Doing the happy dance for you, patti!

Here's my tip for any fruit breads I make, and been doing this for ages:

Remove from pan, let set on cooling rack for about 5 minutes.

In a storage conatiner, that one loaf fits in, line wax paper from bottom to sides.

Place loaf in the container and seal tightly with lid and leave overnight.

Makes for a super moist bread, even though the bread is most already.

It's what I do and always will for my pumpkin bread, sour cream banana bread, strawberry bread, etc.

o.k. may I please ask for the banana bread and strawberry bread recipes?

Hi Patti,

Growing up on the farm ...

... part of the story that I heard was that one had to eat a peck o' dirt before one died. A peck being about a quarter of a bushel.

Haven't kept track of how much I've eaten ... landlord pulls a carrot, scrubs it off a bit with his hand ... and into his mouth it goes.

ole joyfuelled ... who'll do that with peas, beans and tomatoes ... but only rather rarely with carrots: rather squeamish, I guess

Here's the banana bread recipe and I use the method I mentioned for cooling my bread.

Sour Cream Banana Bread

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup oil

2 eggs

1 cup mashed bananas (2 medium)

1/2 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour bottom only of a 9 X 5 loaf pan. In large bowl, beat together sugar and oil. Add eggs, bananas, sour
cream and vanilla, blend well. Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup, level off. Add flour, baking soda and salt, stir just until dry
ingredients are moistened. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake at 350F for 50 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes. Remove from pan. Cool completely. Wrap tightly and store in refrigerator. Makes 1 loaf
_______

***Here's my tip for any fruit breads I make, and been doing this for ages:

Remove from pan, let set on cooling rack for about 5 minutes.

In a storage conatiner, that one loaf fits in, line wax paper from bottom to sides.

Place loaf in the container and seal tightly with lid and leave overnight.

Makes for a super moist bread, even though the bread is most already.

It's what I do and always will for my pumpkin bread, sour cream banana bread, strawberry bread, etc

Strawberry bread (you can put them in 4 small loaf pans at well)

Ingredients

1 bag (16 oz) frozen whole strawberries, thawed, and mashed
2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
4 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon **I use less: 1 1/2 tsp
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped nuts

1 Heat oven to 350ðF. Grease bottoms only of two 9x5- or 8x4-inch loaf pans with shortening; lightly flour.
2 Slightly mash strawberries; set aside. In large bowl, mix sugar and oil. Stir in eggs until well blended. Stir in strawberries until well mixed. Stir in remaining ingredients except nuts just until moistened. Stir in nuts. Pour into pans.
3 Bake 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes**mine cooks in less than that time or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Loosen sides of loaves from pans; remove from pans to wire rack. Cool completely, about 2 hours, before slicing. Wrap tightly and store at room temperature up to 4 days, or refrigerate up to 10 days

This post was edited by glenda_al on Sat, Feb 15, 14 at 12:59

I love cooking with leeks, Patti.
I like to halve the leeks lengthwise and slice crosswise.
You can dump it all in big bowl and wash the grit off, and drain in a colander.

Your kitchen must smell fabulous Patti!

We love leeks here too...I grew them for the first time last year and will do so again..
I slice the tops off just below the dark green. Then the root end off.(save the dark green in a freezer bag in the freezer to toss in stock pot). Slice down the middle length wise and under water ruffle the half ....then slice.

And I make Glenda's Banana bread too,but use butter for the oil.

Terri, here's an easy way to remove all of the dirt from the leeks.....especially if you're planning on chopping them up for a soup.

Do you have a pot large enough to hold your sieve or collander? Fill it with water.

First, just rinse them under the faucet to remove the worst of the dirt. Then, chop off the darkest green parts....they're tough and don't have much flavor. Chop up your leeks into small chunks and place in the collander or sieve and submerge completely in water. Jiggle it around a bit and allow to sit for a moment while the grit falls to the bottom of the pot. Just lift your cleaned leeks out with the sieve! You'll be surprised at the stuff left in the bottom of the pan.

That's how I clean other gritty veggies (spinach comes to mind) as well. Dried peas and beans get the same treatment.!

I happen to love leeks.....cauliflower, soup, too.

Patti, sure sounds like you got a pop of energy. Enjoy the fruits of your labor. Satine

Rhizo..thanks...
I like my way..no dishes to wash..but the knife and cutting board. ;)

But yes your way works even better probably.
I don't grow my leeks in sandy soil..just the garden..so most of the dirt is only in the outer couple layers nearest the dark green....easy to get to, if any..
I think commercial grown leeks are in a sandy loam..which is why they are much more gritty in more layers.

Patti, it is so good to read you are baking & cooking again. Hope you are now gaining some weight.

Rhizo gave great instructions for cleaning leeks.