I love bananas, but sometimes I forget I have them, a week or two passes and suddenly my bananas are very black. So I started to freeze them, figuring one day I'd learn to make banana bread, something I love, but for which I don't have a family recipe. Eventually I had several bananas crowding my freezer, so I did my research online and chose this recipe.

With a few tweaks (half the sugar and a tablespoon of cinnamon… and sometimes half a cup of pecans), the banana bread this recipe produces is the best I've found. It's incredibly easy to make, unfailingly tasty and always turns out a perfect product.

My dad is from Texas, so southern, Texan-style cooking is a big deal to him. Aside from brisket, jalapeños-in-everything and barbecue, cornbread is one of my dad's absolute favorite things to eat, and we've always made it using one recipe. The one on the side of the Albers' box, with a couple of extra additions… bacon grease and jalapeños anyone?

Now that I live on the East Coast, I can't find Albers cornmeal, so I'm stuck using whatever they have at the store. I quickly found that the Albers recipe couldn't be beat, and searched long and hard to find this particular link.

It's a good thing, too, as my boyfriend loves cornbread, and prefers it with less sugar. He also doesn't like the addition of peppers and bacon grease, so sadly that recipe only gets made when I visit my parents.