Most quick bread recipes will call for the traditional 9"x5" loaf pans, OR standard size bread pans - 8-1/2" x 4-1/2" - according to the recipe instructions. These pans are not interchangeable because they do not hold the same amount of batter. I personally don't like 9x5 pans for quick breads because the large slices tend to split when being cut into thin slices, and the serving sizes of the breads baked in a 9x5 pan are generally much larger than I'd like to serve. I use a pan called a Danish Loaf Pan (also called a Tea Loaf Pan) that holds the same amount of batter as the 9x5 pan but is 12"x4". The longer, narrower loaf is much easier to cut into easy-to-manage playing card size slices. You can also cut very thin slices and they will hold together nicely with the narrower breads. Using the Danish Loaf Pan, the quick bread also bakes in 25% less time than when using a 9x5 pan. You can also use this pan for 2-pounds of yeast bread dough if you would like small bread slices for serving sandwiches. Once again, it's easy to slice the bread into very thin slices. It's also a nice size to use half the loaf and freeze the other half of the loaf. I also like to divide a quick bread recipe into smaller pans (7-1/2"x3-1/2" or 5-3/4"x3-3/4" or 4-1/2"x2-1/2") and use these loaf pans for holiday gift-giving sizes, or when I want to use one and freeze the rest. Quick breads can be baked in a wide variety of pans, including Bundt pans, muffin pans, mini-loaf pans, springform pans, disposable aluminum foil pans, 1- and 2-quart fluted tin molds with clip lids for making steamed breads, coffee and soup cans..... The rule of thumb is to fill pans no more than half to two-thirds full, leaving room for expansion. If you are substituting another shape, make certain the pan holds the same volume of batter. You can do that by measuring how much water each pan/container holds. If it's a springform pan, then measure how much rice it holds since a springform pan won't hold water. Adjust baking time accordingly if altering the pan size from the original recipe. I wrap quick breads tightly in plastic wrap (no plate). If freezing, I wrap them in plastic wrap and then wrap them in foil. I think acidic ingredients, as well as nuts and fruits in quick breads tend to react to foil and get a metalic taste, so I never use foil directly in contact with the quick bread. I think you'll get the same texture using a Tupperware storage container that you get when using your wrapped plate method. You have too much air circulating around the quick bread, which quickly dries the bread out. A close wrap, such as plastic wrap around the bread loaf itself, will solve the problem of all the moisture in the loaf migrating to the crust of the loaf and then expelling into the Tupperware container. -Grainlady

Absolutely - I hate it when I have to spell my name over and over again. I used to be a vendor at the Minneapolis Farmer's Market. I still help out my friend that sells soap because it is so fun. And last weekend I worked way to many hours helping out my friend Bonnie's husband Jim. Bonnie died a week ago Saturday of breast cancer. She was an artist and designed some fabulous t-shirts, shorts and skirts. She will be missed. I am sorry to say, now that the artist is gone, this will be the last year at the market for the T-shirt people (as they are known). I'm not much of a baker and admire that you have a product so good that sells out so quick! Our market starts in early April and runs thru Christmas - yes - in Minnesota! And then the meat and egg people still show up every other Saturday from January until it all begins all over again! Teresa - also NO H please! lol

I grew up on a dairy farm and that was operated in the same manner as the Amish do today. Grandmother had an 8ft long coal stove in the kitchen and our idea of running water was whenever one of us boys entered the kitchen Grandma would hand us a 5gal pail and say, "Run out to the spring and get me some water." The next boy in the room got handed the coal bucket to fill, and the next boy had to take a couple 5gal buckets of vegetable timmings out to the hog lot and more often than not during the canning season one of the younger boys got detailed to stay at the house and assist Grandma in the kitchen. As a consequence I began learning how to cook when I was about 5 or 6 years old, and I don't regret a minute of that time. Dissassters? Wow, I could write a book about dissassters I have made in the kitchen but one will always stick out in my mind. At about 13yrs old my cousin & I got the silly idea to make some home made rootbeer. (In those days you could buy Hires Rootbeer Syrup in a tube like a huge toothpaste tube in the spice section of any grocery store for about $1). My cousin and I spent about 3 weeks rounding up empty soda bottles & washing them out, all the while saving our allowance money to get the rootbeer syrup. We finally had enough bottles washed out, got the syrup, set up the bottle capper and commenced to mixing our brew in a huge 5gal crock. First you add the water, then the syrup, then sugar and finally a cube of flieshmans yeast, mix it all up and let it set about 24 hours then you bottle it and let it age 14 days to make the fizz. When it was all done my cousin and I each took a bottle from the basment up to the kitchen to get a bottle opener. I snapped the opener on the bottle cap, started to lift it and WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM, the lid flew off and the rootbeer spurted up out of that bottle so high it hit the ceiling. Talk about a mess...LOL...My cousin tried opening his with exactly the same result. What went wrong we wondered? Then we got to recounting our mixing procedures. It seems that my cousin had not seen me put the yeast in, so without saying a word, he put another cake of yeast in. But as is true of teenagers everywhere, we weren't gonna let a little thing like atomic fizz prevent us from drinking our rootbeer. We just put a dishpan in the sink, then one of us would carefully open the bottle while the other one held a pot upside down over the bottle to catch the spray and let it go into the dishpan, which we then poured in our glasses and enjoyed out rootbeer, even though it did have a rather strong yeasty taste..LOL

Joanie, what brand of solid surface are you looking at? I have been looking at countertops for 4 months, and have definately found that at least in our area (northeast) granite and solid surface are priced very close. The budget solid surface colors are very limited as well. We actually had plan to go with an LG clor that was on special. I was really drawn to the seamless aspect of solid surface. When the price came in after templeting I was shocked. They charge an arm and a leg for integrated sink and backsplash. By the time it was all said and done it would have been more than a basic granite by about 25%, even more if I wanted everything completely seamless. So I'm back to the drawing board myself.