Grandma's Banana Bread

 My heart skips when I think about this bread.  I remember hearing my Grandmother telling me about this recipe over the phone.  I called her from the grocery store on several occasions to ask her for ingredients to a certain recipe.  I would call her from my kitchen A LOT to ask for cooking advice.  I cooked with her from as long ago as I can remember.  There are some recipes, like her famous fudge that I was never able to master.  My Mom, Aunt and Cousins still talk about Grandma's prominence in the kitchen.  I love to cook mainly because of her.  Anyway, this is the recipe that Grandma taught me (It's Zula's recipe.  Zula was Grandma's Uno partner.) 

Banana Bread

1 cup sugar

1 stick margarine 

2 large eggs

3 ripe bananas

1 Tablespoon Buttermilk *

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon Cinnamon *

2 cups self rising flour

1 cup chopped pecans

( * I have added these 2 items after reading some other recipes for banana bread on the Internet.)

Preheat oven to 325.  Grease loaf pan.  Cream sugar and butter.  Add the eggs one at a time.   Add vanilla and buttermilk to eggs mixture.  In separate bowl mash the bananas with fork.  In another bowl, sift 2 cups of self rising flour with cinnamon.   Add mashed up banana to egg mixture and stir until combined.  Add dry ingredients, mixing just until flour disappears.  Fold in pecans.  Pour batter into loaf pan and bake for about 1 hour.  Half-way through, I usually cover the bread with foil to make sure the top doesn't get too brown.   The bread is done when a knife stuck in the center comes out clean.