Banana phone

Actually, banana bread.  But a coworker introduced me to banana phone (by Raffi! remember him?!) yesterday, and now I can't think of anything else when I hear the word banana.

The first thing I attempted to make after the bread disaster was banana bread (see previous post), which, as a quickbread, has a much smoother dough and does not need to be kneaded.  I also had some bananas in the house that were ripening so rapidly that I feared they'd disintegrate.  I've always heard that decaying bananas (bad word choice?) are just perfect for banana bread, so why not?

I am very messy in the kitchen.

I have recently discovered that one of the great tragedies of my youth was not knowing the greatness called Banana Bread.  I used to be allergic to bananas.  At Girl Scout camp, when all of the other girls made banana boats consisting of bananas stuffed with marshmallows and peanut butter and chocolate chips all wrapped up in foil and toasted on the fire... this girl got to eat apple boats.  Not the same thing.  At all.

When I had two weeks to kill between moving back to PA from TN and starting a new job (almost three years ago, wow!) I decided it was as good a time as any to give myself the banana test.  I didn't have any reaction, so I haven't looked back.


So... banana bread.  Oh. my. gosh.  Give this a whirl:

Banana Bread
from a Central PA recipe collection, put together by my brother's workplace as a fundraiser for the children of Haiti after the earthquake... the recipe credit goes to Jennifer in Lewistown... just in case you need to know.

3 medium very ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup melted butter

2 eggs
3 Tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups of flour

Start by mashing your bananas right there in the mixer bowl with the paddle attachment and then add-in the ingredients in the order listed and mix thoroughly.  Pour into a buttered loaf pan and bake 45-60 minutes at 350 degrees F.  I also added about 1/3 cup of chopped walnuts, and it needed to bake a little bit longer, but it is perfection.