Grilled Bananas – Not Just For Weird People :)
My first thoughts when getting ready to write this post were “They’re gonna think I am weird”.
But honestly, if you are just now figuring that out about me, we got us one Jim Dandy of a learning curve here. Just about all Southerners are weird (the good ones at least). Where else do folks call every carbonated beverage a “coke” or “co-cola” despite flavor, brand, or location? Where else are you considered unfit to drive if you forget to wave at a car going down the road (I was once forced to pull over and relinquish the wheel during a driving lesson when I didn’t wave back at someone). And where else is a delivery man considered rude if he refuses to sit down and have a glass of tea before going? This is just the tip of the iceberg but you get my point.
Now outside of the south, folks might call our weird behavior “eccentric” but everybody knows eccentric is just weirdness puttin’ on airs and Southerners don’t put on no airs. See that? Here I am a bona fide member of Sigma Tau Delta and I just used a double negative without blinking.
My Mama must be so proud!
So here we go, a weird food post. Now you know I’m not going to bring you something unless I absolutely love it. This wins bonus points with me also because it uses up food that might otherwise have gone bad or wasted and that’s another tender spot of mine.
People that come from my kind of people don’t like to waste food.
It seems like if you’ve had a single generation in your family tree that has gone without, you have an natural horror at throwing away anything that is still fit to eat. You know all those studies coming out every five minutes about how the South has the highest obesity rate? Newsflash folks, its coz we used to be hungry and we’re still a partyin’ over being able to walk into the Piggly Wiggly and leave with the makings of a Thanksgiving dinner in the middle of August.
Oh I know, I know, we could all use a little less partyin’ but today I’m showing you how not to waste fruit and even though it has some brown sugar and a bit of margarine in it, it is still a whole heap healthier than some of the things they serve in fancy restaurants so get off m’tractor and lets get cookin’!
This is a great last minute dessert to have while you’re grilling out.
Just put them on when you put your hamburgers on and wait til they turn good and black.
Don’t you just love it when you make food that is SUPPOSED to turn black? Me too.
You’re gonna need: Bananas, Margarine (or butter if you prefer), and Brown Sugar.
Use light or dark brown sugar, whatever you have on hand is fine.
We also found that a little cinnamon is DIVINE mixed in as well.
Moosh up your margarine and brown sugar really good.
Until you have a nice pasty mixture like this.
If you don’t get you a pinch of that I’m going to be very disappointed in you.
Anytime you are making something with brown sugar, it’s very bad luck not to taste it.
This is according to the ancient wisdom of Christydom.
Lay your banana on its side and cut a slit in it but don’t go through the bottom of the peel.
Stuff it with your brown sugar mixture.
Set it on the grill. It doesn’t have to be any special temperature, just whatever you have it set on for what you are cooking is fine.
Watch it ….
Your banana is cooking to ooey gooey goodness.
Almost done but not quite. Lets let it get nice and black.
NOW we’re talkin’!
This is delicious served alongside ice cream. You can eat it out of the peel or…
Take it out and chop it up a bit to use as a topping for your ice cream. The ice cream featured here is my sister in law, Tina’s recipe for homemade custard that she got from her Mama Dove. Anything from a Southern Woman named Mama Dove is good – especially with grilled bananas!
Grilled Bananas
- 1 Cup brown sugar (light or dark)
- 1/2 C Margarine or butter
- 5-6 bananas
- 1 tsp of cinnamon (optional but delicious)
With a fork, mash together brown sugar and margarine until well blended (add cinnamon if desired). Lay each banana on its side and cut a slit along the length, being careful not to go through the bottom peel. Stuff with mixture. Place on grill along with other food and cook until blackened. Serve warm with ice cream or eat on it’s own!
There are countless other ways Southerners are weird but I’m having a hard time coming up with them because – well, weirdness is so very normal to us. This is where you come in.
How are we weird? What are some of the strange things Southerners do that only make sense below the Mason Dixon Line? Don’t worry about chiming in if you are of the Northern Persuasion, we’re really good at laughing at ourselves and would love your take on us. Just remember to be gentle coz we love y’all and we hope to drag you down here and feed you one day and get you to tell us how your Mawmaw did things back in her kitchen.
Gratefully,
Christy 
If you’re not using your smile, you’re like someone with a million dollars in the bank and no check book.
~Les Giblin To submit your quote, click here.
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Southern weirdness. How ’bout mayonnaise sandwiches? I ate a lot of those when I was little and it was just before payday and we were out of lunch meat or cheese. Or one of Mama’s favorites- banana sandwiches made with mayonnaise?
I have to agree with ya- what other people may call weirdness is the common behavior around these parts.
Forgot to comment at all on the recipe. I know a little boy who would love this and next time I cook out I’ll have to toss a couple on the grill for him.
OMG! I thought is was just my weird Mama who ate mayonnaise and banana sandwiches. We ate mayonnaise sandwiches growing up too! Maybe we got the same Mama!
My daddy ate mayo and banana sandwiches. I learned it from him and I thought I was the only person besides him that ate them!
I grew up eating banana sandwhiches and I still love them on some fresh Sunbeam bread. The best thing to eat for lunch in the summer.
this makes me sad I am allergic to bananas
oh honey, I’m so sorry!
~smiles sheepishly~
“Does this mean I can have yours?”
~batts lashes~
Don’t worry, I’ll come up with somethin’ you can eat on m’next post!
Gratefully,
Christy
“Bless your heart” comes in handy here also!
Ooooh.. bananaieeee goodness.
*drools into his keyboard and fries all the breadcrumbs that have fallen into it…
Good stuff lady!
My whole family salts sliced cheese, watermelon, cantalope, grapefruit and apples! I’ve heard others comment that this is wierd. Also, pineapple slices with mayo.
Angie –
With all the negative things people say about salt, we call it watermelon seasoning, squash seasoning, pinto bean seasoning, etc.. It’s all good. – Richard
I’ll have to remember that!
~snickers~
Richard, You’re the best! LOL
I salt my watermelon and cantaloupe,too! Now I gotta try grapefruit and apples….
I’m SO glad there are “others” out there!!
Thank you for being weird like me
Gratefully,
Christy )
My Poppaw Brown always put salt and pepper on his cantelope. Can’t say if it was good or not, I never tried it.
As for “Southern Wierdness” my family had quiet a few dealing with food. (If you knew my family and me you would roll your eyes and say, “I would have never guessed it has to do with food!”) My Poppaw Cecil always liked Fried green onions (of course with bacon grease) with cornbread–mighty good! He also put butter in his coffee. I had many butter (dripping) and sugar biscuits at his knee. Both sides of the family had red-eye gravy. Of course there is the Chocolate Syrup (gravy) that everyone in the South eats. It’s a wonder we all didn’t die of high cholestrol by the age of 10!
Just an aside: My roommate from college was from St. Louis, MO. She always said she knew when my family had called because my accent got deeper and longer when I answered the phone! Still happens to this day when my Daddy and Momma call!!!
I’m passing this along to her so she can join in with her own thoughts on Southern Wierdness. She married a guy from Chatt. and now lives in South Alabama. One day she may understand all the wierdness and think nothing of it!
Hope
My dad used to salt the whole watermelon.. and I hated it. I finally whined enough to where he stopped doing it lol.
Also a salter … I was in college before I knew that people actually put sugar on grapefruit. My roommates did – I was shocked. I got out my salt shaker – they were shocked, too.
Every try black pepper on cantalope? Yummy, with salt too. I also eat salt on grapefruit and apples, and grapes!
What on earth would cantalope be WITHOUTH BLACK PEPPER??? How about some good milk gravy (full of black pepper) over that cantalope?? MMM – i gotta quit reading these posts – i had to change my pants yesterday cause they were a little snug in the bug (if ya know what i mean)).
I could go for this. Don’t think I could go for Pineapple slices with mayo like Angie above me there..
I might have to make these for my banana loving family..
and…when do we get the homemade custard recipe??? I’m thinking the bananas might get a little lonely without it..
You are absolutely right. I promise it is coming up. It was so delicious I can’t even describe it!
Those look yummy! Bet peanut butter added to them would be good too!!! Mmmm….
I bet this would be good with southern churned homemade ice cream. I was invited to a party last week and was told to bring my own homemade ice cream. I thought, “I’m from the north— I have NO CLUE how to do that!” So I brought some toppings instead and watched about 15 true Alabamians bring their homemade ice cream concoctions. It’s 2nd nature to them!
LOL!
We always had peach homemade ice cream at summer gatherings. It was so good! I don’t think we were ever able to wait until it was really done before digging in!
When I used to work at a credit union in Huntsville we used to make this ice cream in the kitchen there that had strawberry coke in it. my goodness that was good!
Yeah, we weren’t really work oriented…
hehe
CJ
One more thing–my sis-in-law makes the best Grapico Ice Cream. Bet you find that North of the Mason Dixion!!
Hope
My mother’s baby brother always wanted home made biscuits with home meade Ice Cream. The first biscuits I every made was for him. I used up 5 pounds of flour making those biscuts before I got them right. Uncle Charles is gone now, but I still get the urge to make him some now and again. He was a true southerner as I and my whole family are.
Yum yum yum. I love bananas when they’re cooked. In fact I have some bananas I have taken to work with me this week, the intention was to eat them during the day as a snack while I work. But the days have passed and I think I’m gonna let them get over ripe in my office drawers so that I can batter them up and deep fry them. This happens a lot. My colleague always say it smells like banana when I open my desk drawers.
LOL!
My husband used to keep a jar of peanut butter and a jar of jelly along with a loaf of bread in his desk drawer. That is how he ate as a single guy. You’d think he’d appreciate me more! lol
Anniversary is in three days so I guess we’ll see…..
Gratefully,
Christy
P.S.So excited about October!
You’re telling me! It’s exactly 50 days until I fly away!
I will let you know all the details once I have it all sorted out.
Oh my goodness!! You know how to make a girl cry….and salivate heavily!
You are too good to me! lol
Not that I want to make you cry but…
I have many memories from childhood of sitting under a big old shade tree in the summer with some friends and shaking peanuts into our cokes.
And after reading some other post, I also remember eating cheese and mayo sandwiches and also peanut butter and mayo sandwiches. It have been years since I ate a peanut butter and mayo sandwichs.
You know, I’ve always heard a lot of “weird sandwich”stories. I reckon they come from simple lack of anything better to put on it “back in the day”. I used to eat potato chip sandwiches all the time.
In fact…still do.:)
Gratefully,
Christy
(holding a screaming baby as i type…) i always went to summer camp with a baloney/kraft mayo/yellow mustard sandwich and put my fritos on it. HEAVENLY. good ole days.
Oh, I also remember eating Slaw and mayo sandwiches. That even grossed out my brother! Mission achieved!
Hope
My husband loves to eat peanut butter and bologna sandwiches. I know of another man that eats this too.
I used to eat chip sandwiches too!!
Weird…? Not at all! Try GENIUS!!! These look so good, I have to try them tonight. My kids and husband will want to thank you, I’m sure. Love your recipes!
Thank you SO MUCH, Jacci!!!!
I know I’m awful, but I absolutely thrive on your comments! Y’all talking back to me is what keeps me going!!!!
LOVE you READING My recipes!!!!!
Gratefully,
Christy
Doesn’t seem so weird to me! It reminds me of fried plantains which are a staple of Latin American cooking! I never heard about cooking ordinary bananas, though.
Southern Weirdness…Here in Texas you do not need to call a friend to visit. Just show up and also you can just let yourself in if the door is unlocked. Also Fried Bolonge???spelling ssndwiches are great.
My spelling is awful but what the heck that is also a Southern Weirdness.
I have to sing the song in my head to spell is.
My bologna has a first name…..
Heck I say throw some chocolate and marshmallows in there to melt…now that is SINFUL hehe
I’m with Lindsay, I want that custard recipe soon!
These grilled bananas look scrumpdilious!
Southern weirdness: You have commented about this- every story has food at the very least mentioned, many times it is a focal point. Our love of mayo. A deep fryer is our friend. Everything is better with either butter or bacon- however, I think this is becoming universal! lol
My aunt got me hooked on peanut butter & bacon sandwiches! Yum, pork fat rules!!!!
Another good one we had a lot when we were little was sugar & butter sandwiches. I never thought it was strange, just what we had at the time!!
Get those crinkle cuts (or even better – home cut) fries outta that deep fryer, salt em and season salt em, then add some paprika, suqeeze a dab of lemon juice and dip em in some Hellman’s!!! oooh-whatchyou talkin about!! My son, like me, has a glob of mayo on his plate right beside the glob of Heinz ketchup. We alternate our fries in each one. My hubby doesn’t enjoy the mayo on fries, but he does like a mayo, peanut butter, nanner and bologny san’wich!!
BTW, obesity is more prominent in the South cause we’re just better cooks!!!
If you’re not allergic to nuts add about 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans to the brown sugar/butter mixture before stuffing the banana! YUM YUM
Sooo, I am told that I am “weird” for eating good ‘ol Dukes on my collard greens. Yep, that’s right!! Don’t knock it til ya try it!!
Yummy!
Just last week I was reading a Q&A page in one of my favorite cooking magazines. A reader actually had to ask for suggestions on how to use up a quart jar of mayo before it went bad!! Can you even imagine such a thing?!?
I made these a long time ago in girl scouts but wrapped ‘em up in tin foil and put them in the campfire until they were good and mushy. We used chocolate squares and marshmallows and crushed graham crackers and they were called “banana boats.”
It seems Pimento Cheese spread (Minner-cheese) is also a “Southern Thang”. I was in Wisconsin and I assumed that their’s would be amazing. Could not find it anywhere. I was a little heartbroken.
Plus it ties into the Mayo theme quite well.
You should have just made a little for them so they would KNOW how good it is!! I never buy pimiento cheese when I can make my own – and put wierd things in it!!
And, speaking of weird, my Mom fed us pork and bean sandwiches – which I STILL love. I introduced my hubby to them and he likes tem almost as much as I do!!
Pimento cheese and peanut butter oh yum!
Can’t find it make your own
shredd sharp cheddar
a jar of diced pimentos
mayo to mix.
Hi you all from Texas! I love your blog! I used to love to eat mayo and onion and mayo and pickle sandwiches. Oh my goodness that was when I was pregnant with my youngest son, I have not craved those combinations since then! LOL
Christy,
In my country baked and fried bananas are a popular thing to eat, although we do it a bit differently. We actually slide the banana, lenghwise or in small circular pieces. If it’s lenghtwise, it just goes directly to fry in some oil or butter (real butter), then remove the excess with some paper towels and serve with cream or ice cream. You can also add some rum to the mix while frying to flambe and it tastes even better. If you cut them in circular chunks, then fry both sides for a bit, just enough to brown the ends a bit and soften the banana, then take the pieces off the oil and flatten them like you would a tortilla, soak them for only a second or two in salty water and return them to the oil to finish frying. Those are called tostones and are so good with cream and refried beans. The best bananas for this are the plantain (platano macho).
My mom used to bake bananas in their peel and eat them with butter and sweet condensed milk (La Lechera).
This brings back memories…
Just so happens I”m grilling ribs tonight and just bought bananas so guess I will have to try this! Thanks!
Along the lines of the mayo thread here… That Kraft sandwich spread, bologna (baloney as it’s properly pronounced down here) and white bread. Now that’s good eatin’. Of course it don’t taste quite as good as it did those summers 40 years ago sittin’ on Granny’s back porch eatin’ those with blackberry cobbler and sweet tea. I never could eat the mayo and onion sandwiches my Daddy loved though.
and fry that bologna,too!!! MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
Man, its great to be so easily thrilled.
I just love us!
Gooooooooooooo bananas, go go bananas! Is my little girl the only one who does that cheer? Anyway, these look awesome.
~does her best cheerleader stance and commences with the pacing clap~
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Bananas! Go,go bananas!!!!
You lean to the left, and you lean to the right, and you peel your banana and Unh! Take a bite!
I can remember being a little girl and in the Summertime my Daddy would put a big ol slice of Grainger County (TN) juicy tomato, slice of Vidalia onion, fried bologna, and LOTS of mayo on some fresh Sunbeam bread…it was a favorite of his. In fact, I think it still is!
And I’ll never forget my uncle who used to put Blue Plate mayo in his mashed potatoes!!!
Speaking mayo in the mashed potatoes. It not only goes in all my mashed potatoes but also my cornbread instead of grease. My Daddy taught me that. It comes out so nice and almost cake like–yum yum. Only difference is our mayo is always Bama although I used Blue Plate while living in SC and TX because we couldn’t buy Bama at the store. I usually bought a number of jars while on visits home!
Hope
My girls go to a church camp every summer and make these and I live in the Western States. They wrap them in foil and add almost everything but the kitchen sink it seems. Chocolate, carmel, marshmellows, nuts anything that would go on ice cream, then they throw them on the campfire coals till there done. Great for those of you who love to camp and have a sweet tooth.
Janice,
That’s how I make grill bananas. Girl scout camp.. made banana boats. We put marshmellows and chocolate in the banana, wrapped them in foil and throw them on the fire. YUM YUM! Still eat them to this day.
Yello from Southeast Texas!!!
I have a couple friends, from up North, that thought I was positively out of my mind when I said I liked Coke. When they begin talking about classic Coca-Cola, I stopped them and said, “No, I like Dr. Pepper!”
We are always gettin’ teased about the “Coke” thing.
Also, when it comes to weird, I’ve been told that we are all ‘lazy speakers’. That we leave the “g” off of all our words.
Especially ” ‘em ” Like go get ‘em.
We didn’t do the wave when driving, you do the one finger up off the steerin’ wheel.
It really is hard to think up more “weird” things about us, but like you said……it’s NORMAL to us.
Oh, and so much of my family does the “yell-oh” when they answer the phone or greet someone! LOL And “helluva”.
One lady in my women’s church group said that when she went to Chicago about 2 months ago, she had people asking she and her husband what their horse’s names were and what does their horse and wagon look like. LOL They seriously thought that in Texas, we still use horse and buggy to get around on an everyday basis. My grandmother did for most of her child and teen life, but still….that’s funny! And they all think we have oil wells in our backyard. Oh, and how big our cowboy hats are! LOL Too funny!
That just makes me think they are out of touch and a little odd, NOT US!
Speaking of sandwiches, just last week I was eating a miracle whip and lettuce sandwich! LOL I used to eat those all the time as a kid. And one of my friends from elem school would eat canned mushrooms on mayo/bread. Hmmm….Don’t know about that one!
We do the same thing with coke.
Can I get you something to drink?
Sure, I’ll take a coke.
What kind?
7 Up, thanks.
Unfortunately I think manners are seen as weird southern things. I called a store in Ohio and said yes ma’am to the lady on the line and she started laughing at me and asked if other people down here really say that. I’m just glad her momma didn’t hear her!
Speaking of the horse and buggy thing…when I was about 10 yrs old, my family went to Michigan where I was competing in a baton twirling competition. I nearly fell out when some girls asked if my twirling shoes were the only pair of shoes I owned and if I had bought them just for the competition!!! They seriously thought that we only got “1 pair of shoes a year”!!!! And the call us weird….
Pork fat rules!!! My aunt turned me on to peanut butter & bacon sandwiches and I love ‘em.
Also, when we were younger we’d have sugar & butter sandwiches. It was born out of what you had on hand!!!….Tammy
What about peanut butter and pickle sandwiches. Anyone ever do that? Or eating an onion straight from the garden?
My grandpa (PawPaw) would eat onions as though they were apples. And pop cloves of garlic in his mouth, like candy. Also, eating tomatoes whole, also like apples.
I LOVE peanut butter and pickle sandwiches! I grew up eating them and so did my dad. Now our youngest son requests them. DON’T KNOCK IT UNTIL YOU TRY IT. =)
Hugs,
Jamie
Southern weirdness- we eat mayo on everything here in my house! French fries, hot dogs, chicken–but two of my personal “weird” favorites are mayo on saltine crackers and mayo on a bowl of pinto beans with crumbled cornbread and chopped green onions! Ummmm…..
jalapeños in cornbread? I never saw that as a Yank will I moved to Missouri.
Those Grilled Bananas were so good, I could not eat enough of them! Leftovers can be put in the fridge and “nuked” to eat with ‘nilla ice cream later. Ahhhhh, the memory is still good…..
Folks, this is Del Olds, my sister in law’s father,so I consider him my father-in-law-esque figure. He was the GREATEST TASTE TESTER I’ve ever had!!! I had so much fun feeding this man. You just put a plate in front of him and he eats it!!!!!
He is also my gardening guru.
Folks, meet Del.
Del, meet folks.
~smiles~
~Christy
Still smiling over the memory of those black bananas. They were so good. Man, those Jordan boys are lucky men
Try making the grilled bananas but added mashmallows and chopped chocolate bars inside as it is grilled. Very taste desert.
Pineapple sandwiches with mayo and salt on watermelon is weird. Hmmm, I didn’t know that.
Newsflash folks, its coz we used to be hungry and we’re still a partyin’ over being able to walk into the Piggly Wiggly and leave with the makings of a Thanksgiving dinner in the middle of August.
Christy,
I am still giggling over this! Love it!
I am from south Louisiana and we eat mayo on our red beans and rice. Of course, it has to be Hellmann’s. There are squirt bottles of mayo and mustard at the red beans and rice food booths at the fairs. My husband–from Missouri–thought I was strange the first time he saw me put mayo on my beans and rice–now after almost 26 years of marriage–he still does it too.
Ok, for weird…my family always was “fixing to” do this or that. Such as, “I’m fixing to go down to the store.” And probably to buy some vienna sausages. Also they say, “I’m gonna get me some of that” – the me is understood, but they have to put it in there.
I’m hungry now, so I’m fixing to get me a snack.
Later y’all!
Oh yeah, I almost forgot. My Mama and Daddy always (and still do) put “may-naise” on hamburgers and hotdogs.
Btw, I’m excited about the grilled nanners. I’m going to use that as a suggestion for the creamy caramel sauce that I sell at parties. I’m gonna try it tonight for dessert! Thanks Christy! You are the best girl!
What about the all time southern favorite fried peanut butter and banana sandwich? And if you didn’t have a hot pan, just a glob of pb with banana on bread. While I have seen, but never tried, some folks add mayo to their sandwich.
And I thought pineapples with grated cheddar cheese with mayonaise added was a real treat growing up. My wonderful wife still fixes this for me. I am a lucky guy.
Now I’m all about the peanut butter and banana sandwiches myself. We used to think Daddy was so cool because he would put the banana on a plate, glob it over with peanut butter, then smash it with a fork until it was this ooey gooey goodness. It was his special dish that he made for us – an come to think of it, it was the only dish he ever made for us!
Unless you count those black cookies he made one night… ~shudders~
I still have these from time to time.
Gratefully,
Christy
If we made sliced banana sandwiches, we put mayo on one side and peanut butter on the other. But my favorite was mashed up banana, sprinkle sugar over and then add mayo. Of course, it oozes out the sides.
My favorite “coke” story- As a cheerleader coach, we were having a fundraiser. I went to the Pepsi office and asked if he would donate some cokes. Embarrassment!!! But he donated. Whew!!
Hi,
When I was growing up, we ate ONION sandwiches. Slab a little mayo on the bread and add the sliced onion and some pepper. Mmmm, those were the days. A close second would be tomato sandwiches. I love a tomato sandwich with slightly toasted bread, mayo, tomato, salt, and pepper. Oh, I think I need one right now!
Maria Petty in North Carolina
…and what about fried egg sandwiches, with the egg fried soft so the yolk would run down your chin when you bit in…….
Hi again,
I just thought of another “weird” thing we used to do. My momma would give us Ketchup sandwiches as a snack and we would fight over them, always asking for more. (She said she never could fill us up, but that’s cause we were always outside playing, burning up energy, not watching TV, playing video games, etc. We had a real old fashioned childhood. That’s what’s missing in kids’ lives today.)
Another thing my aunt used to do was take mayo, a little mustard, sugar, and pepper and mix it all up, put it in the microwave or on the stovetop and heat it up. We used it to dip anything fried in, and she used it in her coleslaw recipe a lot too.
Maria
Will have to try your recipe. I had “fried” (flaming) bananas when I was in Puerto Rico. They were good. I eaten most everything that has been mentioned in this discussion at one time or another. One of my favorites was mayo on white bread with rings of pineapple and potato chips. Peanut butter, mayo and banana sandwiches are great too. Christy, it’s not the Southerners who are weird, we “do it right”…it’s ABOVE the Mason-Dixon that everything is weird! LOL!
A Mississippi girl in Texas … who is married to a man from Buffalo, NY. Honey, if you think WE are weird, just head north! (Have you ever heard of “fried macaroni?” Neither had I)
Banana sandwiches are still my mother’s favorite – just bananas and mayo on white bread. And tomato sandwiches … nothing better! No one else in my family likes tomatoes, which is fine with me. I don’t have to share them that way. My mother grew up with all the “rules” – couldn’t hang men’s and ladies’ underclothes on the same line, no mixed bathing, that sort of thing.
I don’t think I’ve seen anyone mention boiled peanuts yet. Even my husband has crossed over to the southern side for boiled peanuts!
Goodness gracious! I’m late! You’ll get tired before reaching my post! ;-(
What? You folks have never heard of pineapple or banana sandwiches? Of course made with mayo and that does NOT mean Miracle Whip!
To the poster who couldn’t find pimiento cheese in un-Southern Yankee land: So easy to make! A small jar of chopped pimiento, one cup extra sharp cheddar cheese shredded, a couple of large dollops of mayo–NOT Miracle Whip–and sometimes I add a small chopped Vidalia onion. Mmmmm–good!
Another Southern tradition: When someone passes–that’s “dies” to you Yankees–we always bring food to the home of the family. Now, you can run to the grocery and buy something from the deli, or you can make it yourself. Trust me, if you don’t make it yourself, someone’s going to talk about you!
And what’s wrong with calling every soft drink a “coke”? Sounds a lot tastier than “soda” or “pop”. My mom used soda for upset tummies and I had a very good pop who paid the bills and taught me how to drive.
Oh mercy. daddy grew up on a cotton farm in Texas and mamma in Tennessee so we have a number of southern “regionalisms”, shall we say. Putting coleslaw on pork bbq- Memphis thang. We have actually had chicken-fried salt pork. Mama ate pineapple and mayo on light bread, and she would eat a cold baked potato with mayo on it. Us kids like PB and bacon, or bacon bits if we were too lazy to fry up the real thing.
And as far as the sayings…one of mama’s friends was really slim. Mama used to say she ate so much it made her poor to carry it. and a boy she went to school with was so homely that if you threw him in a pond you’d be skimming ugly for a month. and that’s just the tip of the iceberg…maybe i’ll write a book one day. i’m afraid southerners would be the only ones that believed it!
My grill pooped out. I wonder if these will be good in the oven?
When I was a kid my mom made a sandwich that her dad used to make for her as a kid. Peanut butter on one side, mayonnaise on the other side and bologna in the middle all on white bread. I swear, it is just too good! You must try it!
I think all those bananas need now is a drizzle of Hershey’s syrup or maybe just a sprinkle of chocolate chips while the “naners” are warm enough to melt them.
One thing I found strange hen I first moved to Florida was the place of honor that macaroni and cheese has on the menu. I went to my first Thanksgiving dinner there in 1999 and was simply shocked to see macaroni and cheese on the table. I always considered that dish to be a budget stretcher towards nearing payday when I had no meat to serve. Like the low end of the totem pole. It is not that I don’t like it but in no way would I consider it a company dish much less a Thanksgiving treat. I later found out it makes every church dinner, block party, or potluck. At that same Thanksgiving I also noticed there were no homemade noodles. Noodles are essential to Thanksgiving and we always ate them over the mashed potatoes making a well so you could pile more on. I know it has been on the post before but I had never heard of the stove ‘eyes” and I never called jello salad “congealed”. I never heard the term peckish to mean hungry. I first heard that one in Virginia. We called all carbonated beverages pop in my area which is SE Ohio. I had an awful time converting to the word soda because that meant an ice cream concoction to me. Now I have moved back to SE Ohio an when I say soda I get the odd looks. I think I could name more but this a very long post. Sorry-I get carried away.
I just got back from a few days at the lake with our sons and their families. I grabbed a snack and sat down to catch up on email. I had to laugh when I started reading the posts today. I was eating a banana/mayo sandwich. I like mine best with Lay’s Potato Chips and a big glass of COLD milk. I also love those pineapple slice/mayo sandwiches. When I was a kid and we could barely afford groceries at all, we got one slice of pineapple per sandwich. Now I put another slice, breaking it up to fill all the extra spaces around the first slice.
Sure love your site and recipes. The posts are fun to read, too.
Aunt Charley
Aunt Charley,
Can I officially adopt you? I just love your name and I really think I need to have an Aunt Charley.
Your hopeful new niece,
Christy
I would love to adopt you. We can get your kids and my grandkids together and cook up a storm. My granddaughters helped me bake Chocolate Chip Scones and Strawberry Bread last week for a tea party. Would have loved to have had you and those precious kiddos over for it. Now that we are officially related, we’ll work on that.
We do this with Girl Scouts. Peanut butter and chocolate goes good with it as well.
I love bbq potato chip sandwiches with ketsup on them.Also fried bologna with kraft cheese.Also times was tight growing up and mom would line gram. crackers in a 13x pan.Then make vanilla pudding with peanut butter and layer it on top then sliced bananas.On top of that place gam. crackers on the pudding and bananas and then freeze them.Frozen pudding sandwiches YUMMYYYYYYYYYYYY
Any chance of talking your sister-in-law into sharing Mama Dove’s frozen custard recipe? Big grin. Can’t hurt to ask!
Those look divine! Next time my hubby goods out I’m gonna have to get him to cook these. Oh and Christy I just loooooove the plates u used today!
Ever tried a tomato and mayonaise sandwich? The tomato has to be right off the vine. We call this a mater and mineese sandwich.
You can also prepare your bananas but instead of the brown sugar mix, put chocolate chips and mini marshmallows in there. I wrap in foil then grill. Great camping or bbq desert.
I like buttermilk with salt and pepper. and buttermilk with cornbread crust in it and eat with a spoon. mayo on 1 slice pnut butter on other slice and banana sliced long ways in the middle
Southern weirdness? How about fried squirrel smothered in gravy, and served over buttermilk biscuits for breakfast. I could count on waking up to that every Saturday morning during the late fall and winter as a child. Not because my parents couldn’t afford “regular” breakfast food, but because it was what my Daddy had ate as child. To him, it was a special memory that he was passing along to his kids. My sheltered children still can’t believe that their Mama (who now spends a small fortune feeding birds and squirrels each month) used to eat the little critters.
WOW! “Those nanners” sound yummy! How much fun I’ve had reading everyone’s replies. This made me smile. I’m a country girl at heart. Growing up I used to have “baloney” sandwiches with mustard and a “pop” with peanuts dumped into it! Nothing better. I don’t think I could touch any of that today, but I do have fond memories of it growin’ up! Thanks for the walk down memory lane. Your blog is great!
Gal you know I love this idea! Those look delicious!!
I make some fried in a pan with butter, brown sugar and coconut I think you’ll like too. Try ‘em sometime!
This is something close to what we do when camping. We call them banana boats. You peel the top half of the peel up and scoop out a little of the banana. Then you add chocolate chips, nut, raisins…anything your heart desires! Place the top peel back on and wrap in foil. Cook for about 20 – 35 minutes on or near the coals! Yummy! Pure heaven and oh so easy. Wow, now I want to make one now!!! I will try your version too, as it looks yummo!
Thanks,
I have never tried this but it looks delicious! Can’t wait until we get moved and a new grill.
Bananas never go to waste in my house…just look in my freezer. When my kids were little they ate them like popcicles. I use frozen bananas to make banana bread or banana cake with.
Bet Elvis would have loved this. A true southern woman knows the difference between a hissie fit and a conniption fit and when to use them
I love it!! There is a difference between the two. I drive a Honda Fit and I had my father-in-law cut me some stickers that say “Hissy”. So now I am the only person in the world to drive a “Hissy Fit”
This is not about the nanners, but I just had to let you know, I have passed your Grilled Chicken Tenderloins around, after trying them, and EVERYONE says they are great!!! Me included. One gal didn’t have lime juice and substitued margarhetti (sp) mix and said it was wonderful!!
Oh Christy…southerns aren’t weird, we’re just beyond ordinary comprehension! However, some of the “intense genius” in my family involves a peanutbutter-banana-mayo-sweetpickle sandwich (what are you thinking, mom?) and a grilled cheese with scrambled egg-bacon-tomato-mayo (breakfast, lunch AND dinner on one plate!) Our southern rule seems to be: just keep adding tastes until it’s larapin’ good!
My Great-grandmother (who arrived in what is now Oklahoma in a covered wagon in 1892) used to love a dish we called lime-green jello salad. Every holiday, somebody made it and brought it. It is lime jello with pieces of pineapple and cream cheese blended into it. I think there was some special way you had to prepare the pineapple so it wouldn’t prevent the jello from setting, too. The best way to make this is so that the cream cheese is still in small chunks, floating in the clear green jello. If you mix it too much, it turns an opaque light green.
I will never forget one time when I traveled up north, we stopped and ate at an Outback. When I ordered sweet tea to drink, I was told they did not serve “flavored” tea. I remember thinking, sweet tea is not flavored tea, raspberry tea is flavored tea. I knew right then that I would never be able to make it up north.
I remember in the mid-90s many restaurants around here stopped serving sweet tea for a while, forcing you to sweeten it yourself. They must’ve figured, “It works up north, we’ll make these Southerners do it, too!” Nope. Didn’t last. Southerners don’t want to have to dump their own sugar into cold tea and wait for it to slowly dissolve. We know better!
Yeah, Yankees have their own weird food habits, too. My husband is half-Yankee on his father’s side and he puts ketchup on *everything*! If it’s fried, it definitely gets doused with ketchup!
Does anyone eat cheddar cheese with their apple pie? How about “gravy bites” (gravy over plain bread)?
Southern children mind their manners when they call adults “Miss Emily” or “Mr. John” — as though using a title makes using the first name OK.
In addition to waving (when behind the wheel), one can simply nod. Failure to do something is really rude, especially in rural areas.
Some other weird southern things:
-I carry a pocket book, not a purse.
-I eat breakfast, dinner and supper.
-I sit on a sofa, not a couch.
-I love fried bologna sandwiches with cheese, mustard and mayo.
-I also still eat fried SPAM! You heard me. SPAM! Smells great when you fry it and tastes great when you eat a fried SPAM sandwich with cheese and mustard.
-I would love a coke, what kind of coke, diet Dr. Pepper.
-Vidalia Onions!!! Casserole, (YUM!), sandwich with mayo AND peanut butter (Daddy eats that), grilled and baked, they are so sweet, they are like candy!
-”Hey” is a greeting not something you feed a horse.
-Sitting on the front porch and watch traffic while shelling peas. What a way to spend a Sunday afternoon!
I think that is all of the southern weirdness I can think of.
BTW, I will start working on a recipe for YooHoo ice cream if you keep saying wonderful things about my Mama Dove.
TTFN, Tina
I forgot grits!!! They are yummy for breakfast, dinner, and supper!!
All my brothers and sisters (5 in total) still remember the fried boloney sandwiches we used to eat – just fried meat, mayo and Mrs. Baird’s soft white bread; sometimes the boys would add raw onions.
Our favorite staple, however, was fried potatoes. My Daddy would buy potatoes in a 100 pound burlap bag and by the end of the month, they would be all eaten – we loved fried potatoes with ketcup and real butter – mix ketcup and butter together to make a sauce. French sauce “Texas” style.
Another treat was homemade cornbread (crackers in a pinch) and homemade buttermilk – crumble cornbread in a large glass, pour on the cold buttermilk – yummy.
Last night I made your banana pudding, Christy. Was it good! Loved the sauce so much that I will double the recipe next time.
Re the grilled bananas, I’ve been making these for years. In the winter time when you don’t want to light up the grill, I make these in the microwave – split the bananas, add brown sugar, etc. – put in some mini marshmallows and some semi-sweet chocolate chips – gently close the banana and nuke them until banana is soft and other ingredients are melted – watch them closely re timing. Taste as good as Banana Fosters served in Brennan’s – New Orleans and much cheaper. If you have any leftover, try these over pancakes the next morning (remove goodies from peel, of course). Love this forum subject matter – sweet southern memories.
Love your recipes! I’m going to make those bananas soon! Of course I will put some pecans in the mixture too. Everything’s better with pecans!
A dollop of real mayo, cottage cheese, lots of pepper – mix and eat – delicious! (My first boyfriend’s mother taught me this one.)
As children we had mashed potatoes and canned peaches (Mom always had to have something sweet with our main meal!) for every supper or at least it seemed like it, probably because both were cheap and there were seven of us to feed. One of us, no one remembers who, started eating our peaches dipped in the mashed potatoes. Ok, quit saying “Yuck!” Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it, although my husband thinks it’s weird when I eat this! I try not to do it in public….LOL
Salt on apples, watermelon or cantaloupe – wouldn’t eat them without it!
Ok ya’ll first off I was born & raised in Missouri,I have a southern name and spellin, I am named after the movie “Gone with the wind” No not Scarlet,:)
but Mellany. But many believe that in a past life I was southern. Now I love sweet tea. Fried green onion sandwiches.
Tomato’s fresh out of the garden sliced up with hot bacon grease poured over the top with salt & pepper. I et yup I say et instead of ate ketchup sandwiches as a kid cornbread with cracklins(chunks of pork fat)I went to Birmingham AL a few years back and they said I fit in fine but folks up here say I talk funny; by the way Jim & Nicks BBQ in AL, best sweet tea I ever drank! A loaf of bread and sliced onion at every meal. Pickled green tomato’s the small one’s to small to fry. A pinch of salt into anything sweet and a pinch of sugar into anything savory Salt and sugar on my grapefruit. Bacon and grape jelly sandwiches. Corn bread and white syurp or brown if thats what ya have. Cottage cheese with lots of black pepper. Butter,sugar and cinnimon sandwiches. Oh and one last thing my Momma as a child et in her lunch congealed gravy sandwiches from the nights before meal her Momma would put it in a loaf pan an in the icebox and slice it the next mornin and put it on bread. I LOVE gravy,but have never et it this way. Gotta go now I’m hungry.
My aunt and her kids and grandchildren love Jim and Nick’s. Next time I’m in Trussville I plan on having lunch there. They have not steered us wrong about a restaurant yet.
Speaking of Southern weirdness – my husband was completely baffled to find when we were newly married that I saved bacon grease in an old jar in the refrigerator. Seriously! Did he expect me to throw it away!?
Love reading about all the different sandwiches. We ate a scrambled egg sandwich with Mayo on it. And I love salt on all of my fruits. Yet I don’t eat salt on my salads. Peanut butter,butter and banana sandwiches are a staple at my house. Good for breakfast. lol
Please let the readers post their strange sandwiches from childhood or that they still like to eat.
Oh forgot, a fresh tomato and Mayo sandwich with salt and pepper can’t be beat.
I grew up eating most of the sandwiches mentioned here and never thought they were strange! Scrambled egg. Check. Baloney. Check. Banana & mayonnaise. Check. About the only thing I never ate was peanut butter and jelly. I was an adult before I discovered the joys of that sandwich!
The strangest sandwich I ever heard of was collard greens and mayonnaise. I think it was in the White Trash Cooking cookbook. They recommended you eat it standing over the kitchen sink!
Hey, All! I thought we were the only ones putting salt on our watermelon. But, seriously, what’s not to love about mayonnaise and, well, everything?!? Thanks for the opportunity, Christy, to brag on our Southern Specialties!
What about that nasty old “potted meat” stuff we would spread on our sandwiches when I was little! I can’t even think about it! Or those little sausages in a can? oh gross. or sardines?
now on to the good stuff…..peanut butter and banana sandwiches! (with or without mayo) and also fried bologna on your biscuits and also plain chips on your barbeque sandwich.
Ha!
I can’t ever remember having a banana sandwich lol, but potted meat yep, vienna sausages, pickled bologna etc. I salt watermelon and apples and can’t wait to salt and pepper cantelope next time I get some , if nothing else to see my hubbys face when I do lol.
My mamaw used to eat green bean sandwiches, I have had a few of them myself.
Hey, y’all! Have loved reading all of your comments!! Don B’s comment reminded me of how my Mama would crumble some cornbread (only some of my family called it “corn pone”) and then pour buttermilk over it. We also had homemade buttermilk ice cream.
Something I just thought of…our Yankee friends think we are weird when we talk about pecans–as in “pah-kahns–the RIGHT way to say it–NOT “pee-cans”!!! Isn’t that right, y’all?!
Back to the cornbread or corn pone–my Pawpaw loved what he called “hoe cakes,” or fried cornbread. We ate these with syrup!
We also sometimes dipped our fried fish into syrup or yellow mustard!
More later, y’all!
You are totally correct on pecans! I have never said Pee-cans! I wonder where that started?
Cindy…a Michigan girl transplanted in the deep south!
southern weirdness….Counting every pint, quart, gallon of everything you ever picked, canned or froze….I remember being given the opportunity to pick in someones sweet corn patch…I could have all I wanted…I just was asked to count every ear I picked. 400 to be exact! (my children still remember this day! LOL)…this way the owner would know how many ears that patch produced. One time we put 150 apple cobblers in the freezer. You southerners understand this…I must admit I was a bit of a city girl with southern ties but after returning to my roots I learned you count everything and measure the rain…for there are a southerners “Bragging Rights”….
Yummy! I love bananas! One of my favorite fruits. In South America, where I was born, they make this really yummy banana fritter. I still haven’t learned how to do it yet but this has me motivated to ask my Dad for the recipe.
Plus, bananas, butter & brown sugar…always great in my book! Now I just need to go fire up the grill!
My cousin and I used to eat mustard and onion sandwiches all the time. The peanuts in the Coke, as someone said earlier, was good too. I love salt on my cantaloupe, watermelon, grapefruit, apples and oranges. But I can’t wait to try the nanners. Yummers…
I just made your biscuit doughnuts and blogged about them. Delicious.
Love this post and all of the comments!! I’ve never grilled bananas but (half my family is Colombian) I have had grilled plantains with melted mozzarella. I’m telling ya, it’s divine.
As for banana and mayo sandwiches…I’m not going there. lol. I did grow up eating french fry sandwiches, which my dad always made. Recently found out that he learned it from his mom. French fries, mayo, ketchup, salt on white. yum.
Recently heard someone say they didn’t know what a fried Bologna sandwich was. What?! Who raised these folks
All right ladies and gentlemen…some of your “southern ways” are in the north too! We moved from Michigan and lived in Georgia (west of Atlanta) and a year in Alabama (smack dab between Birmingham and Montgomery) for the last year.
Similarities:
1.Mayo and tomato sandwiches. Grandpa eating onions like an apple, he always was it down with a glass of milk.
2. Fried bologna sandwhiches, except we used ketchup instead of mayo.
3.Grandma has been eating baked beans on bread for years. I like those.
Things I find weird:
1.Red hot-dogs. What is up with that?????? I cannot mentally get over the weird sight of that.
2.Peanut butter sandwiches with HONEY????? That caught me off guard. I had never heard of them before!
3.Pickle Sickles….who thought of freezing pickle juice and licking it like a pop-sicle? That turns my stomach! And so many kids came to the concession stand during the Little League baseball games to get one! I never knew people ate pickles so much or froze the juice! You guys (northern expression for y’all) love pickles more than anyone I’ve ever met! Not that it’s a bad thing…just different. We eat pickles…but always had more cucumbers in the garden than we could use! I’m guessing everyone down here keeps a tight grip on their garden cukes!LOL!
4. Sweet tea. I know, I know. Near blasphemy to hate it…but I do. Sorry. My redemption is that our daughter is hooked on it like it is the nectar of the Gods! I had it as a child back home. We were visiting a great aunt and mom said to eat or drink whatever we were served. I loved tea. We always had unsweetened ice tea. Always. So I eagerly answered her that I would like some tea when she asked us that hot afternoon. I’ll never forget choking down that concoction! I also remember the sheer terror I felt when she asked me if I would like more and I was afraid she’d refill my glass and I would have to start over!
5. Bar-b-q at every corner or bait and tackle! LOL! We like our bar-b-q but evidently not as much as y’all. I’ve seen it at gas stations! In Michigan you were never more than a few miles from water, that’s true of b-b-q down here. Both in Georgia and Alabama! But you know your stuff!
That’s all I can think of for the moment! We really are more similar than most think! I hope I haven’t offended ya with my yankee observations. It’s been fun moving around and absorbing other “cultures” and uniqueness! Hope you had a little fun reading about how odd red hot-dogs and pickle sickles are to me!
Christy…thanks for the post on your T.V. debut! I wanted to watch but had to pick our girl up from Girl Scouts last night! It was great seeing it! Can’t wait to see you “teach the world to make banana pudding”! Love ya and your posts! Thanks for making us feel like old friends and sharing your heart and soul with us!