Matthew's No Nut Banana Bread

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 4 bananas, finely crushed
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Preparation:

Grease and flour one 4 1/2 x 8 1/2 inch loaf pan or two mini sized loaf pans.  Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream together butter and sugar.

Add eggs and mashed bananas.

Combine well.

Sift together flour, soda and salt. Add to creamed mixture. Add vanilla.

Spoon mixture into prepared loaf pan(s) and bake for 60 minutes, or until browned and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center of a loaf.

Cool on rack before slicing.

Spiced Banana Raisin Walnut Bread

Ingredients:

• 6 large, very ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil (1/4 cup sufficient)
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups sugar (one cup sufficient)
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups raisins
• 1 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preparation:

Grease and flour two 4 1/2 x 8 1/2 inch loaf pans.  Heat oven to 350 degrees.

In medium bowl, mash bananas and mix with oil.

In separate bowl cream sugar and butter.  Add eggs and vanilla - mix to combine.  Stir in banana and oil mixture; mix well.

Combine  dry ingredients in another bowl and then add to the creamed banana mixture.

Stir in raisins and walnuts.

Spoon mixture into prepared loaf pans and bake for 45 - 50 minutes, or until browned and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center of a loaf.

Cool on rack before slicing.  

Together - Then and Now

THEN - July 17, 2010

In July 2010, I found Forever & Ever® Together Hydrangeas at Lowe’s with crisp, drooping leaves.  I am a sucker for clearance plants and so, for less than $30, I snatched 3 pots of hope to plant along my fence. 

Up until then, I had been reluctant to appreciate the beauty of hydrangea blooms or of most shrubs in general.  However, in 2010 the few hydrangeas in my gardens came into their own, and I was in awe!  Plant breeders had made great strides in developing hydrangeas with repeat and/or double blooms in a kaleidoscope of colors. 

So, four years later, my puny clearance shrubs have filled in nicely. These hydrangeas have a compact, rounded habit and large, deep green leaves.  They reach only 2-3 feet tall with 3-5 feet spread.   I am looking forward to the 8 inch clusters of double mop head blooms which can open a light green in early summer and mature to pink, blue, or a variety of violet/purplish colors as they progress throughout the season.  

Bluebirds of Happiness

The Bluebirds of Happiness showed up in my backyard on February 13th and stayed for ten days.  Now,  they seem to have flown on in search of insects, berries and nesting cavities elsewhere.  Their presence in my gardens was magical.  Their brilliant blue and russet plumage, sweet warble, and joyous flittering flight above the snowy cold landscape was an unexpected gift.   Their eloquent expression of beauty and grace lifted the doldrums caused by a dark, frigid spell of New Jersey winter.  How rewarding to offer nourishment to these beauties as they took respite from their journey.  

So…I bid them well, carry their song in my heart, and long for their return… Bluebirds, if and when you return, you are cordially invited to tour the newly constructed Paradise Nesting Development.  These sites, designed and built by Jeff Libert, are located in a wooded garden setting and feature the exceptional style and craftsmanship you want in a home!  Rental fees waived!

My Window View

A wonderful pole feeder with suet holder sits outside my dining table window. Early morning moments, when I am not harried in preparation for the commute to work, I enjoy looking over sleeping gardens and the lively music and antics of birds in flight and feeding.  I am especially fond of the woodpeckers.

Yet, of late, I have become disenchanted by the starlings which have aggressive tendencies and a gluttonous appetite for suet.  Have I mentioned my love of woodpeckers?  So, to discourage the starlings, I allowed my seed and suet feeders to go empty.  Then, I sat at the dining table and looked out the window and waited.  Beyond the sleeping gardens there was…quiet stillness.  No birdsong, no frolicking flight.  Nothing but the cold still landscape of a NJ winter. 

Two days my feeders remained empty.  This morning I gazed out my window to see a house finch looking directly at me – daring me to make sense of the empty feeders.  Temperatures are expected to drop this week.  A humbling moment.  I bundled up and went outside to fill the feeders. I returned to my window view and saw a blue jay, a chickadee, a cardinal, 2 woodpeckers, and yes, a starling.  Life is good. 

Snow Day

The Magic of Winter

“Feed the birds in winter; in return, they will feed your soul with the look of gratitude!”  ― 

Mehmet Murat ildan

Someone close to me has enriched my life more than he can know and more than I can communicate in a garden blog.  Yet a bird feeder he has given me is the catalyst for me resuming  this long abandoned blog. 

Installed outside my dining table window this past week, I have been entertained since by the flitting and joyous morning activity of cardinals, sparrows, juncos, jays, chickadees, finches, and woodpeckers.

This summer I traveled far and saw grand mountains and breathtaking vistas - yet in the magic of winter, it is fulfilling to savor the simpler, magical sights that often are as close as one's own backyard.  Watching and listening to this incredible show, while I have a morning cup of coffee, is bringing me joy and a desire to learn more about my feathered friends.  

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/Page.aspx?pid=1478