"To Louisa food was a means of expression. She offered comfort and gave pleasure with food. She used it to say hello, extend friendship or sympathy, to show thanks, or to say goodbye. Food was more than just nutrition for the body. It was creativity, alchemy, magic."
Louisa is the heroine of The Creaking Tree and a food-writer, so of course food plays a large roll in the book. There are countless references to recipe ideas--sweet pea cupcakes, apple salsa, cheese tortellini with a pumpkin sauce . . . There is also more than one complete recipe in the book.
Louisa loves to give delectable, homemade food as gifts, and her go-to recipe is chocolate chip banana bread. While the recipe appears in the book, I thought I'd also share it here with you. This banana bread recipe comes from my husband's grandmother, Betty, and is by leaps and bounds the best banana bread I have ever eaten. Incredibly moist, sweet but not too sweet. My mother-in-law, Edye, added the chocolate chips, and the recipe has been passed down to me.
Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
Ingredients: 2 cups flour dash of salt 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 3 very ripe bananas 2 eggs 1/2 cup shortening 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed 1 cup dark chocolate chips Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease loaf pan. In a medium bowl, sift flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda together; set aside. In a small bowl, mash bananas and combine with the eggs; set aside. In a large bowl, cream shortening with brown sugar. Stir the banana mixture into the shortening mixture. Gradually add the flour mixture into the third bowl while mixing. Combine well. Fold in the chocolate chips. Pour batter into loaf pan. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until the center of the loaf sets.
Enjoy!