Banana Milk Courtesy of one of Lulu's GRAND Girls!

Last week when our youngest daughter was visiting with her husband and 2 children, the children asked for something I had never heard of. They wanted their mum to make "Banana Milk". When they found out I didn't know what it was, they kept asking until we finally made it one evening. Since tasting this wonderful version of what turns out to be something that may have originated in Korea, I have been meaning to post it here.

This concoction would have made Lulu SO happy. She never knew what to do when bananas got too ripe. Frugal woman that she was, she would therefore be forced to make banana bread or banana cake. I tell you, I ate so much banana bread when I was a kid in sack lunches and at home, that I gag now if I smell it. In later life, she and I found a chocolate banana bread that I'll have to share that is pretty awesome.

When my 3 girls were young and I was caught with too many fast ripening bananas, I would peel them, cut them in half crosswise, stick a popsicle stick from the cut edge up about half way. Then I would coat them with melted chocolate and freeze them. Not only did this save the bananas, but it saved us money when the ice cream man came round!

But today I want to tell you to save those overripe bananas, peel them, cut them up in about 4 pieces and put them in the freezer in a ziplock baggie! If you do this everytime you have a banana slip into retirement before you eat it, you can have the makings for Banana Milk in your freezer and always be only 5 minutes from numminess!

When you are ready for a treat:
> Remove them from the freezer, open the ziplock and dump the frozen chunks into the container of a blender or smoothie maker. One medium size banana will make enough for one really big glass or 2 fair size (maybe 8 oz) ones.

> Add milk just to the top of your frozen chunks. Don't completely cover them.

> Add a dash of vanilla or cinnamon. (or...see Note #2 below)

> Put the lid on and blend till smooth.

Note: I was out of the room when my daughter made this, but she says this is all she did. She brought me a small glass of Banana Milk and ...Oh My! It tasted just like a milk shake made with ice cream. What a great use for something that often gets tossed in the garbage.

Lulu would be proud!

Note #2 - I couldn't just post this blind - so.....I just made some with a banana I froze earlier today. G says it's a winner and so I must have done it right! I used vanilla, but next time I think I'll try cinnamon.

But who says you couldn't drizzle in some chocolate syrup! Not me!

Lulu's Grands & Great Grands

Well, it's been some time since I posted here, but that doesn't mean I haven't been cooking. And I've been cooking a lot of Lulu's recipes too because I've had a parade of her grandgirls and great grandkids through here since mid-July. Yes, my 2 youngest daughters married brothers! Gramma Lulu, aka Nana to them, would have been happy as a clam with all the excitement in this house since Mid-July. It won't be over until this coming Monday when the our youngest and her family in the bottom picture above starts off towards the Grand Canyon and then home to hot, Hot, HOT Texas.

We DO have a new recipe for you and I think Lulu would approve. My youngest made these great cookies that are SO simple. So we offer them up knowing Lulu would approve!

CAKE MIX COOKIES

CAKE MIX COOKIES

1 box of any flavor cake mix

1/2 C. Oil

2 eggs

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

-Mix all ingredients in a bowl.

-Drop by spoonfuls on a cookie sheet that you've sprayed with Pam-like spray

-Bake for 8 minutes - no longer

-Enjoy

Notes:

*When you use chocolate cake mix, as we did, they taste like Brownies!

*You can add things like mini or regular chocolate chips, nuts or coconut!

*Can be dressed up if the tops are iced and sprinkles added.

*Best eaten in a few days, but I'm also going to try to freeze these.

*One of my daughter's friends won a prize at a holiday cookie exchange by making these and she added broken peppermint candies to the chocolate dough. Then she frosted them with white icing and sprinkled the top with green and red sprinkles.

Lulu's Gingerbread

Lulu's Gingerbread
Originally uploaded by lasassone

Well, it's been way too long,hasn't it? Sorry about my disappearance there for awhile, but sometimes life just plain gets in the way of what I want to be doing.

So, you see Lulu's Gingerbread is so good that one piece is all that's left! I baked this for my local weekly stitching group meeting this past Tuesday and it was SO well received that they all asked for the recipe! So, I figure it's only fair that I put it up on this blog as well!

Mum used to make this quite often when I was a kid. In my recipe file the card says it's from "Gramma Lulu". I looked in her recipe book she never wrote where she got the recipe from; she just wrote "very good"! I'll vouch for that as I've been eating it for well over 60 years now.

LULU'S GINGERBREAD

• 2 C. Flour
• 1-1/2 t. Baking Soda
• 1 t. ground Cinnamon
• 1 t. ground Ginger
• 1/2 t. ground Cloves
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1/2 C. granulated sugar
• 1/2 C. Crisco shortening (I use 1/2 C. Crisco Oil instead)
• 1 Egg
• 1/2 C. Mild Molasses
• 1 C. very hot or boiling Water

1) Sift flour, soda, spices & salt onto wax paper and set aside.

2) In a bowl cream the sugar and oil (or shortening). Add egg and molasses & beat well.

3) Add the dry ingredients to bowl along with the water.

Pour into a prepared 8" square baking pan. I use the pan spray with flour in it. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 min. or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Notes:

*This is very moist so if you remove it from the oven before the center is done, the center will fall. It won't be so pretty, but it still will taste AWESOME!

*I find the oil instead of the solid shortening seems to make it even more moist.

* Serve with whipped cream as shown or plain. Should serve 9 but how you cut it is up to YOU!

Blueberry Muffins - THE BEST!

This recipe came from an issue of Yankee Magazine back in 1990 that I got while traveling with a friend in Vermont. The recipe was a reader's contribution and I do not recall or have the magazine that said who sent it in. Mum (aka Lulu) had helped me financially to travel to the Boston area in order to attend the Towne Family Association's annual meeting in Salem, Massachusetts. That year's meeting was the Tri-Centennial of the Salem Witch Trials which involved some of our ancestors. It was a very interesting trip, to say the least, and a tremendous meeting which involved a lot of sight seeing and education about my maternal family's past. Upon leaving Salem, my friend and I traveled to Vermont to search for some ancestor's graves and visit the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vermont. The Yankee magazine was given to me at a B & B that we stayed at in Vermont.

Again today I have been asked to share this recipe. I served these muffins this morning at a meeting at our home and they were a big hit as usual.

BEST BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

- 2 C. Bisquick baking mix
- 1/4 C. Granulated sugar
- 1/2 t. Ground cinnamon
- 1 C. sour cream (zero-fat is okay)
- 1 egg
- 1 to 2 C. frozen blueberries, rinsed
- 2 T. additional sugar

> Prepare a muffin pan by spraying with a pan spray.
> Blend Bisquick, sugar and cinnamon in medium sized bowl. Make hole in center.
> Into hole put the sour cream and break in the egg.
> Blend together with a fork.
> Fold in the blueberries.
> Sprinkle a little of the extra sugar in the bottom of each "cup" of the muffin pan.
> Carefully spoon about 1/4 C. of the batter into each "cup".
> Sprinkle rest of the sugar over the tops of each muffin "cup".
> Bake for 15 to 20 min. at 425 degrees or until tops become a bit golden.

NOTES:
1. You can use paper or foil muffin liners, but I do not. If you use the foil, watch your baking time carefully.
2. Remove from pan quickly so as to prevent over baking.
3. Serve hot or cooled. My guests didn't mind them cooled. I offered to split and warm them and provide butter, but after their first bite, they said it wasn't necessary and they raved about how moist and wonderful they were.

Enjoy!

COMING SOON!

This is just a note to let regular readers know that I will be away from my computer until the end of the month. Easter is in April this year so when I get back, I'll be searching Mum's handwritten cookbook for some Easter specialties for you all.

You all keep on cookin' while I'm away!

Best Oatmeal Cookies

Best Oatmeal Cookies
Originally uploaded by lasassone

Are you expecting a grandchildren invasion or having a party soon? If you are expecting any kind of crowd this is a great recipe for cookies. It makes a really large batch. Last night I made 3/4's of the recipe (only because I didn't have the full amount of required oatmeal) and it filled our cookie jar and a gallon ziplock bag AND a sandwich sized ziplock. And plus....I must confess that I think I ate at least a half dozen myself as I was baking them.

This isn't one of Lulu's recipes, but she would REALLY like them for a couple reasons: One because it makes a lot of cookies at one time-enough to put a bag in the freezer so you don't have to bake as often! AND....two because it's a recipe with OPTIONS!

So, let's get on with it.....AFTER I tell you that the plate I put these on is one of Lulu's old dishes from the 1930's depression that she got on "dish night" at the local theaters. It was cheap to go to the movies and Dish Night evidently was very popular. So we call this the "theater china". Suffice it to say these dishes are not anything you would want to put in the dishwasher, so it do not get used much.

Best Oatmeal Cookies (with Options!)

4 C. Flour
2 t. Salt
2 t. Baking soda
1 t. (or more) Ground cinnamon
2 C. White Sugar
2 C. Brown Sugar
1 C. (2 sticks) Butter-softened
1 C. Crisco (I used butter flavored)
4 Eggs
1 t. Vanilla
4 C. Quick Oats
2 C. Chopped Nuts (optional-none in mine)
2 C. Chocolate Chips OR Raisens (I used 1 C. of mini-chips)

>Preheat your oven to 375 F
>Sift flour, salt, soda & cinnamon and set aside.
>In a large bowl, cream the sugars, butter and Crisco.
>Add in eggs one at a time, beating after each.
>Add in vanilla
>Carefull stir in the drys you sifted and set aside. Combine well.
>Fold in the oats, nuts & chips or raisens.
>Drop by large teaspoonsful onto spray (or not) cookie sheets.
>Bake for 9 or 10 minutes. Let stand on baking sheet for a minute and then remove to cooling rack.

I dropped the dough from spoons, but if you want to get your hands involved, you can make balls and the cookies will probably be prettier.

However, they will taste the same - Scrumptious!