My Favorite Afternoon Snack

I remember the first time I had a frozen banana. It was 1970, I was 16, and I was at Disneyland for the first time. I was on vacation with my family (2 parents, 7 kids) and my boyfriend, (now my hubby for 37+years) and my grandpa. That was way back in the olden days when you were given a book of tickets, A-E, and you had to choose which rides you wanted to use them on. You couldn't go on everything. We were there in the middle of August, the absolute hottest time of the year, you know, the kind of heat where your clothes are sticking to you, and if you pull them down, they don't want to come back up! I think you know what I mean, ladies!

As we wandered through the park, it seemed like everyone had a chocolate covered banana sprinkled with nuts in their hands, and they were really enjoying them! It was the first time I had seen one, and did I ever want one! My grandpa bought us one and I thought that it was the best thing I had ever eaten, especially because it was so hot! For years after that, my mom made them for us. It was only half of a banana and it didn't have any nuts, but it was great!

I still love them and for several years, I bought Trader Joe's Frozen Bananas. They are great, but now I just make this snack because it is so easy, and I do mean easy! If you are a fan of frozen banana's and peanut butter, you will love these.

First you take a banana and cut the stem off. Then you make a slit right through the middle of it, but don't slice all the way through. Pry it open a little bit and then with a small knife or a spreader, tuck some peanut butter inside the slit. You can add as much or as little as you want. I prefer fresh ground unsalted crunchy peanut butter from my local Sprout's Market.

Now you can remove the peel very carefully, trying not to split the banana apart. Now you are ready to wrap the banana in plastic wrap.

Now you place it in the freezer for an hour or two. When you are ready for your snack, just remove from the freezer, unwrap it and cut it into round slices.

They are ready to eat!

I like to make up several at a time, so that I always have one available. When the banana is frozen, the texture becomes very creamy, like ice cream, only much better for you! I call them Banana Bon Bon's.

Did Someone Say Chocolate?

I re-found the following recipes as I have continued looking through my ring-binder notebooks. I made the following recipes over 15 years ago, so I don't have pictures, but they are worth posting here. If you are ever in need of a chocolate fix, this Double Chocolate Mousee Cake will more than do the job! This is a good recipe to make ahead and let sit at room temperature for an hour before serving.

I found the following recipe in the Oregonian Food Day many years ago. I only made this once, and believe me, it is very rich, especially with the caramel center. You do bake this in two steps, but it is very easy to make.

 I pulled the following recipe out of a magazine years ago and now I'm posting it for safe keeping. Hershey's published numerous recipes in magazines years ago that were really good. This is Hershey's Easy-Does-It Recipe #10, One-Bowl Buttercream Frosting. I really liked this recipe because it shows you the amount of cocoa to use for light, medium or dark flavored/colored frosting. You can substitute your favorite powdered chocolate if you don't have Hershey's.

Enjoy!

Apple and Pear Recipes

We lived in Walla Walla, Washington for two years, about 15 years ago. It is in a valley, surrounded by rolling hills and the Blue Mountains, and yes, they do look blue at certain times of the day or year. When we lived there, most of the the rolling hills were wheat fields. It was really very beautiful. They are also well known for their Walla Walla Sweet Onions. We lived just on the outskirts of town and as May/June drew closer, the air was filled with the wonderful smell of onions. Actually, I used to say it smelled like really good sour cream and onion potato chips!

We loved the onions, but they also had the best apples that we had very eaten in our lives! Very shortly after we moved there, we came across an apple orchard that belonged to an elderly man. He was very interesting to talk to and we learned a lot about the area and apples from him. He accredited his amazing apples to the water from the creek that ran through his property. They were the biggest, juiciest red delicious apples ever! The juice literally ran down your face while you ate it! A few years ago when we went back there, we were sad to see that apple orchard was gone and was now a housing development. I hope someone saved some of those trees!

We were first introduced to Fuji Apples at Davis Orchards in Milton-Freewater, Oregon, which was just across the state line from Walla Walla. We were really impressed with the Fuji apples and often took boxes back to Portland with us to share with family and friends. The following recipes are from their store, where they sold all of their apples, apple cider and miscellaneous baked goods.

I found this recipe in the Union-Bulletin, Walla Walla's weekly newspaper. This lemon and white chocolate pie is very good, everyone loved it!

The following recipe was given to me by a good friend, Melissa. I made it one year for Easter over 16 years ago and everyone loved it!

Enjoy!

More Vintage Recipes

I have been having such a great time going through my new found tubs with more of my old recipes. I'm considering recipes that I have had for over 20-25 years to be vintage. I haven't made any of these that I am posting for at least 10 years, but I considered them my favorite or "go-to" recipes back then.

I believe that I found this recipe in one of those Pillsbury recipe books you see at the grocery check out. It had a picture of these little treats and I thought they were so cute, I went on a search to find my first miniature muffin tin. I made them for different parties and get togethers, and everyone always loved them.

I believe I found this recipe in November of 1997, because on the back of the page I had written this recipe on, was my menu for Thanksgiving dinner. It was just the regular stuff, turkey, dressing, gravy, potatoes, beans, jello, rolls, olives, sweet potatoes, cranberries. This is a very easy way to dress up a boneless skinless chicken breast.

This recipe was given to me by my youngest sister, Lori. I think I made it at least twice a month for a while, because we all loved it. I was looking for this recipe a couple of months ago but couldn't find it, so now it is here for safe keeping.

I have not made this recipe for at least 20 years. I remember that the house smelled really good while this was cooking! A mother of one of my high school friends gave me this recipe. Along with the recipe she wrote, baked potato goes well with this dish! Happy Cooking! She was a very nice lady!

Enjoy!

The First Meal I Ever Cooked

In my quest to get my "Vintage" recipes more organized, my dear hubby pulled two of my large tubs (yes, there's more) of recipes out of storage. I haven't looked at them for about 10 years. There are thousands of recipes that I have collected during my 37+ year marriage. Of course I haven't cooked all of them, but I pulled out the ones that I have made through the years. It was interesting to see how my cooking style has evolved through the years. 

It was a lot of fun taking that trip through memory lane as I recently spent several hours looking through some of them. I remembered most of them, and it was fun thinking about what city I lived in, what kitchen I cooked this recipe in, how old the kids were, etc., when I made the different recipes. I will post many of them in the near future. One problem is that I don't have pictures of any of these recipes. They were made long before we started taking pictures of what we cook and what we eat! I appreciate the simplicity of most of these recipes that I cooked in years past, and I look forward to having them posted here.

I think it is appropriate to post the first recipe I ever cooked. I knew that I still had the recipe, it was just a matter of finding it and of course, I found it! I had the great memories of how excited I was the first time I made it. I remember our huge kitchen, in our home on 107th just off Sandy Boulevard in Portland. Well, I guess that is all relative to a 4th grader, just how big that kitchen really was! In my memory, it was huge! 

I set the table, I made the pear and cottage cheese salads, I had everything just right! I even remember my dad coming home from work that night and after dinner he told me what a good job I had done. I must have driven my mom crazy after that, begging her to let me make it again and again. I'm guessing she was probably pregnant with my youngest sister at that time, as I remember Mrs. Williams getting a phone call in her room and she announced to my class that I had a new sister! Thanks dad, for calling the school that day! It was a very happy day! Sorry, I digress. I'm sure she probably liked the break, although she watched me closely and never left the kitchen while I was cooking!

So here it is, a very simple recipe, but it instilled me a desire to cook and a love of cooking from the heart



 The following recipe was also on the sheet of recipes from Mrs. Williams. I loved making these meatballs. I thought I was so grown up as I would roll those meatballs out and line them up on a cookie sheet. I always tried to get them to be exactly the same size, but it was hard to do back then. My mom didn't let me saute them or cook anything on the stove for several years, which was frustrating then, but I guess it's understandable now. I'm sure she didn't want me to get burned. Once they were sauteed, I would pour in the sauce and wait for them to be done, trying not to lift the lid too many times! I thought it was so cool to watch that rice puff up and look like little porcupine's.



Enjoy!

UPDATE: My Spider Diary

Day 22:
My spider bite saga continues, so I am going to keep on documenting it here. When I first got these three bites, I wish there had been a place for me to check in and see how long this whole thing was going to take to heal up, what kinds of symptoms to expect, and how big my scars were going to be. I never expected that it was going to be such a long, drawn out process!

I am very happy to say that I have not see any spiders. I'd like to think that it's because of the electronic insect repellent devices working really well, but I didn't see any spiders before my bites, so I'm not sure where that leaves me. I'm still sleeping better knowing that they are there. Sometimes at night when everything is quiet, I'm sure that I here them humming, but I should probably see a Dr. about that!

WARNING: The following picture was taken on Day 22. I'm warning you, it looks really gross!

As you can see, the top scab has come off but I'm still carrying around the two largest ones.

Wiley sits on my lap with a very concerned face, while looking at my scabs and says, "Why did that spider bite you, Gramma?" I tell him I don't know why that spider bit me. "But why, Gramma? Why did he bite you? I don't like that spider, Gramma!" I agree with him that I don't like it one bit either. "But why, Gramma? Where is he now, Gramma! I don't like that spider to bite you Gramma! How did it get in your house?" All that love and concern makes me feel so much better as I'm carrying these scabs along with me, everywhere I go!! 

Day 24:

I'm  very happy that the final two scabs fell off today, but I was shocked to see how big the holes/scars were! I'm hoping that over time they fill in a little more, but then, I'll just have to take what I get, won't I!

 

As you can see, there is still some swelling and redness involved. At least there isn't any pain at this point. I'll post another update in a couple weeks and I'm hoping it will be better by then!

My Spider Diary 

Blog Surfing Saturday

If you like coconut like I do, this Coconut Pudding with Caramel Sauce found on Martha Stewart, would make a very elegant dessert after a nice meal. It can be made ahead and is easy to serve. This is a different type of caramel sauce than I have ever made, but I watched them make this on her show and it looked so easy. I have never put egg yolks in caramel sauce, but I really liked the texture that I saw while watching them make it and I would like to give this recipe a try.

Want to wake up in the morning with fresh cookies in the oven? If your answer was yes, these Forgotten Cookies from Cookie Madness would be what you are looking for. The recipe calls for butterscotch chips and pecans, but you could use any flavored chip and any chopped nut to change it up.

The tile coasters caught my eye, but Little Birdie Secrets has many projects to make, from quilts to custom cards. The paper roses also caught my eye. Every project has great instructions and most have pictures and some videos. She also has recipes, including a chocolate cheesecake made with tofu.

The $5 Dinners mom has lots of coupons and recipes to help you put a meal on the table for five dollars or less. She lived with her family as missionaries for several years and learned how to stretch a dollar. She shares her strategies on her blog. 


Here is another interesting blog that is worth checking out. The Happy Housewife: Living Well on Less has lots of practical advice on getting organized, getting healthier, living on/with less and cleaning up your life, literally! Most of us have a junk drawer or a closet that needs to be cleaned and organized. Right now she has a series, Clean Home, Fresh Start, to help create a clean and clutter free home. 

As long as we are on the subject of cleaning up and paring down, on Tried and True Cooking with Heidi, I found this formula for making homemade liquid and powdered laundry soap. It never crossed my mind to make my own, but it looks so easy, especially the powdered detergent. Talk about saving money, one batch makes 3 cups powdered detergent and with that you can wash 40 loads of laundry. I have heard for years that the content of the detergent we buy is mostly fillers. I'm going to at least make a batch and I will let you know in a future post about my results. The original for formula comes from the Duggar Family website.


On The Changeable Table, I found a really cute idea for making eating a little more fun for kids. It seems like one week they will eat anything and the next week they hardly eat a thing, so this might make eating a little more fun for the kids. She called it sbugetti dogs and I think Wiley would love it! Can't wait to make it for him!