Monday Menu ~ Simple, Straight-Up Banana Bread

I had to use up some ripening bananas last week...or maybe it was the week before.  Anyway, I pulled out a couple of my trusty cookbooks to find a good recipe.  I make my banana bread different all the time.  I'm continually searching for the "perfect" banana bread.  I add all sorts of things:  toffee chips, chocolate chips, peanut butter, nuts, ground nuts with ground coffee in them...sometimes I frost the loaves.  I'm all over the place when it comes to my banana bread.  This recipe comes out of one of those fundraising community cookbooks.  Those books are the best!  Everyone submits there favorite recipes, so you know they are tried and true.  This recipe jumped out at me because it looked so simply pure!  Just straight-up, plain 'ole banana bread.   And ya know what?  It's way better that way.  Nevermind all the added stuff.  This bread is the ultimate comfort food.  It's one that your family will walk into the house after it's baked and say "Ooooh, what are you making???"  Very homey.  Comforting.  Sorry for the lack of pictures, but you can probably picture it in your mind.


Simple, Straight-Up Banana Bread

3 medium bananas, mashed
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt

In a large bowl, combine mashed bananas and sugar.  Beat together until well mixed.  Add eggs, oil, and vanilla.  Beat well.  Add flour, soda and salt, mix until well-combined and lump-free.  Pour batter into a loaf pan sprayed with non-stick spray.  Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes. 

**These are also great baked in mini-muffin pans.  Freeze them in a gallon zip-loc bag and pull out a few at a time to put in lunches for school.  Put them in frozen in the morning, and by lunchtime they are thawed and yummy!!