Banana Bread

I love banana bread! It's fast and easy and tastes great! The only hard part is making sure your husband doesn't eat all of the bananas before they have a chance to go brown. I've learned that I need to tell him which bananas have been designated for the next loaf.

Breakfast is maybe my favorite meal - scones, coffee cake, muffins, french toast, eggs... they're all so good! I think about it before I fall asleep. And if I know I have banana bread waiting for me with my coffee in the morning, I fall asleep with a smile on my face.

Banana bread isn't the most exciting thing to look at, so I thought I'd share a picture of some ranunculus that I had earlier this month.


I'm not sure of the exact origins of this recipe. It's a recipe that my mom has always used, with a little tweaking...

Banana Bread

3 ripe bananas
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup nuts (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a loaf pan.
Mash 3 ripe bananas and set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, butter, and egg.
In a separate small bowl, mix the flour, salt, and baking soda.
Pour the flour mixture into the creamed sugar, butter, and egg mixture and mix.
Add the mashed bananas, vanilla, and nuts (if using).
Put the combined mixture into a greased loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Once you remove it from the oven, wait 10 minutes or so and then run a knife around the edge of the pan and flip it onto a cooling rack.

Once completely cooled, cover with foil.

A couple of things...

* If you won't be eating your bread right away, it freezes really well. To do so, cover the cooled bread with foil and then place in a zip-lock freezer bag, making sure all air is removed from the bag.

* For those that are not used to baking with whole wheat flour, do not be afraid. Using all whole wheat flour will not dry out the bread - but make sure to use 3 bananas! Of course, you can use white flour, or a mixture of the two, but I prefer whole wheat.

* I also like banana bread with chocolate chips. Put in whatever you think might be good. Or make muffins instead of a loaf. The same recipe works, just make sure to reduce the baking time.