Banana Bread!

How delicious the house smells when you are baking in my oven!  No matter the season, I love banana bread.  Perfect to make when you have a ton of ripe bananas to use up!  With all of the little monkeys running around here, I hardly ever have any leftover bananas, but this week was an exception!  We had a generous donation of bananas for our Howard County 5K Fun Run this past weekend and had quite a few left. I have made a ton of banana bread recipes using the healthiest ingredients I could find, but “grandma’s favorite banana bread recipe” that my mother handed down to me is the hands down best. While it is not the tops in healthy ingredients, I doctor it up a bit to put my own healthy mommy twist on it. If you were lucky enough to come to our babywearing Party, you got to sample it! Here is the recipe for you to share with your family and friends.

What you will need~ ingredients:

§  2 1/2 cups ripe bananas (about 4 bananas)

§  2/3 cup Raw sugar (Sugar in the Raw or Turbinado Sugar)

§  1/2 cup butter

§  2 eggs

§  1 tsp baking soda

§  2 cups flour

§  1/4 tsp salt

§  2 tsp Cinnamon

§  1 tsp vanilla

§  (1/2 cup chopped nuts if desired)

Toppings (you can use any of these mixed together and placed on top before heading into oven)

§  2 Tbsp Quick Oats

§  1 tsp brown sugar

§  1 tsp Raw Wheat Germ

§  1 tsp Chia Seeds (ground)

§  1 tsp toasted Oat Bran

Heat your oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl or mixer bowl, Mix bananas until creamy. Add sugar, vanilla, cinnamon. In small dish melt the butter. Add melted butter to bananas mixture. In a large bowl, combine flour and baking soda. Add in eggs, salt, and banana mixture.  Cream these together well.

Grease a 9 x 5 loaf pan.  Pour in your banana bread mixture and place in the heated oven for 1 hour.

Check with a toothpick after an hour, baking longer if needed.  Pull when done, and allow to cool before serving.