HISTORY: Preserved

I've got something special planned for my last day of the Vintage Banana Tuesday series! A few weeks ago, my good friend and all things 1940s buddy, Loris, sent me a banana recipe with a challenge - "I dare you to make this!" The recipe was for Banana Fudge, and it was from her mother's wedding gift of America's Cookbook. ca. 1942. I thought a dare would be a great way to end this series, so here we are!

In the realm of bizarre banana recipes, Banana Fudge doesn't really raise the eyebrows. But it was definitely a challenge for me, because I am not, repeat not a fudge maker, eater, or day dreamer of any kind! (I'm sorry if this is yet another reason for you to think I'm crazy, but it's true. haha!)

This afternoon I finally attempted it. Fudge and I have a complicated history. Maybe you remember the dismal failure of the nasty Soya Fudge of 2014, and how I finally redeemed myself by making a successful and very modern Dark Chocolate Cherry Fudge (o…

In the second to last week of posting for Vintage Banana Tuesday, I couldn't decide between two recipes, so I decided to include them both! They both come from my copy of the 1941 book Bananas... how to serve them.

Without further ado - Banana Milk Shake & Banana Coconut Rolls!


First up is Banana Milk Shake. The regular recipe isn't what we'd call a milkshake today, but I think it's originally where the name came from. It's just literally mashed banana whipped up with cold milk. The fun variations is where the ice cream comes in, which you can see in the next picture. Look at all those yummy banana milkshake variations!

And second, is Banana Coconut Rolls. These are interesting on a whole bunch of levels! The Banana Coconut Rolls sounds quite yummy actually. But then, there are two different sauces to serve on top - Pineapple Sauce or Orange Sauce. The most interesting thing to me, though, is when you look at the picture of the recipe - look how finely shredde…

Happy Solar Eclipse Day!! 
In honor of today's American Solar Eclipse of 2017, I thought I'd look around to see if there were any interesting eclipses around WWII.

Boy, did I strike gold!

Eighty years ago, in 1937, there took place the longest solar eclipse in over 1,200 years. Totality lasted seven minutes! The prime viewing location was a place called Canton Island, a tiny island in the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and Australia. The United States launched an expedition to photograph the eclipse and so did Britain which sparked a rivalry and led to tensions with Japan right before America's entry into WWII.

To read about the whole event, you can go to National Geographic's article here.

History is so fascinating. Who knew something as global as an eclipse could have such historical ramifications!

Where we are in Maryland, we were able to see around 87% totality. Pretty good! We did the whole experience with watching with our glasses, my son rigging up his camera to …

This week's banana recipe for Banana Boats is a new concept to me, but apparently is familiar with other people! I found it in my Girl Scout camp cook book from 1946 called "Cooking Out-Of-Doors". It entails cutting open a banana, filling it with chocolate, raisins, and marshmallows, closing it back up, and then putting it in hot ashes to melt and get all gooey inside. Sounds like a much better version of S'mores to me!

(And I loathe S'mores. I may be the only one on this planet... Don't hate me.)

What a fun camping recipe, don't you think? I'm seriously going to try this one. One of the people that regularly makes these when they camp suggested putting nuts in it instead of raisins which I am totally on board for!



Sadly, Vintage Banana Tuesday is winding down! We have two weeks left, and then when September comes I'd like to start something else. I have really loved exploring vintage banana recipes this summer, and I hope you've enjoyed them…

You thought I was done with the ham & banana combo, didn't you?

Well, I'm not! Mwahahahaha!

Apparently... from what I've heard from a source which shall remain anonymous, this recipe is shockingly, surprisingly good. I have a hard time believing it could be true... Especially when there's cheese sauce involved. Yes. It's true. Cheese Sauce.

Behold!!! Ham Banana Rolls!



This ad from Chiquita Banana, ca. December 1947 is floating around the internet. I tried to pinpoint where it came from, but had no luck. I did, however, find this same recipe in one of my banana cookbooks - Bananas...how to serve them, ca. 1941:

My son and I couldn't leave this alone, though. Something had to be done. 
We felt some graffiti was in order... 

Hahahaha! Oh my gosh. I love this so much.

Happy Vintage Banana Tuesday!

This week's recipe is a simple, homey-sounding recipe from my Royal Cook Book, ca. 1940.

You make a standard 1 egg cake, but then you slice bananas and put them on top of the batter before baking. You sprinkle with lemon juice and then bake it. Hmm! I wonder what the bananas would look like afterward. I haven't had the best of luck with bananas bared to the heat of the oven like with the Baked Ham & Bananas.... But this one might be different! I'd give it a try.