another winter blast later on in the week.

Jimmy breaks up the ice and my job is to scrape it off to the sides and over the bank.  Maybe the sun will do the rest.  In the last few years we are lucky to have snow that has lasted until the next day.  Usually the snow is gone by the afternoon, but this year we weren't expecting the snow to stay so we didn't shovel it off the driveway and as everyone drove over it, it turned to ice.

One of our neighbors started this effort one morning around 4:30 a.m. when he couldn't get his truck out of the driveway to get to work.  A relative of his went out to help him try to dig out followed by Jimmy.  The neighbor, after an hour of digging and trying to put lumbar underneath his wheels finally managed to get his truck straightened out enough to be able to back it back down the sloping driveway.  With his relative on the main road as a lookout for on-coming traffic, he was able to get some momentum and keep right on going.

The main roads are clear but many people are still trapped in their homes because of ice covered driveways, and there are still many side roads that haven't even been touched by snow plows yet.  We're getting a little break in the weather this week with temperatures barely above freezing and tomorrow it's expected to rain making already icy roads and driveways much icier.

I've been baking and freezing what can be frozen for Christmas day when all the kids, grandchildren and great-grandchildren will be here.  Today I should have all the Christmas cookies finished and tomorrow I will start on candy making.  I make two kinds of fudge, peanut-butter and chocolate, and Jimmy will make his old fashioned fudge, then it will be time to go shopping for our food for Christmas day.  I will be making a couple main dishes from scratch, and lots of little tidbits to eat and snack on throughout the day.  I can't wait to see everyone again.  It's always nice having the kids drop in and out all day long on Christmas day and I'm really looking forward to it.  Christmas is my favorite holiday of the year and I hope that I have time to make everything that I want to make.  Merry Christmas Everyone.  

I ran out of bananas

I was in the baking mood and my bananas had ripened perfectly, so I decided it was time to bake some Banana Nut Bread.   About 5 minutes after my first loaf came out of the oven company arrived.  It was Sharon, Anita and Ron.  Goodbye banana bread.

But isn't that what the holiday season is all about?  You bake and hope that your friends and family will stop by to see you so that you can offer them some of your baked goodies.  I wish I would have had more to offer, but I was just getting started.  I baked a second loaf this evening and was one banana short of getting to bake a third loaf.  I think that tomorrow I'll send Jimmy on a banana run, or I'll switch to baking Christmas cookies instead....or maybe I'll make some fudge while we're snowed in.
Oh yes....haven't you heard?  We're supposed to get a snowstorm tonight or tomorrow.  Rain changing to snow with accumulation.  I'm hoping the weatherman will be wrong because I'm expecting company.

Drive safely and take your time.

 

I'm Dreaming Of A White Christmas / Bing Crosby

Last night I stood out on my back steps and watched the snow as it was coming down. The snowflakes were HUGE, some of the BIGGEST I've seen in a while...it was beautiful.

By this morning we had about 3 inches of snow that is quickly melting with our warm temps of 47 degrees. It's nothing but slush out there right now. The snow fell straight down, there wasn't any wind to cause any snowdrifts...I think snowdrifts give snow character. I love blowing snow, but I'm thankful that it didn't blow this time because of the light shades that we lined our front porch with to keep the snow off of the cats warm spot. The bamboo shades are no match for blowing wind and we haven't quite figured out what to do to keep the shades from blowing around other than taking them down when it's windy. We really don't want to build a frame because if we do that we might as well enclose the porch and sometimes I think that might not be such a bad idea. Then the cats would have a nice cozy place to get out of the rain & snow.

This is the first year that the cats have remained on the front porch when the weather is cold. They usually find warm places out of the weather under our buildings even though I always lined a chair & the porch swing with pillows covered by warm afghans. They would lay there in the daytime, but when the cold bitter nighttime air came they'd disappear off to their warm spots wherever that might be. They would leave because the blowing snow would blow in on top of them.

This year I tried something different. Under the afghans I put an electric warming throw and they now remain there all night long. Their spots are toasty warm and the outdoor cats all pile up on top of each other now fighting for a spot on the warm blanket. I was never able to get these cats to lay together for warmth, and now I can't get them apart.

Today is a good day to make Christmas cookies, bake banana nut bread and perhaps even make the chocolate and peanut-butter fudge for Christmas. I already baked some of Reva's favorite cookies last night and I'll be baking more because Jimmy got into them...bad boy, but he loves them too and that's why it's so much fun baking them. Petey , our kitten, even managed to steal one of the cookies off of Jimmy's plate, and he's a bad boy too.

Speaking of bad boys...

Petey is getting into EVERYTHING. He's found the refrigerator magnets and no matter how high you put them, he works until he gets them down. He's the jumping-est cat we've ever had and he loves to steal your socks during the night. Gotta go....I hear the magnets hitting the floor and if I don't get there quick he takes them and hides them never to be seen again.