What a weekend with a recipe or two for you

What a weekend it has been...

The three kids and I packed up on Friday afternoon and headed to my mom's (3 hours away) and went pretty much non-stop until just now.  In a 48 hour time span, we all four got our haircut, attended a baptism and a baptism brunch for a special little girl (my cousin and godchild), hit the swimming pool at my Aunt's, went to my cousin's high school graduation party, went to church, out to breakfast, and attended a 4-H meeting this afternoon.

Needless to say everyone is a bit more tired than usual and we didn't get any baking done at the pigpen this weekend.  So I thought I'd share the recipes for the 2 loaves of bread that Bubby made last weekend.  They also just happen to be recipe #7 and #8 from Sunday Dinner at Grandma's which means I only have 2 more recipes to go until it is time to giveaway a copy of the cookbook to one of you thanks to Gooseberry Patch.  And I'e actually already made recipe #9 which means I really only have one more to go.  Woo hoo!!!




Banana-Nut Bread

Ingredients
2c. all-purpose flour
1c. sugar
1t. baking soda
1/4t. salt
1/2c. canola or safflower oil (we used canola)
2 eggs, beaten
3 very ripe bananas, mashed
1c. chopped walnuts or pecans (at this pigpen this ingredient is optional especially when the kids and I are baking.)

Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a bowl; mix well and set aside.

In a separate large bowl, mix oil and eggs; add bananas.

Add flour mixture and mix well; stir in nuts.

Pour batter into greased 9x5 loaf pan or two, 7x3 loaf pans.  (We used a 9x5.)

Bake at 350 degrees, 45 minutes for a regular loaf pan or 25-30 minutes for 2 smaller pans.

It got a bit more brown than I would have preferred on the outside, but it still tasted good!

Cinnamon Bread

Ingredients
1/2 c. shortening
1c. sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2c. all-purpose flour
1t. baking powder
1/2t. baking soda
1/4t. salt
1c. sour milk or buttermilk
3T. sugar
1t. cinnamon

In a large bowl, blend shortening and sugar.

Stir in eggs and set aside.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Add to shortening mixture alternately with milk.

Mix sugar and cinnamon in a cup; set aside. (Big Sissy helped with this step.)

In a greased 9x5 loaf pan, alternate 4 layers of batter and sugar mixture.

Bake at 350 degrees for one hour.

Cool on a wire rack.

Both of the breads were a big hit here.  For being a quick bread, the cinnamon bread was very light and yummy.

And thanks to my Gooseberry Patch cookbook, I gained a new tip for the kitchen: "Quick breads will have a better flavor if you store them overnight before slicing and serving them."

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Special thanks to Gooseberry Patch for providing me with this great cookbook to try and share with you. If you would like to purchase this or other cookbooks, please visit their store. If you would like to see other great recipes, check out www.realfarmwivesofamerica.com .

Homemade Buttermilk Substitute from the pig pen

I love to bake, but finding time to bake is often difficult which is why I love to make a homemade dessert if I need to take a dessert to something.  This is why I will be baking 8 dozen of cookies later this week for our two oldest children to take to Vacation Bible School even if the kids would probably be happier with some Oreos.

Any way, it seems like I have a lot of recipes that call for buttermilk:  my Grandmother's Red Velvet Cake, my go-to white cake, and my son's favorite banana cake to name a few.  I have always known that there was a way to make a buttermilk substitute, but it always made me nervous to try since the buttermilk was a key ingredient in my mind.  So I have always bought the buttermilk and watched half of the container go to waste because I ran out of time to make something else with the buttermilk.  (I realize buttermilk is a form of sour milk so the "use by" date might be a little facetious, but  I have always faithfully followed it. )

A couple of months ago, I found out at 4pm that we were going to a friend's house for dinner at 6:30pm and I was in charge of dessert.  After looking through my pantry and fridge, I realized I had everything to make banana cake, even the ripe bananas, except for buttermilk; however, I did have milk and vinegar so I decided to try making a homemade buttermilk substitute AKA sour milk.

For each 1 cup of sour milk, put 1 Tablespoon of vinegar in a glass measuring cup.  Then add enough milk to make 1 cup of total liquid.  Stir and let stand for at least 5 minutes before using.  Use the same amount of sour milk as you would buttermilk. 

(Always measure liquid ingredients at eye level and in a measuring cup made for liquids.)

I was a little nervous in making the sour milk, but the cake got rave reviews and I have used the sour milk as a buttermilk substitute in every recipe calling for buttermilk since and I even used skim milk to make it. 

So now my son just waits for our bananas to ripen or in his mind rot so we can make his favorite banana cake.

Enjoy!