Banana Sandwiches and Fried Cornbread

UPDATE:

***** Kitchen Tip Tuesday is up!********* For more tips go to Tammy's Recipes.

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Its Kitchen Tip Tuesday, but I'm not sure if Tammy will be able to host it today. She and her husband have packed up their entire household within an eight day span and are moving across several states to a new home and job. So, good luck Tammy! We are thinking of you and hope to hear from you.

I've had a few people ask me about banana sandwiches and fried cornbread. These are a couple of typically Southern foods I guess. I grew up eating banana sandwiches on Sunday night. They are delicious and nutritious. We now eat them for the main part of a meal or as a side to fried chicken or pork chops. They are also excellent for picnics or tailgating.

They are easy to make! These are the ingredients:



If you've never had a banana sandwich before, I urge you to use good old fashioned very fresh, soft white bread and real mayo the first time, so you can get the real deal. After that, if you want to, you can use the more healthy whole wheat bread and low fat mayo.

All you do is put mayo on your two pieces of bread, slice the bananas on there and eat! Another variation I love is to put peanut butter on one of the slices! Yum!



Now, as to cornbread, I'm fairly new at making that. My mother made it all my life, but I never really cared for it when I was younger. My husband would mention it now and then and wish for it. Since I have been spending a lot of time with my mother this summer and cooking for her, I learned how to make it. It is so easy and very inexpensive to make. Its a great bread to be used with lots of meals, especially fish.

I think any cornmeal would be fine, but this is the one I currently have. We have lots of cornmeal brands made right here in North Carolina and some are made just down the road. You can use yellow or white corn meal.




For six pieces of cornbread I used one cup of corn meal and about 1 cup of water. Just put the cornmeal in a bowl and add the water until its a little soupy, but not too soupy. Keep stirring it with a fork. My mother uses her hand to smoosh it up. If you think its too soupy, let it sit a couple of minutes and it will thicken up or just add a tiny bit more cornmeal until its just right.



Put some oil in a frying pan, just enough to cover the bottom well, not too deep. Heat the oil on medium high heat and then spoon a couple of spoonfuls into the pan. Push it flat with your spoon so it spreads out some. The thinner, crispier and browner the bread is the better. Just so its not burned. Sprinkle salt and pepper on the cornbread as it is cooking. When that side is brown, dark brown is best, turn it, sprinkle salt and pepper on the other side and when the remaining side is brown enough, remove and drain on paper towels. Its best eaten right out of the frying pan so its crispy, but we eat left over cornbread too.







Another variation I like is to put just a little chopped onion in the batter. It gives a similar flavor to onion rings, but is not overwhelmingly oniony.

Both of these foods are very inexpensive. I honestly don't remember how much this bag of corn meal cost, but it wasn't more than a couple of dollars. In rural North Carolina, from the depression on, fried cornbread was a staple.