Banana Bread and Charlotte

I love ooey, gooey banana bread.  I grew up eating banana bread made with shortening.  It was yummy, but we all know that we are not supposed to eat shortening anymore.  So, I've been on the hunt for a yummy, yet healthy (or healthier), banana bread recipe.  I've found one!  I've found MORE THAN ONE!  Here's one from foodnetwork.com:

Ingredients

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 large eggs
• 3 ripe bananas
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan.

Cream the sugar and butter in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

In a small bowl, mash the bananas with a fork. Mix in the milk and cinnamon. In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Add the banana mixture to the creamed mixture and stir until combined. Add dry ingredients, mixing just until flour disappears.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Set aside to cool on a rack for 15 minutes. Remove bread from pan, invert onto rack and cool completely before slicing.

Spread slices with honey or serve with ice cream

I especially liked the last sentence.  But this banana bread's so good, you don't need any toppings.

And here's another one from allrecipes.com:

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

You can't go wrong with either recipe.  Promise!

And, now let me tell you about Charlotte...

We watched the good ol' version of Charlotte's Web recently.  My poor tenderhearted big girl started getting teary-eyed when Charlotte was about to die.  She turned and looked at me with a half-smile on her face and eyes full of tears.  It was as if she either a) knew Charlotte wasn't real and therefore, wasn't really dying, and therefore tears were unnecessary, or b) was a bit surprised and embarrassed by this sudden emotion prompted by a movie.  I immediately felt tears spring into my eyes and said, "Oh, baby girl, come here!"  She came and crawled in my lap and we laugh-cried together as Charlotte died.  I realize that sounds strange; but, while we were sad at Charlotte's death, we still felt a bit silly crying over a spider that's not even real.  Laugh-cry.

After the movie was over, I said, "You get that from your momma. I cry at movies all the time."  And as we were chatting, my sweet girl just began to sob.  I held her and rocked her as her baby sister sat beside us, sucking her fingers, looking on quizzically.  It was the perfect segway into "the talk" about compassion.  I asked her if she knew why she was crying.  She shook her head and the crying subsided to deep breaths and lots of nose blowing as I explained that she had a tender heart and that God could use that to help others.  We talked about feeling bad for someone when they are sad or hurting.  And we talked about trying to help people that we know are hurting.  I could not believe how perfectly God orchestrated an opportunity for me to give her "the talk."  She listened while I rattled on, but as soon as I was done, she started crying again.  She cried, off and on, for almost an hour.  The living room floor and their bedroom floor looked like they were covered in snow because of all the tissues.  And the next morning she said her nose was sore from so blowing it so much.  Ahhh.  Sweet child of mine.

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We looked up some verses about compassion/being tender-hearted, and this was my favorite...

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.  (NIV)

Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.  (NASB)

Ephesians 4:32.

I couldn't decide which translation I liked better, so I decided to share both.  At first the forgiveness part seemed out of place in the context of our particular discussion, but then again, just as we have compassion on others when we can see life from their perspective, isn't it easier to forgive others that hurt us when we are willing to see the situation through their eyes, understand their stories, and feel their pain?  Perhaps it is their own pain that drives them to hurt us in the first place.  And, yes, sometimes those that are hurting are the hardest to love.  But we have to have compassion on them or we could find ourselves being hurtful to them...and then requiring THEIR forgiveness.  I'll let you ponder that.