• My favorite banana bread…

    July 6, 2013 / 6 Comments

    From November 1980 – November 1990, I worked as a Child Psych RN at an inpatient facility for children – both a heart-wrenching and immensely rewarding experience.  I worked with an amazing staff there and, from time to time, we would celebrate an event at the hospital with a potluck meal.  One particular nurse would always bring this absolutely delicious banana bread – filled with small chunks of banana, crushed pineapple and fragrant cinnamon.  She adamantly refused to share the recipe!  Bear in mind that this was before the days of the world-wide-web and search engines.  She promised that if she ever left she would share the recipe with all of us.  The day finally came that she turned in her resignation due to her husband’s job transfer.  I must admit I said “we’ll miss you” but (secretly) couldn’t wait to get my hands on the recipe!  As promised, she did, indeed, share the recipe with us before she left.

    And I, of course, shared it with anyone who wanted it…

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    Favorite Banana Bread

    3 cups all-purpose flour

    2 cups sugar

    1 teaspoon soda

    1 teaspoon salt

    1 teaspoon cinnamon

    1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

    3 eggs, beaten

    1 & 1/4 cup vegetable oil

    2 cups mashed ripe bananas

    1 (15 & 1/4 oz.) can crushed pineapple, DRAINED

    2 teaspoons vanilla

    Combine the dry ingredients.  Stir in (optional) nuts and set aside.

    Combine the remaining ingredients and add to the dry ingredients – stirring just until moistened.

    Spray 3 loaf pans (9 x 5 x 3) with Baker’s Joy (or similar product).

    Makes small loaves.

    For larger loaves, use two loaf pans.

    Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 45 minutes – 1 hour based on pan size and oven.  Just watch closely.

    Enjoy and feel free to share the recipe!  😉

  • A journey to bread…

    July 5, 2013 / 3 Comments

    Years ago, I had a friend who had a “bread ministry”.  Several times each week, Pat baked at least six to nine loaves of bread at one time. A few of the loaves she kept for her family. The rest of the loaves went to friends and strangers…who soon became friends as we did.  After our move to Kentucky, she and her husband were  among our first friends there.  We first met on a Wednesday night at the church supper where Pat presented my husband and me with a loaf of freshly baked sourdough bread.  She gladly shared the recipe with me, and it was not until I actually made the bread that I realized what a gift of time she gave.

    We moved away several years after that and, over the coarse of time, lost touch.  The recipe was also lost over the years.  In the course of moving into my condo in the Midwest, I found Pat’s recipe!  I’m looking forward to making fresh loaves of bread again – that look just like the ones I made a few years ago below.  

    When you begin this journey to bread, keep in mind that it will be several days before you’re enjoying that first slice of delicious sourdough bread with butter…and maybe some delicious homemade jam.  It will take patience to wait long enough for the starter to have developed enough to bake your first loaf of bread.  In the meantime, you’ll faithfully feed your new starter and take care of it.  It will be worth it.

    When “baking day” finally arrives, your home will be filled with the inviting aroma of freshly baked bread.  Golden loaves of wonderful sourdough bread will reward you for waiting…patiently or not.

     Sourdough Bread Starter

    3 packages yeast

    1 cup warm water

    Combine the above ingredients and refrigerate, covered, for 3 – 5 days.  

    Remove starter from the refrigerator and feed with the following starter feed:

    3/4 cup sugar

    3 tablespoons instant potato flakes

    1 cup warm water

    Mix well and add to starter.

    Let stand out of refrigerator all day (5 to 12 hours).

    Mixture will be very bubbly.

    Take out 1 cup to make bread and return starter to refrigerator.

    Keep in refrigerator 3 – 5 days and feed again.

    If not making bread after feeding starter,

    throw away (or share with a friend) 1 cup to avoid depleting starter.

     sch_noitems_leaf

     Sourdough Bread

    1/3 cup sugar

    1/2 cup Crisco vegetable oil

    2 level teaspoons salt

    1 cup starter (potato flakes fed)

    1 & 1/2 cups warm water

    6 cups all-purpose bread flour

     In a large bowl, make a stiff batter of the above ingredients.

    Grease another large bowl and put dough in and turn over (oily side up). 

    Cover with foil and let stand over night.  Do not refrigerate.

    Next morning, punch the dough down and knead a little.

    Divide into 3 equal parts and knead each part on floured surface 8 – 10 times.

    Put into greased pans and brush with oil.  Cover and let rise 4 – 5 hours.  All day is okay.

    Bake at 350 degrees for 30 – 40 minutes (depending on your oven).

    Remove and brush with butter.  Cool on rack.  Wrap well and store. 

    Bread may be frozen

    Makes three loaves. 

     

    Parts of this post were originally published in My Southern Heart…but this post contains Pat’s original recipe.

  • Memories of the Fourth of July…

    July 4, 2013 / 1 Comment

    When my three sisters and I began our family history search ( inspired and instigated by my oldest sister Dot), we made several family history journeys…with so much laughter and fun as the four of us traveled together.  Sometimes, my niece Sharon accompanied us and there was even more laughter.  One of those trips was to Jackson, Mississippi, where we spent the day in the Mississippi archives.  Another search took us to Pontotoc  County, Mississippi, where Mama and Daddy were both born.  There, we visited both the library and the dusty archives of the small town newspaper.  Most of the articles were not on microfiche or anything more updated, so we searched through dozens of large leather-bound journals containing newspapers from many decades ago. 

    We would get so excited whenever we found an article about our family.  One such article was written about Mama’s Fourth of July birthday party held at their home.  From the date, they would not have been married very long.  It described the menu (including homemade ice cream – or “cream” as Daddy called it.  Year after year, there was a twofold celebration…Mama’s birthday and our nation’s independence. 

    As the years rolled by and we daughters were born, the celebration continued.  As we grew up, got married and had families, the celebration continued.  Every year, the family gathered for a picnic and cookout with all the trimmings in her honor. In later years, it was held at my oldest sister Dot’s house because she had a swimming pool. Memphis is hot in the summertime and the kids loved the pool. Dot would bake a large chocolate sheet cake with a hint of cinnamon and a delicious chocolate icing. Sometimes, she’d decorate the top. It was so very good. My mouth waters just remembering. With the cake, there would be homemade vanilla ice cream, usually my sister Gerry’s specialty. Before dessert, of course, there would be delicious grilled hamburgers, baked beans, potato salad and other wonderful dishes. In later years, we’d sometimes order Memphis barbeque at its best – from Corky’s.

    These will always be my memories of the Fourth of July…my dear parents, my sisters, my precious family.  I have no doubt they are celebrating in Heaven today.  Happy Birthday, Mama… 

     

    Below:  the McGregor girls at one of Mama’s Fourth of July birthay parties…

     

     

     Below:  Dianne and Gerry at Mama’s 4th of July birthday party at Dot’s house. About 1990.

     

    Below are just a few of the members of my large family.  I need to dig through all my photos and scan the rest!  I faithfully took my Pentax K1000 to every single function we had.  Everybody teasingly complained then.  Now, they are glad for a bit of history captured on film.

     Below:  My sister Gerry and my niece Sharon about 1982.  Mama’s Fourth of July birthday party at Sharon’s house.

      

    Below:  my oldest, my great-niece Dawn and my niece Gina

     

    Below:  my sister Dot and her husband Tom…late 80’s.

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     Below:  my sister Eunice and her husband Eddie.

     

    Bill and me at a Fourth of July birthday party for Mama…early 90’s.

     

    Below:  my sister Gerry at another Fourth of July at Dot’s house… 

     

     Below:  three of my nieces at Dot’s house…late 80’s.

     

    Below:  Mama’s Fourth of July birthday party at my niece Sharon’s house – about 1983. 

    My youngest is in the “firetruck” and my great-nephew is on his bike. 

     

     Below:  my oldest two with their “Mamaw”…about 1990…at Dot’s house.

      

     

    Below:  my sister Gerry and her husband, my niece and her son (who is now in his third year of medical school!)

     

     

    My niece…Gerry’s older daughter.  I wish you could hear her play the piano…

      

     

  • The time between…

    July 3, 2013 / 1 Comment

    I first picked up one of Karen White’s books in an airport gift shop on a flight a couple of years ago.  It was going to be a long flight and I needed something new and different.  I needed an author and a book that I had never read before to keep my mind off of my newly acquired dislike of flying.  I found The Beach Trees.  It totally held my interest as I flew South from the Pacific Northwest.

    Last night, I finished Karen’s newest book, The Time Between, set mostly on Edisto Island in the beautiful South Carolina lowcountry.  There aren’t many writers who can move me to tears – or laughter – with the written word, but Karen did both in this book.

    I also remembered the happy time spent with my husband and youngest child on Edisto Island many years ago.

     

    Here is the inside cover synopsis of The Time Between, just in case you’re interested in a good read…

    “New York Times bestselling author Karen White delivers a novel of two generations of sisters and secrets set in the stunning South Carolina lowcountry.”

    “Eleanor Murray will always remember her childhood on Edisto Island, where her late father, a local shrimper, shared her passion for music.  Now her memories of him are all that tempers the guilt she feels over the accident that put her sister in a wheelchair – and the feelings she harbors for her sister’s husband.

    To help support her sister, Eleanor works at a Charleston investment firm during the day, but she escapes into her music, playing piano at a neighborhood bar.  Until the night her enigmatic boss walks in and offers her a part-time job caring for his elderly aunt Helena back on Edisto.  For Eleanor, it’s a chance to revisit the place where she was her happiest – and to share her love of music with grieving Helena, whose sister recently died under mysterious circumstances.

    An island lush with sweetgrass and salt marshes, Edisto has been a peaceful refuge for Helena, who escaped with her sister from war-torn Hungary in 1944.  The sisters were well-known on the island, there they volunteered in their church and community.  But now Eleanor will finally learn the truth about their past:  secrets that will help heal her relationship with her own sister – and set Eleanor free…”

     

    I remember the Botany Bay road below.  An amazing place…

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    Edisto Island images here.  Photos above from the Edisto Island, S.C. promotional site.

  • Seeing is believing…

    July 1, 2013 / 5 Comments

    The condo that I live in was built in the 1980’s.  For the most part, it has been updated except for a few things – one of those thing is the bathtub which is original.  I have been able to clean it just fine with the exception of the little “circles” embedded within the bottom of the cast iron tub – circles which were probably designed for traction.   No matter what I have used – and I have tried everything – the little circles would not come totally clean.

    I “squeegee” the tile after every single shower to keep it spotless, so the bottom of the tub was driving me crazy!  I have even tried all the “homemade” cleansers.  Nothing worked.  Absolutely nothing.

    I was at the grocery store today and came across these large Mr. Clean Magic Eraser “bath scrubbers”.  I believe the price was $3.19 for two sponges.  Probably cheaper where you live – groceries and supplies are expensive here.

    When I returned home, I tried it and couldn’t believe it.  It worked!  Granted, I was using some elbow power – just as I had with all the other products – but it worked.

    The little white circles are finally clean!  😉

    Please note:  I am so NOT being paid for this endorsement!  It’s just a “public service announcement” to help anyone else faced with trying to get those little white circles clean.

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  • Blue skies & a perfect Summer day…

    June 28, 2013 / 6 Comments

    If you could paint a picture of the perfect Summer day, today would have been it. 82 degrees. Blue skies – the absolutely perfect shade of blue. Snow white cotton clouds scattered here and about across the blue. Bright sunshine. Vivid green trees and grass. A constant breeze. It was going to be a fun day and I was up at 6:30 a.m. looking forward to it.

    I met my daughter and her four children (ages 15 – 4) at the YMCA at 9:00 a.m. They had been there since before 7:00 a.m. for my grandchildren who swim competitively to practice for two hours.  They do this each weekday morning.  They all get up at the crack of dawn!  I got into my daughter’s van and we headed to a small nearby town where she has “rented” a 40′ x 40′ garden space from a nursery there.

    I know I have mentioned my daughter’s drive and energy in previous posts, but sometimes I am amazed.  She takes care of their large (5 bedroom – 5 bathroom) home, does laundry for their family of six, cooks totally from scratch and mostly organic (think even grinding her own flour), homeschools my grandchildren (although they have taken a few classes at the local school),  maintains large flower beds all around their home, puts up homemade jams, takes care of a garden in their backyard which includes vegetables, raspberries, strawberries and blackberries AND now has a large garden space she is renting out from a nursery!  She hopes to “feed their family for a year” with all the produce.  She has purchased organic beef and pork for their freezer as well.  (I remember my Mama commenting on my energy when I was about my daughter’s age.  I confess it isn’t there anymore!)

    My daughter had spent a few days over the last couple of weeks getting the garden in shape and it looks great!  Some of the surrounding plots belonging to others – not so much!  Today, she harvested some tender ripe squash and fresh spinach to go along with their dinner tonight.

    Roses in my daughter’s flower beds…

    Flowers in the front yard…just barely past their prime.

    Raspberries in the backyard…

    Above and below:  at the 40′ x 40′ garden plot.

    All the plants were thriving and looked very healthy. 

    Part of it is that my daughter grew all of these plants from

    HEIRLOOM seeds in the basement under grow lights! 

    Part of it is this rich Midwest soil.  

    Below:  Come Autumn, there will be PUMPKINS!

     

     

    Afterwards, we drove around the small town and dropped by a few garage sales.  My 4 year old grandson scored his first bike – a bright blue and lime green bicycle that looked new for $10!  Then we stopped by the local Fareway grocery where my daughter picked up her order of organic milk. She buys something like 18 half-gallons at the time and they give her a great price!  They drink a lot of milk.  We stopped by the YMCA for me to pick up my car and then I met them at their house for a pizza lunch.

    Last stop before heading home – and by that time I was tired – was the library to pick up the books that I had on hold there.  All in all, it was the perfect Summer morning…complete with blue skies.