Oatmeal Banana Bread

1/4 c. shortening
1/4 c. butter, softened
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. oatmeal (the first time, I used quick-cooking rolled oats, but I was out for the second batch, so I used Coach’s Oats. They worked just fine)
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
3 very ripe bananas
1/4 c. milk

Preheat oven to 350°. Spray a 8½ x 4½” loaf pan with nonstick spray.

Cream together the shortening, butter, and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until fluffy.

In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

In a ziplock bag, mash the bananas until uniform. Add the milk and mush it into the bananas.

Add half the dry ingredients to the sugar and butter mixture, scrape the bowl, and then add half the banana mixture. Repeat. Mix gently until blended.

Pour into the pan, and bake for 50-60 minutes until a butter knife inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Ish. You may get some banana on it, but no batter.

Remove it from the oven and cover the pan with aluminum foil for 5-10 minutes. Remove the loaf from the pan and serve hot or let it cool down.

You can add raisins, walnuts, or dried blueberries – just fold them in just before you pour the batter into the pan.

Makes 1 loaf.

Banana Pancakes

3 tablespoons butter
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups milk
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
3 ripe bananas

Melt the butter in a microwave-safe dish in the microwave (I use a pyrex measuring cup). Whisk together the eggs and milk in a big bowl until completely mixed (all one color, with no strands of egg).

In another bowl, mix the rest of the ingredients together. Add the (now slightly cooled) butter to the milk and eggs, and then add the dry ingredients and whisk together. You don’t want to stir it too much, or you’ll end up with rubbery pancakes. Just get the big lumps out – little lumps are okay. Let the batter sit for 10-15 minutes. Near the end of that sitting time, start heating up a big, flat frying pan on medium on the stove, or use an electric skillet to 350°.

Peel and slice the bananas about 1/4″ thick and gently fold them into the batter.

Spray the pan with nonstick spray (I like the butter flavor), and use a ladle to drop batter onto the skillet. You’ll thank yourself at turning time if you make a bunch of smaller pancakes instead of a few big ones. Watch the pancake – when the bubbles at the edges start leaving little holes when they pop, it’s time to turn the pancake. Cook until golden on the bottom side, too, and then put them on a plate tented with foil until they are all done.

Serve with butter and real maple syrup.

Makes about 16 4-5″ pancakes. (Try as I might, I cannot seem to make cute little silver dollar pancakes. I blame it on the bananas.)

This is a great recipe to get the kids to help with. They can measure, mix, slice bananas (with a butter knife), and help watch the bubbles if your kitchen is set up in such a way that there’s a safe place for them to sit while watching the stove.

*We went off-menu yesterday, too. Seems my boys don’t like Hamburger Helper, and my teen doesn’t like cooking it. Looks like I’ll be taking the box of Hamburger Helper to the food bank.

For four pieces of French toast:

2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
Four slices bread – day old bread is best
Powdered sugar (to taste)
Jam or real maple syrup

Spray a skillet with nonstick spray and heat it to medium high heat. Beat 2 eggs in a bowl until no longer separated at all. Add milk, cinnamon, and vanilla (I use Vanilla Bean Crush from King Arthur Flour – I cannot tell you how amazingly tasty this stuff is, and how much it adds to your cooking and baking). Beat until as homogeneous as you can get it (the cinnamon kind of clumps around the top – I just deal with it, but if it bothers you, Baker’s Banter has a tip to fix that problem).

Dip each piece of bread in the batter for a few seconds and turn it over and let the other side soak for a few more seconds, and then put it in the hot pan. (I use tongs.) Once you’ve got all the slices in the pan, the first slice is probably ready to turn – take a peek and see if it’s golden brown. Once they’ve all been turned and cooked until done, put them on a plate and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve with real maple syrup and/or jam.

I double or even triple this recipe, but I mix a new batch of the batter when I run out instead of making it all at once – that way, if my bread is less absorbant that day, or moreso, I don’t waste any eggs and milk.

My about-to-turn 12 year-old son told me that he is thinking about choosing French toast for his birthday dinner, because “it’s one of my very favorite meals.”

I made Bisquick drop biscuits (which I wasn’t impressed with – they tasted flour-y).

To make the gravy, brown 2 pounds of sausage in my dutch oven (I used one hot, one mild, to keep the kids happy). Don’t drain it! Add about a cup of flour, stirring it in until you can’t see it anymore, because it’s coating the meat.

Add about a half gallon or so of milk and stir over heat until it comes to a boil. Lower the heat and cook for a few minutes, until it’s thick and the flour taste is cooked off. Add salt and pepper – if you use flavorful sausage, you don’t need to add any more spices.

Break your biscuits in half, and ladle gravy over top.

Mmmmm…. this is not on anyone’s diet. (I have friends doing low-carb diets, and friends doing low-fat diets, so I have a tendency to evaluate foods by which diet they’d be good on.)

I was just reading Nobody’s Fool (a great cooking log – check it out) and a reader had sent in a recipe for an eggs-on-bread kind of thing, and it reminded me of something my mom and my uncle used to make:

Fry up some good bacon. Put a slice of sourdough bread on a broiler rack, add some thick slices of extra sharp New York cheddar, and put the bacon over it. Broil it while you fry an egg (I like mine over medium) and then put the egg on top of the bread/cheese/bacon mess. Simple, but absolutely delicious.

Oh, something else I used to make for myself: Put a piece of good sourdough bread (or your favorite bread) on the boiler rack. Add a slice of tomato, sliced boiled egg, and a slice of good cheese. Broil till the cheese melts. Yummy.