Day 101 - Mother's Day and Baked Bananas

On this Mother's Day, I want to say a HUGE thank you to my wonderful mother. 
Also to both of my grandmothers and both of my aunts, and of course, my mother-in-law.
Each of these women has been a huge part of my life and have been such an influence on the woman I am today.
It goes without saying that my mother was my very best friend right up until the day she died.  We were so close that I even called her up to tell her about the first time I made out with a boy and that was before there were cell phones.
I know, it's weird.
Growing up, I was extremely blessed to be very close to both sets of my grandparents, emotionally and in proximity.  My father's parents lived next door and my mother's, about 10 minutes away.  It was awesome and what made it even better was that I was the first grandchild on both sides for the first 8 years of my life. 
You could say I was a little spoiled.
Also, because my mother and my father have one sister each, we are a close extended family, and I'd visit each of them and their families growing up.
And my wonderful mother-in-law raised a kind, compassionate, caring, loyal, loving and very hard-working man.
This man has given me the greatest blessings of my life, our three children, allowing me to fulfill my greatest dream of becoming a mother.
I wouldn't change it for anything.

Being Mother's Day, this mother took it easy today in the baking department.  I wanted to be able to relax and enjoy the time with the family and I did just that. 
I baked bananas tonight.  I've never had them, but have heard about them being flambeed and being yummy, so wanted to try it.  I didn't go the flambee route though - no rum.
I used the Fannie Farmer Cookbook Thirteenth Edition, p.721; author, Marion Cunningham; publisher, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. a division of Random House; ISBN 0-394-56788-9.

Baked Bananas

4 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 firm, ripe bananas
4 tablespoons dark brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 375ºF.
Put the butter, lemon rind, and lemon juice in a baking dish.

Place it in the oven for 2-3 minutes, just long enough to melt the butter; remove and stir.
Peel the bananas, cut them in half lengthwise and put them in the baking dish, turning so they are coated with the butter mixture. 

Sprinkle the brown sugar over them and bake for 15 minutes.

 

I served them with ice cream and Hershey's chocolate sauce, 'cause what goes better with bananas than chocolate?  Ok, maybe peanut butter.

The kids didn't like them at all and I thought they were a little bizarre.  I couldn't taste ANY banana, only lemon, lemon rind, and some brown sugar.  Weird.  Maybe it was because I cut the bananas in half and it doesn't say to do that.  So if you want to try this you may want to leave them whole and see how it turns out.  Yeah, no one liked it, so I won't be making this again.
I rate things that I bake on a scale of 1-4 with 4 being the best and these baked bananas earn 1 rolling pin.  My son said a 0, but that isn't on the scale.
Happy baking and a big, big thank you again to all the amazing mothers in my life!