Better Homes And Gardens New Cookbook Banana Bread Recipe

This morning I started to make banana bread, because I bought bananas but didn’t eat them.  After the exploding watermelon last week I was not about to tackle any fruit bigger than my hand.   And besides, banana bread is so much healthier than bananas, no?  …..  No?  …..  Oh, I see.  Anyway, waste not, want not, I always say.  Except, perhaps, a smaller waist.  But I digress.

I traipsed (are you getting a visual?) into the front room that also serves as my sewing room/office/bead studio/library/window to the world, in search of my beloved Better Homes and Garden cookbook.  The one I received as a wedding gift, lo, those 32 years ago.  The one I have depended on for delicious banana bread for all these years.  It looks like this:

I open the cookbook to page 76, where the banana bread recipe has been all these years.  There is a recipe for Carrot Cake on page 76.  Carrot cake sounds darned good this morning, but I have overripe, black-peeled bananas on the counter top.  What shenanigans are going on here?

One Bowl Banana Bread Recipe

Thinking perhaps I have merely “mis-remembered” (as I often do these days) what page banana bread is on, I search the index for the banana bread recipe.  Page 56.  See, just a little slip of the memory.  Nothing to worry about.  All is right in the world.

No dried splatters of  batter on the page, no smudges or creases.  Clean as a whistle.  This is clearly not my cookbook –  my well-used, much-loved cookbook.  The cookbook with pineapple upside-down cake batter and brownie batter spattered on their respective pages.  With the dinner roll recipe to die for.  This cookbook, it appears,  has never even been opened before this day.

My eyes moisten but I bravely gather my ingredients and navigate my way through the unfamiliar recipe (much different than the recipe I remember), for I know what has happened.

Vegan Banana Bread The Best Moist, Fluffy Recipe! 1 Bowl Recipe

You see, when I moved to Florida nearly a year ago, I had to combine two complete households into one.  The home we moved into was even smaller (thus the need for a sewing room/office/bead studio/library/window to the world being all in one room) and had belonged to my in-laws.

My mother-in-law could not cook, with or without a cookbook.   Just thinking about her cooking often gave people a stomach-ache.  She prepared her chicken by first washing it with dish soap – a dish my boys laughingly referred to as “Chicken Palmolive”.   Not surprisingly, I often volunteered to bring dinner or do the cooking, and fortunately for us all, she loved to go out to eat.  We were always happy to oblige.

But she had owned a newer version of the same cookbook I owned.  I remembered seeing them side by side during the chaos that was the sorting/donating/tossing phase of the move, and setting one aside to be donated.  It is now gone forever.  The one that was mine.

Food And Garden Dailies: Banana Bread

I know it was just a cookbook, and I do have a replacement, but I still feel like a friend is gone.   It was a wedding gift and we had been through a lot together.  Cookbooks will go the way of all books, I fear, digitalized and transmitted electronically.  Recipes are available by the millions on-line in our paperless society.  Do young brides even get cookbooks as gifts?

The loss of the cookbook is representative of the changes I’ve been through in the last year.  The loss of old and dear friends, familiar belongings, and a comfortable career.  The year has been spent learning to embrace things new and different – exploring and adjusting.  Growing.

So I dried my eyes and stopped sniffling.  I put on my happy face.  Then I enjoyed some really excellent banana bread, compliments of my mother-in-law, and Better Homes and Gardens.I had so much fun making a 1963 banana bread yesterday! I purchased a vintage Better Homes & Gardens cookbook at the Gibson Mill last summer and finally decided to make one of the recipes. It’s crazy that this book was published when my mom was a baby. Some of these recipes are similar to the ones my grandma made us when we were kids. Veggies in jello? It’s in the cookbook! I grew up eating that.

How To Perfect Banana Bread, From Toppings To Temperature

Some recipes are a little questionable, but I have many marked from the cookbook that I can’t wait to try out. I ordered a collection on eBay yesterday to make this a fun series on my TikTok! And yes, this recipe video is on my Tiktok, too. I haven’t quit the app yet. It’s a fun spot to document my dinners and recipes in real-time, so I love that! Many of my dinners from the recap posts will be on TikTok so that you can try them out, too! I started with an easy recipe for my first attempt at the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.

The banana bread couldn’t have been any more simple, and it was in their island-style section. Whenever you have breakfast in Hawaii, they almost always serve banana bread with your fruit. It’s so delicious, and I was excited to try a new recipe. The ingredients were minimal, and it’s the perfect recipe for using up bananas before they go bad.

Now that we have the porch looking cozy and cute (almost finished), I love sitting outside with coffee or tea in the evenings. I can’t wait to serve some coffee and this banana bread all spring and summer while sitting on the front porch. It’s the little things in life that I look forward to.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Recipe

 The banana bread came out so delicious! I’m used to adding in brown sugar, more butter, cinnamon, and vanilla, but this was equally good without all of those ingredients. I ended up topping the bread with a bit of cinnamon sugar to sweeten it up a bit more. I think it could have used more sugar, or the bananas could have been a bit riper to add extra sweetness. If you don’t like overly sweet banana bread, you will certainly like this recipe. It was light and fluffy! I swapped the shortening for butter.

   I hope you enjoyed this little vintage recipe from the 1963 cookbook! I’m excited to try more. Now that it’s 70 degrees outside, I’m going to head out on my walk and then plant a few more bulbs. 😊This post may contain affiliate links. I may earn a small commission if you click through and purchase via the links I provide

Is it just me, or is it like “a thing” to always have over-ripe bananas lying around? I blame my children. Liv loves bananas for about 3 days, then is over it. Cruz is crazy about them but then he gets constipated, so he has to go to banana rehab for a few days. Thus, we inevitably have two or three bananas each week that end up just a little too ripe to eat.

The History Of Banana Bread

I know what you are thinking . . . don’t buy so many damn bananas, Danielle. It’s not rocket science! (And thank god, because we know that rocket science requires tequila, and this is just a simple problem best solved by the old standby–wine).

Well, I have tried buying less bananas and Murphy’s Law that week Liv demands bananas for every snack and that will be the only thing Cruz will eat because he is getting a tooth (thus nixing the constipation issue and causing the opposite. . . as any mom will tell you).

And secretly, I like having extra bananas because that means I get to make one of my favorite things, banana bread. If I time it just right, I will have bananas that are about 10 days old and are SUPER ripe and then a few that are about 5 days that look like leopard print (and who doesn’t love a good animal print on their fruit, huh?)

Banana Bread Muffins

My go-to Banana Bread recipe comes from one of the best and most useful gifts I ever received, the 14th edition of the Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book.

The latest, 17th edition, looks to be equally as good–if not better. It would be the perfect gift for someone who is just learning to cook, or as a housewarming or wedding gift. And it’s less than $20!

The photos are great, it’s in a 3-ring binder format (so it lays nicely and you don’t lose your page) and it has a very detailed and appropriately named section at the beginning called “How to Cook.” This covers everything from how to measure, chop ingredients, do kitchen math, use cookware and utensils, and add flavor with spices. It’s like an encyclopedia. Check it out HERE.

After School Banana Bread Recipe

Alright, back to the Banana Bread. I have used this recipe and only this recipe for about 10 years. It’s just that good.

I have made a few slight changes to the recipe as printed in the cookbook, just because I have to be original. And things are generally better my way . . . or so I tell my husband.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a large loaf pan 9x5x3 inch (I just coat with cooking spray or you could also line with

Old Fashioned Banana Nut Bread