Recipes to Pick Up a Dreary Day

James Beard’s Banana Bread

This is the best banana bread recipe I’ve ever found. I use it over and over again. The crust is crisp and the body of the bread is fine-grained, tender and moist. The banana flavor is perfect – well-flavored and not too sweet. I’ve made it both with and without nuts, and I think I prefer it without. The recipe lists either butter or shortening, but I’ve always used butter – real butter, not margarine. With the recent concerns about transfats, you may want to do the same.

Actually, every recipe in this book is a keeper. If you can find a copy of this cookbook in a used bookstore somewhere, buy it. Source is listed below this recipe. My comments are in blue.

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp salt
½ cup butter or other shortening
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 cup mashed, very ripe bananas
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp lemon juice or vinegar
½ cup chopped nuts (optional)

Sift the flour with the soda and salt.

Cream the butter and gradually add the sugar. Mix well. Add the eggs and bananas and blend thoroughly.

Combine the milk and lemon juice, which will curdle a bit.

Slowly and alternately fold in the flour mixture and milk mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Blend well after each addition. I never actually remember to do this. It works just as well if you just dump in the milk and flour mixture and stir, although I do add the flour mixture gradually, for ease in stirring.

Stir in the nuts, then pour the batter into a lavishly buttered (or thoroughly Pammed) 9” x 5” x 3” pan (I use a four-space fancy mini-loaf pan for mine) and bake in a preheated 350 deg F oven for 1 hour, or until the bread springs back when lightly touched in the center.

Source: Beard, James. Beard on Bread. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York: 1974.

Patricia’s Turkey Chili

1 pound 99% fat free ground turkey
1 shallot, roughly chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tbs olive oil
1 med. white onion, roughly chopped
1 green bell pepper, roughly chopped
1 med. zucchini, roughly chopped
2 16 oz. cans chicken or veggie broth
1 16 oz. can chopped tomatoes
3 Tbs chile powder
1 jalapeno pepper, chopped
1 Tbs tomato paste, optional
1 tsp. ground cumin
2 tsp. dry basil
1/2 of a large bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste

In a large Dutch oven, heat olive oil until fragrant. Add shallot and garlic. Saute over med-high heat until lightly browned. Add onion and saute until translucent.

Add ground turkey to the onion and garlic mix. Cook until no longer pink, but not fully. Add tomatoes, bell pepper, broth, zucchini, jalapeno and spices. Reduce heat to med. low and simmer for about 45 mins, or until liquid is reduced by 1/2, stirring occasionally.

Taste and add more spices or tomato paste, as desired. Continue to simmer on med. low heat until the chili reaches the desired consistency.

Serve over corn bread, and top with chopped onions and shredded cheese.

Source: Original Recipe

Baked Butternut Squash

1 butternut squash
2 tsp butter
2 tsp light brown sugar
cinnamon to taste

Heat oven to 350 deg F. Halve squash lengthwise. Scrape out the strings and seeds. Divide butter and brown sugar and place in the cavities of each half. Dust with cinnamon. Prick along the exposed surface of the squash with a fork to allow juices to escape; the squash will sing to you while it’s baking. Bake on a cookie sheet for 1 hour, or until flesh is tender to a fork.

Serve as is, mashed, or in any other way desired. May be a side dish or the main dish.

Source: Original Recipe, based on my Dad’s