Even though the internet is my mecca for recipe-finding, I have amassed quite a few cookbooks over the past few years. Some were inherited from my mom, who is honest with herself and knew she would never use them, some I received as gifts when I began to show an active interest in the kitchen and there’s one that I actually purchased on my own because I just couldn’t resist.

Of all the books and cooking magazines lining the shelves in the breakfast area outside my kitchen (which I like to call it my”dining room” but people laugh at me. My apartment is about 500 square feet), there is one that I love flipping through the most.

The Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook is chock-full of classic recipes. Most of them are fairly basic, so I can doctor them a little to add my own twist on the comforting soups and breads and cookies that remind me of watching my mother cook recipes from my grandmother’s big brown recipe box – which is no smaller than a large shoebox.

There are also plenty of photos and instructions for trickier talents that I haven’t yet mastered: making pastry dough and roasting chickens and stuffed pork loin. I love the nostalgic feel of the photos in the book. A far cry from the flashy, modern food photograph we’re used to today, but charming nonetheless.

Whenever I’m in the mood to make bread, I typically look to banana bread as an easy option. Carrot and zucchini based breads are great, but they require a lot of shredding which I don’t always have the time or patience for. And since I often overestimate the amount of bananas I can actually eat in a week, I usually have a few on their last leg, begging to be baked with.

Banana-Nut Bread (from Better Homes & Gardens)

Ingredients:
1/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1 well beaten egg
1 cup bran (I used All Bran Buds cereal)
2 T water
1 1/2 cups mashed banana
1 1/2 cups sifted enriched flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chopped nuts (I used walnuts but if I’d had pecans I would have used those instead)

Directions:

1. Cream shortening and sugar; add egg, then bran and mix thoroughly.

2. Combine water and bananas; add alternately with sifted dry ingredients. Mix thoroughly; add vanilla and nuts.

3. Bake in a paper-lined loaf pan in a moderate oven (350F) for about one hour. Cool before slicing. Serves 12.