Banana Bread Warms This March Day

Since March has come in like a lamb here so sunny and warm, I thought I'd bake some banana bread. I've been thinking about banana bread for the past few weeks and dog gone it today I just went for it! I haven't baked in so long I nearly forgot how and besides that my friend and neighbor Lisa phoned and we chatted the whole time. Those head phones you plug into the phone work great for me. Lisa and I live only two houses apart but we gab on the phone nearly every day.

I didn't fire up "old Betsy" my wood cook stove today to bake the banana bread. She hasn't been fired up now for a couple of years. We burn wood to heat our house as some of you regular readers know. Dave tells me he can't keep up with fire wood for TWO stoves. I have baked quite a lot with her over the years. Mostly for Thanksgiving turkey and hams. When the nieces and nephews were little tots we would fire her up on those cold days when they came over to slide down our hill. Little wet mittens and boots warmed and dried quickly as we all rubbed our cold hands and cozied up next to "old Betsy". I inherited her. She was left in this house by my friend Helen, the previous owner who named her Betsy. Helen passed away this last week. She was 90 years young. She raised nine children in this house and old Betsy delivered many golden loaves of baked bread.

So after my golden loaves of banana bread came out of the old electric oven, Smokey and Max showed up for a little bite.

Then Max's head took a spin when I dropped a piece on the floor. Taking a picture with one hand while getting them to do something is no easy feat. I thought this picture was pretty funny if not a little Excorsist looking LOL.

I guess I haven't lost my touch when it comes to baking banana bread. I have to tell you it turned out pretty darned delicious. Slathered in Smart Balance Spread and downed with a tall cold glass of my favorite iced tea, the winter doldrums melted right away!
I doubled the recipe and threw in some dried craisins and figs(dates). I used pecans for the nuts. One of the little loaves is for Lisa since she is the sweetest of neighbors and friends. The other one is for ??. Maybe I'll freeze it for a gift.
I took the dogs for a walk today. Yes, by golly I think maybe Spring will arrive yet in northern Wisconsin. It's been a long time comin'!!
I'll share one more photo today of an old oak cupboard that sits next to "old Betsy" in our breezeway. Back in my antique dealer days I bought this piece and had ten coats of paint stripped off of it. Now that it's so popular to paint everything white maybe I should have left it! It really was a terrible mess. Not the original kind of paint you would have wanted to see. It still has the original piece of old gray marble set in the counter top for baking. It holds some of my pieces of Red Wing pottery.