Paula Deen's Banana Nut Bread...and Awards

If you're feeling sluggish in the mid-afternoon, here's a very nice "pick me up" ...a slice of Banana Nut Bread, and a cold glass of organic low-fat milk. Of course, you can substitute it for a nice steaming cup of tea, or coffee...the choice is yours!

You"re probably wondering why I chose Paula Deen...the "queen of fatty foods" ...
Is it because it's FAT TUESDAY?...would that be appropriate for someone who is still on the Weight Watchers program?...or just recently finding out that she has type 2 diabetes, that she had for three years already, and we just found out!

It's really true, that we don't have to cook like that, with all the butter and fat, she is not encouraging us to cook that way, but it certainly is very tempting to try those recipes. I have found an easier method...just cut down on the fat, and make it a lighter version!

I found a super great thrift find, recently, at Goodwill. Paula Deen's first cookbook, before she became a famous food network star. It was copyrighted in 1997. The price, as you can see it was $1.29 soft cover book, filled with her early famous recipes. She owned a small restaurant at the time, in Savannah Georgia, with her two sons working there. Very cozy, simple, and down-home good Southern foods. I was really impressed with the Banana Bread recipe, and would like to share it with you. As far as for points value...it has to be at least 3 points pr slice...compared to 2 points with the WW Banana Bread, which I will also make soon. I lightened it up a bit, but I must admit, this was an incredible Banana Bread, enjoyed by all!

Linking to: Full Plate Thursday, @Miz Helen's Country Cottage
                Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop, @Katherines Corner
                Food Photography @Crisp Photoworks

Banana Nut Bread
The Lady and Sons, by Paula Deen

1/2 cup Crisco shortening
(I used 1/3 cup vegetable oil)
1 cup sugar (I used 3/4 cup)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt (I used 1/2 teaspoon)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs beaten
3 ripe bananas mashed
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream shortening and sugar. (whisk oil, and sugar, if you're using oil.) Stir together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda and add to creamed mixture.

Add remaining ingredients; mix well.

Pour into a well greased pan. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes.
( I baked mine for 30 minutes on 350 degrees, and lowered the temperature to 325, for an additional 25 minutes.)

This is such a cute award...besides the fact that it's called CUTE AWARD! I received this from my friend Csilla, in Hungary, @Csilla Konyhája . She recently made a fantastic cheese danish...a childhood favorite of mine, which I will attempt to make soon.

These two lovely awards, I received from my friend Ping, in Malaysia, @ ping's pickings. Check out her latest refreshing carrot, and ginger cocktail...so pretty, and refreshing...a good way to have your daily carrots...lol

"A word of Love can make a world of difference".

These beautiful bouquet of roses, I chose to take as an award, instead of the awards that was returned to me, by my friend Amelia, from Malaysia @ Amelia's De-sserts. Check out her latest cute, and funny "chick creation" and her yummy coconut topped light dessert.
The Liebster award, I cannot accept since it is for bloggers with less than 200 followers. With the 2 lists of followers I have twice as the 200, so I decided that I would accept these beautiful roses as the award!

Thank you Csilla, thank you Ping, and ...thank you Amelia, for the lovely awards. I am really and truly honored...I will make the best effort to pay these forward, and link them!