I have been making this bread for so long that I don't even remember where I found it originally. It's a moist quick bread full of yummy bits of goodness. I add an almond glaze to the recipe and love it, but it's optional to your taste. I just take powdered sugar, a bit of almond extract extract, and enough water to make a glaze and pour it on top of the slightly cooled loaf. This last time I used cream of coconut and powdered sugar. Sorry I don't have measurements for the glaze.
Banana Coconut Loaf
1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. flaked coconut
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/2 c. walnuts, chopped
1/2 c. maraschino cherries, cut up
2 eggs
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter, melted
1 c. ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 t. almond extract
Preheat oven to 350ยบ. Grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan.
Mix together flour, coconut, baking powder, baking soda, salt, chopped walnuts and cherries. Break eggs in a mixing bowl, and beat until light. Add sugar and melted butter. Beat well. Stir in mashed banana and extract. Add flour mixture, and stir just to combine. Spoon into greased loaf pan.
Bake for 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let stand for 10 minutes, and remove from pan. Cool.
My classes are over for the summer and I am so excited to have time to just BE with my children. I have so many notes in my notebook and thoughts and feelings in my heart and head that I'd love to share, along with a few recipes, when I have a few minutes to post here and there. But I want to leave a quick thought and some beautiful music, OF COURSE.
This last week was a single adult conference (for anyone single 31 to death) and there were some workshops that are like BYU Education Week or Women's Conference classes, which I love. So I was happy I was able to attend those. The theme was "Be still and know that I am God". Several of the speakers talked about the importance of being patient with the Lord's timing and will and learning to live joyfully now, even as we are waiting for future blessings. Can you imagine why they'd say that to a big group of wanna-be- married-for-eternity-but-instead-alone people? But obviously this same message applies to all of us.
One of the wonderful classes was this group of women One Clear Voice (Tammy Simister Robinson, Johanne Frechette Perry, Tanya Barkdull, LaRene Tinney) who I had never heard before. They shared their beautiful voices and also a few thoughts and their testimonies. Powerful!
I could seriously write a post on every song, so listen to them all. One that they sang that has touched me so deeply is "Gratitude", song #11 above. You will know it's great when I tell you the song is by Nichole Nordeman if you know who she is. These women sing it so perfectly to send the message directly to my heart. I am working on having gratitude even and especially during trials. We all pass through very difficult times while on this earth, but there is no shortage of blessings during those struggles. In fact, if we look, we can find so much to be grateful for every day when "in the midst of affliction". We just have to use our faith in our Heavenly Father that the blessings He is giving us now are the ones we need now. Yeah, "just" that.
Gratitude
Lyrics and music by Nichole Nordeman
Send some rain, would You send some rain? 'Cause the earth is dry and needs to drink again And the sun is high and we are sinking in the shade Would You send a cloud, thunder long and loud? Let the sky grow black and send some mercy down Surely You can see that we are thirsty and afraid But maybe not, not today Maybe You'll provide in other ways And if that's the case . . .
We'll give thanks to You With gratitude For lessons learned in how to thirst for You How to bless the very sun that warms our face If You never send us rain
Daily bread, give us daily bread Bless our bodies, keep our children fed Fill our cups, then fill them up again tonight Wrap us up and warm us through Tucked away beneath our sturdy roofs Let us slumber safe from danger's view this time Or maybe not, not today Maybe You'll provide in other ways And if that's the case . . .
We'll give thanks to You With gratitude A lesson learned to hunger after You That a starry sky offers a better view if no roof is overhead And if we never taste that bread Oh, the differences that often are between What we want and what we really need
So grant us peace, Jesus, grant us peace Move our hearts to hear a single beat Between alibis and enemies tonight Or maybe not, not today Peace might be another world away And if that's the case . . .
We'll give thanks to You With gratitude For lessons learned in how to trust in You That we are blessed beyond what we could ever dream In abundance or in need And if You never grant us peace
