When I first married 27 years ago, I hadn't a clue how to cook. As a teen, I'd regularly heat up a can of stewed tomatoes and pour it over angel hair pasta; Campbell's chicken noodle soup and haunting 30 cent packages of ramen were on rotation. Lunches during my break from my shift at the grocery store flower shop consisted of two or three slices of Hummel's bologna and one slice of American cheese I'd order from Charlotte at the deli. These delicacies would be placed on a fresh baked hard roll, as would the contents of a packet of mustard after I had trekked up the stairs to the break room for this gourmet meal. I spent under a dollar for each lunch and I was always pleased with that aspect. When I got married and started to have to prepare, "real meals" with a tad bit bigger of a budget, I lived in South Africa and made lots of sandwiches for lunches and trial-by-fire meals which were OK--I mean we kept alive. I wasn't working and had a lot of time to plan and experiment, but meals were extremely simple, I didn't know much about spices or anything culinary. I believe it was still lots of pastas, meatballs and because my husband is South African and we lived in South Africa, lots of beef, mainly steak. I do remember my Afrikaans neighbor teaching me how to make a rice bake where you throw everything in a pot and bake it. That was quite good. But, as obvious, nothing too memorable. Of course, as a newlywed, the husband didn't complain.
Pretty soon afterward, we returned to the States and I began working full-time. As I've admitted before, I remember feeling very impressed with myself for heating up Stouffer's Salisbury Steak in the microwave and whipping up some mashed potatoes for our dinner. I could boil pasta, open a jar of sauce and cut up vegetables for a salad. I honestly cannot remember what I possibly made for dinner other than those simple dinners. I recently asked my husband what he remembers and he recalled, "um...Salisbury steak, pasta and of course steak." Steak is a given. He also reminded me that I'd make kielbasa and "boxed mac 'n cheese" which was something I was introduced to on a youth group camping trip and it's always been a favorite combination of mine.
However, in the first few years of my marriage, I had a goal to learn how to cook savory meals for my husband. Enter Rachael Ray and others whom I had just started seeing on television. Additionally, the interwebs had come into play so I could begin looking up recipes! But, Rachael Ray was lovable, down-to-earth and explained things that I could understand and remember and execute well.
So, as I would even do to this day, when I want a recipe, I typed, "best [item] recipe." Well, one day when I had several ripened bananas, I opened google and typed, "best banana bread recipe."
And, here is that simple, but incredible recipe. I have made this banana bread now for over twenty years. Of course, as I've become more confident in my kitchen, I have created tangents from the original. I now sometimes add four spices to mine (cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and a dash of ginger.) I've added less sugar, but honey and/or maple syrup. Sometimes, I keep it to the original. But, the response I often hear after someone eats it is, "Oh my goodness, this is THE BEST banana bread I've ever had"...specifically since I have started making them into banana bread muffins. And, to know they genuinely love and crave it, I will get a follow up call, email or text reminding me to "send that recipe!"
So, just last week for our midweek study, I made two dozen banana bread muffins. This time, I did something completely different in that I used gluten free flour because I wanted to be sure all present could eat them. But, as a final act, I dusted them with confectioner's sugar. It was a spur of the moment act. Perfection. And, friends commented on the deliciousness and again one person asked for the recipe and also followed up with a text. For some reason, it got me thinking about the original recipe and I wondered if I could actually find who this Mrs. Hockmeyer was. Historically, whenever I pass on the recipe, I always give credit to Mrs. Hockmeyer. I can't explain why I wanted to suddenly dig for my mentor's origins and whereabouts. But, a simple google search unearthed a treasure.
https://www.simplyrecipes.com/the-internets-most-popular-banana-bread-recipe-7377365
It was heartwarming to find this piece of history that I've held so dear to my heart. I've enlarged and printed up Mrs.Hockmeyer's recipe card and I will display it in my kitchen. I wish I could thank Mrs. Hockmeyer herself. But, I'm thankful to Elise Bauer from Simply Recipes for providing this recipe so many years ago. I don't know the exact date as of yet, but I do know I've been making it for approximately 20 years because I put the recipe in a church recipe book (titled, Mrs. Hockmeyer's Banana Bread) before 2008.
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp cinnamon
sprinkle of ginger
generous pinch of nutmeg.
I made 24 muffins and dusted with confectioner's sugar
2-3 ripe bananas
1/3 cup melted butter
One egg, beaten
1C sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 C flour
Pinch of salt
No need for a mixer for this recipe. Preheat the oven to
350°F. With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the
mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the
sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda
and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour
last, mix. Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf
pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from
pan and slice to serve.
