Banana Bread not only makes the kitchen smell like heaven when baking, it’s a comfort food to the max!

There is new evidence that bananas that ripen all the way to brown spots have cancer fighting qualities.  Did our Grandmother’s know this when they made this luscious treat?

We use a lot of bananas on The Manor cereal table every day, and frequently they can ripen all at once with no one to eat them.  So we bake this bread! OR simply individually wrap peeled bananas in saran and freeze in freezer bags.  Each batch calls for 4 bananas, so we microwave 4 at a time on a slow defrost setting and they defrost perfectly.

Preheat the oven to 350.

Assemble ingredients: 4 ripe bananas, 1 full stick + 3T unsalted butter, melted, 3/4 cup sugar, 1 beaten egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1 teaspoon baking soda, pinch of salt, 1 1/2 cups flour, 1/4 cup pecans, coarsely chopped, with whole pecans retained for topping.

Mix butter with the smashed bananas in a large mixing bowl.  Add the sugar, egg, vanilla.

Then add the baking soda and salt.  Add the flour last, mix until no flour shows.

Pour mixture into a greased 4X8 inch loaf pan, or try our cute little mini-loaf pans for individual portions.

Be creative with your filling or toppings!  We like dried cranberries too, or walnuts.

Loaf bakes a full hour, mini-loaves for 25-30 minutes.  Cool on rack, then serve!

If you want, these freeze nicely for using later, simply wrap in saran and put in airtight freezer bags. Defrost at room temperature.  Recipe can be doubled, no problem.

YUM, Banana Bread!!!

  The Yelton Manor Bed and Breakfast wouldn’t have spring without lots and lots and LOTS of pansies!!!

A spring favorite, dazzling in a vase paired with bleeding hearts!

Mini Iris bloom early and today they are open everywhere!  Sweet, only about 6 inches high, very dainty and  detailed.

Pre-season is recipe testing time at Yelton Manor Bed and Breakfast!

Cindi and I have tested 7 new recipes in two days! This one got TWO YUMS UP!

Here are Breakfast Cookies! Just 4 ingredients!

6 ripe bananas, 2 cups unsweetened applesauce (we use our home canned of course), 1 cup dried cranberries and 3 cups oats. Just mix it up.

350 degrees for 35 minutes.

As an extra bonus, these are Vegan and Gluten Free.

We tried 3 methods of storing: room temp, fridge and freezer.  Freezer cookies were best and somehow married the flavors optimally.  Fridge was fine.  But we nixed room temperature.

Yield: 18 cookies

Yelton Manor Bed and….SKIP Breakfast!!

We played around with the Sharpies again this morning!!!

At Yelton Manor B&B, we are humming the great old tune by The Beatles!

In February, I fell on the ice and broke my shoulder and arm. After a successful surgery and a long 9 weeks of therapy, I am doing very well.  Last week my friends Mike and Marci came “in for the assist” from Indiana and put in 5 long hours of shoveling and spreading compost in the garden with me.

I am so grateful!!!!!

The spacious, screened in, 3 season porch at Yelton Manor is definitely one of the most enjoyable common rooms at the inn. We serve breakfast there at two round tables that each have 4 comfortable wicker chairs.  The dainty Victorian chandeliers, the ferns, greenery and antique decor add to the sense of summer ease. In the evening we light small votive candles that burn until midnight, as the aroma of moonflower vine, trailing the fence outside, prevails.  Quite the lovely spot!!!

This year we repaired window sills, replaced all the screens, painted the storm windows, painted the floor and more.  We are excited to get it all back together again!!!

   This beautiful porch has a sloped roof that makes it the #1 destination in a thunderstorm. The rain comes down the sides in a furious torrent, the smell is delicious and the mighty thunder and lightning bring all your senses alive!!!

We are delighted to continue to keep it beautiful!!!

Spring isn’t spring at Yelton Manor Bed and Breakfast until the compost arrives!!!!  Some women like yellow gold on fingers and wrists, I love the black gold that tops off the perennial border each year!!!  Today we got the first 7 yards, there will be 40 more behind this one.  We fill over 300 pots, then there is 300 X 12 feet of garden to top off. The smell of it is heaven, we love being attached closely with the earth.  Time to put on my sh*t-kickin boots and start in!

Thank you Huntree Nursery for being our steady garden partner for the last 24 years!  Jan and Dave’s son Matt is stepping up bigtime into the business now, he’s the real deal and we love him!!!

COMPOST!!!!!  Aaaaaah, should be a scratch and sniff option here!!!!!