I'm back..

.. with Banana Bread.

Singing *It's been a while..*  You guys know that 1990s song, right?  Who was the band, wait let me google it - ah hah! Staind!  That line of the song has been running through my head as I decided to sit and actually update my blog.

Lot's has happened since I last posted.. drama, illness, and generally being busy.  But the past is the past and I hate to dwell so let's move onto Banana Bread.  I mean how bad can the world be if there is Banana Bread in it.

And to be honest, this isn't just any Banana Bread.  It is the absolute, 100% best ever Banana Banana Bread.  I've been using this recipe since one of my Home Economics students found it way, way back in the 90's.  Hmm, teaching 90's, Staind song 90's..  I'm sensing a theme here, but I digress.

Any hoo, this banana bread is fabulous, the only downside is that you need a lot of bananas to make it.  I used 4 very large bananas today and just barely had enough.  This isn't the type of recipe you can make because you have one left over banana that nobody would eat.  This recipe takes planning ahead.  Next time you hit the grocery store buy 5 extra bananas and plan on making this a week later, your family will love you for it.

 I start off mixing the dry ingredients in a large bowl.  It doesn't have to be a giant bowl, but remember you will be stirring in the wet ingredients and all those bananas and you need room to work :)

 Cream together the butter and brown sugar.  I was a bit short on brown sugar today so I substituted granulated sugar to make up the difference.  Also I neglected to get the butter out of the refrigerator to soften overnight, so I cut mine into pieces and nuked it for 20 seconds.  This really isn't ideal and you run the risk of melting your butter, which changes the texture of your bread.

 Mush up the banana, but not too much.  I learned from watching a Barefoot Contessa episode a few years back that it is much easier to mash the bananas on a cutting board versus a bowl.  I don't know why I used to use a bowl, probably because my Mom did.  Anyway, here is what my banana looks like.

 Mix the banana into the butter, sugar, egg mixture.  The more you mix this, the smaller your pieces of banana will be.  Personally I don't like giant pieces of banana in my bread, but if you do minimize the mixing.

I mixed the banana mixture into my large bowl with the flour mix in it.  Stir this gently and as little as possible, remember over mixing makes your baked goods come out tough.  The bread baked in the oven for 60 minutes and was looking good when it came out.  I'm going to let mine cool off and be ready to go when the kids come home from school looking for something to eat.

Let me know if you try the recipe- enjoy!