A Tale of Two Loaves

Banana All-Bran Nut Bread – Breads & Rolls, Pg. 67 – Hazel Allen (Mrs. Robert)



Ahhh…Banana Bread…nothing says Fall like the smell of quick breads wafting from the oven. Three ripe bananas under siege by an army of fruit flies were the inspiration to try this next test recipe. For some, bananas, spotted and black are destined for the compost bin, for others – they are inspiration for a delicious quick bread!

The Dutch Oven’s Banana All-Bran Nut Bread is a nice enough recipe – all be it a little on the healthy side. We only made a couple of modification to this recipe. The first was the replacement of nuts with chocolate chips. We’re not a fan of nuts in baked goods – this may seem strange to some of you, but we know there are others out there – We’re here! We don’t like nuts in baked goods! Get used to it! Besides, 85% of bakers agree that the addition of chocolate makes everything better (this statistic is totally made up). Secondly we replaced the cup of all-bran with unprocessed bran – we figured this would blend better then the cereal bran. Overall this recipe is short on all the things that make banana bread so delicious – shortening, sugar, eggs, etc. Let’s not forget, this was the 50’s, and ingredients were not as accessible as they are today. As a result some recipes are reserved in their ingredients and often take advantage of ingredients on hand such as all-bran to reduce the amount of flour required. This recipe was good, and if you’re looking for a healthy banana bread recipe, this would be a great one to try.



Unfortunately this recipe left Peter yearning for the Banana bread of his youth. For a light fluffy bread, rich with delicious ingredients and loaded with sugar – Peter’s Mom’s recipe can’t be beat!

½ Cup Shortening
1 Cup White Sugar
2 Eggs (lightly beaten)
3 Medium Bananas (mashed)
2 Cups Flour
4 Tsp Baking Powder
1 Tsp Salt
1 Cup Chocolate Chips (optional)



Cream sugar and shortening, add eggs (whisk until smooth), add mashed bananas. Combine dry ingredient and gently mix with your wet ingredients until combined. Place mixture in 9x5 loaf pan (greased and floured). Bake 45-60 minutes at 325°F. Nuts could be added as well if you're into that sort of thing...

Deconstructing the Dutch Oven

The Dutch Oven Diaries is a blog dedicated to deconstructing the recipes of the Dutch Oven Cookbook. A cookbook of coveted traditional recipes from the Kitchens of Lunenburg originally produced by the Ladies Auxiliary of the Lunenburg Hospital Society and published in 1953 in celebration of the town's bicentennial anniversary. The Dutch Oven Cookbook, a piece of artwork in itself, contains hand-written recipes and illustrations by the recipe authors themselves. This can create a bit of challenge at times depending on the author’s penmanship! These Lunenburg Ladies of the 50’s were pros – most of whom would prepare their recipes from memory, rarely depending on a written recipe. As a result, many of the recipes leave gaps from a directional point of view – temperatures, cooking times and detailed instructions are often omitted. This undoubtably will lead to some trial and error – or if worst comes to worst – you can pick up the phone and call the author for more detail – something we had to do in preparing for our first recipe blog entry “Mama's Little Rhubarb” (to be posted soon). The author wasn’t home, so we had to wing it, but many of the authors are still cookin’ and reside in the town of Lunenburg. The illustration on the cover of the Dutch Oven Cookbook was provided by famous Lunenburg Artist Earl Bailly while other full page illustrations throughout the book were provided by Phillip Backman.


Julie Powell (The Julie/Julia Project) we are not and French cooking this ain't! The authors of the Dutch Oven were/are not Julia Child, in fact, they probably did not even know who Julia Child was as the Dutch Oven Cookbook was published 8 years before the Art of French Cooking. Many of the recipes in the Dutch Oven are quite simple in execution while others are quite complex. While many of the recipes would have been part of our childhood, many we’ve not had the pleasure of experiencing. Eel, Rabbit and beef tongue are not ingredients that we are accustomed to using – and quite frankly never wanted to. However, this adventure is about keeping an open mind and experiencing all the culinary delights of our ancestors. In doing so we commit to preparing all 447 pages worth of recipes in the Dutch Oven Cookbook!

The recipes of the Dutch Oven Cookbook have been passed from generation to generation, and while the cookbook has been modified a bit since its original publishing in 1953 - some of the recipe names and hand drawn illustrations have been revised to reflect a more politically correct era - the recipes remain original, and are steeped in Lunenburg’s long history and traditions!


Jan Young (mild mannered accountant by day) and Peter Johnson (mild mannered Civil Servant by day), are lifelong friends and self proclaimed foodies by night...and just about any other time they're not working...and sometimes when they're working. Originally from Lunenburg (born and raised), they will take on the challenge of cooking and sharing their culinary adventures as they cook and blog their way through the Dutch Oven Cookbook - a commitment to reproduce every recipe - the good, the bad and the Delicious!!

If you have a passion for food, history, tradition and the culinary arts in general -Join us as we flashback to the 1950's and follow in the footsteps of some of Lunenburg's finest original foodies. Join us through our culinary triumphs and defeats as we tackle Lunenburg's oldest and most cherished cookbook.