Good & Simple

It used to be that whenever I bought bananas, at least one, usually more, would go brown on our counter. Then into the freezer they'd go until I had enough to make a batch of banana bread. These days, we're going through literally three bunches of bananas a week since they're Henry's favorite food, so we don't get to have brown bananas anymore. So Wednesday, I took matters into my own hands - I put three perfectly yellow bananas into the freezer because I wanted banana bread.

I've tried lots of recipes for banana bread. Some are sweet or exotic (and these were both tasty), but this one is just banana bread - plain and simple. Or good and simple. Or delicious and simple. Because you don't need to mess with the flavor to make it delicious. If you have a good texture and good bananas, that's really all you need.

I'm going to share with you the key to making banana bread, and its something I stumbled upon by necessity. Storing bananas in the freezer (see above) makes them very mushy inside. All you have to do is let them thaw at room temp for about 30 minutes (or if you're like me and don't have the patience, thaw them in the microwave), cut off one end of the banana in its peel, and squeeze the banana into the bowl like you'd squeeze frosting out of a bag.  This isn't a pretty sight - Steve was at first grossed out and then fascinated by this. But you hardly have to mash the banana after that, and I like the texture it gives the bread. So there you have it. Freezer bananas are the way to go.

Note: In order to make sure I was spelling "bananas" correctly, I sang the one line from "Hollaback Girl" in my head a number of times while writing this post (B-A-N-A-N-A-S!) But it was the one from "The Office" when Kelly sang it. Not the Gwen Stefani one. Too much language. :)

Banana Bread
From Lois Smits

Ingredients
2 cups sifted flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/4 cup mashed banana (about 3)
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a 9x5x3 inch bread pan.

Sift flour, soda, powder, and salt together and set aside.

Cream together butter and sugar, then add eggs until well-combined. Add flour mixture and bananas alternating between the two. Beat well after each addition. Fold in nuts if using. Pour into the prepared pan and let sit for 15 minutes.

Bake 45-60 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean (it will look golden brown before it is actually done - test it to be sure).

Makes 1 loaf. Will last maybe 2 days, not because it goes bad, it just won't last.