Bread

Cooking Without Photos – Hawaiian Banana Nut Bread

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Strawberry, Arkansas! Population 268❤️

Strawberry is one of the oldest settlements in Arkansas. Untouched by the railroad and unaffected by the Civil War, Strawberry began as a small community in the early 1840s and remains a quaint community today.

John Cathey settled in the area along with his son and they called it Cathey Town for a short time. Then, in 1854 John applied for a post office and renamed it Strawberry Point. Later it was shortened to Strawberry.

Time passed and blacksmith shops have turned into fishing businesses. Their population has remained low and that’s the way they like it.

On to the recipe!

While combing thru, “Cooking With Friends: Strawberry Volunteer Fire Department”, I stopped on a recipe for Hawaiian Banana Nut Bread and boy am I glad I did!!

Couple things:

  1. It’s hard to find an 8oz can of pineapple anymore. You’re just gonna have to either double this recipe or eat the rest of a 20 Oz can.
  2. When Willene Massey tells you to put 1 1/2 cups of oil in a bread recipe, do it. She knows what she’s talking about.
  3. The batter is super thick. It’s going to be okay.
  4. It says to cook it for 1 hour and 5 minutes. I didn’t believe Willene so I put mine on for 50 minutes. Turns out that you need to cook it for 1 hour and 5 minutes. If you’re like me, you won’t believe her either so just keep a watch on it.

That’s it. It’s fabulous!!

Cooking Without Photos – Festive Lemon Bread

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Hello all! I’ve been focusing on trying not to melt. It’s been sooooo stinkin’ hot here. I haven’t even turned the oven on in 4 days. My family was starting to revolt so I figured I’d make more than one thing since the oven was on anyway. So, we had dinner and I made some dessert too. Score!

This week we travel to good ol’ Dickinson, North Dakota. Have I ever been there? Nope. I picked up this cookbook in Conway, AR at a thrift store. Whooop! Maybe someday I’ll get out west. There’s a lot out that way that I’d like to see. It’s just that..well, the beach isn’t that way…unless I drive super far!

I digress, Dickinson, ND. Dickinson was founded by a New Yorker named W. S. Dickinson in 1881. In just one short year, there were 100 buildings in Dickinson. Growth was helped out immensely by the railroad.

I had no idea, but a HUGE population of folks from the Ukraine settled there. They even have a Ukrainian Cultural Institute there. I’d love to see that!

On the total opposite end of the tourist spectrum is the Dickinson Dinosaur Museum. I know a little boy that would probably trade some Pokémon cards to get into that museum.

Now I read down the list of notable people from Dickinson and I only recognized one name and it was the actor who played Emmett Cullen from the Twilight movies 😬. Maybe some of you sports freaks will find their list more interesting.

On to the recipe!

This is a pretty big cookbook. I didn’t get too far at all thru, “ A Harvest Of Recipes: St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church Dickinson, North Dakota” and stumbled across Festive Lemon Bread. Puddin in bread?! Let’s do it!

Couple things:

  1. Salad oil = Vegetable oil
  2. I thought 1/4 cup of poppy seeds was too much. Turns out that it was a fine amount.

Perfect! Y’all enjoy!!

Cooking Without Photos – Broccoli Cornbread

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We take a short trip to Bee Branch, Arkansas this week.

Did you know Bee Branch got their name because there was a beehive in a tree near the post office? This info came from Wikipedia so I’m not actually sure if it’s true😆. One thing is for sure, small town livin’ is still prime and knowing your neighbor is king.

This week’s selection comes from the book, “Favorite Recipes Of Bluegrass Friends And Fans Of Cadron Creek Bluegrass Park: Bee Branch, Arkansas”. I looked high and low for information regarding the next bluegrass festival with no luck. Like most bluegrass festivals around the state, it seems like this one has folded and it makes me sad.

While reading the book, I remembered my own grandparents traveling to different festivals. Seems like it was fairly often that they were heading out to hear their favorite banjo player. I can’t tell you the last time I heard about a festival happening. Maybe I’m just out of the loop or maybe they are few and far between.😢

I chose Broccoli Cornbread this week. I’ve had it multiple times before thanks to a coworker. I thought it was too good of a bread not to share it. This one is a little different from the one I’ve had. Seems like there should be more liquid or some sour cream or something. Tasty nonetheless. I’ll also add that I’m NOT a fan of Jiffy cornbread and I still love this. Hope you enjoy!

Cooking Without Photos Week 1 – McDonald Biscuits

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Wahoo! We made it to 2023!!!

This year I decided to take my community cookbooks and put them to work. I love picking up community/church cookbooks from all over. We’ll go on vacation and I’m gathering spiral bound pieces of history. Fundraisers come around and I’ve gotta have some local flavor. There are so many recipes in these books that have been forgotten over the years.

So my goal for the year is to cook one recipe per week from a different community cookbook, share the recipe with you and take a photo of what it’s supposed to look like. I’ll also share the cookbook I took it from and a little about the community that put the cookbook together. Voila! Cooking Without Photos has been born! Here it goes!

Cooking Without Photos Week 1
I’m starting 2023 off with my home of Harmony, AR. These days Harmony is a sleepy community on Hwy 10 with not even one store (although Williams Junction should be opening back up this year).

At one time, Harmony had its own grist mill, saw mill, a cotton gin, school and post office. Several of the founding families are still keeping the community alive today. My family has been in the area for several generations, but some have lived there from the very beginning.

One of the first structures built in the area was a church. Harmony Baptist Church started out as a log cabin in 1872 and then rebuilt into the brick building that stands there today.

This week my recipe comes from, “Feeding The Flock: Harmony Baptist Church and Friends”.
I’d never heard of “McDonald” biscuits before. Three ingredients and that’s it🤷🏻‍♀️ When I read the recipe, all I could think of was, this must be one of those recipes you make when you just don’t have a lot of anything. I gave ‘er a whirl.

Y’all, these are the fluffiest biscuits I’ve ever tasted! Not a biscuit you could easily put a piece of sausage on, because they are just puffs of cotton! For sure a biscuit you could pinch up for gravy.

Suggestion: I made them twice trying to make them better. Make sure you mix the sour cream and bisquick together before adding in the sprite. You’ll need less than 1/4 cup. Like literally a splash and you should be able to cut the biscuits out. I put too much both times so I spooned them out. 😆 practice! I’ll for sure make them again and I don’t even like bisquick.

Too much Sprite.


The recipe doesn’t say anything about spraying the pan. I tested one spot not sprayed and they stuck like crazy. Spray dat pan! Also not listed, they need to cook about 12-15 minutes.

Still too much Sprite, but we’re getting there!
Whew! Much better and this was with about 3 tablespoons of Sprite.

Hope you like them as much as we did❤️❤️❤️