Playing Catch Up & Tasty Tuesday: Banana Bread

Wow, I've been quite the neglectful blogger lately! July has been a busy, semi-irritating month here at the Lane house.

Since my last blog entry we went up to New Jersey to celebrate Aiden's first birthday with my side of the family. What a great day! Aiden got to see a lot of family, some that he's never even met, but I admit that it was a little overwhelming for him. Most days it's just Aiden and Mommy at home with a play date thrown in here in there, and of course outings to stores or the library. But over 40 people in one house all looking for his attention was a little much for my poor little guy. Regardless, it was a wonderful day to celebrate my little one's first year of life and for me to catch up with family and good friends.

Other than Aiden's NJ birthday party, we haven't done any other traveling, but Aiden and I both came home from NJ with colds. Actually, Aiden's started before our trip, but fully manifested itself after our travels, as did my cold. I can't remember the last time I had a cold in the summer, but it was awful and took me almost two weeks to get rid of. It's no fun being a sick mommy!

Now that we're both better we've been catching up with friends, celebrating other birthdays (Adam's and my friend Megan's son) and enjoying the summer weather.

Now that I've caught you up on current happening, it's Tasty Tuesday time!

Last night I finally decided to make banana bread with my over ripe bananas instead of throwing them away. Sure, I know that banana bread is super common and you've probably made it a thousand times, but I was thrilled with the recipe I used last night. Give it a try!

Banana Bread

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten.* Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.

3. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

(Recipe courtesy of allrecipes.com)

*Tip: Over stirring the batter leads to a very dry bread. Stir only until flour and banana mixture is just combined.

I followed the recipe above, but I changed two things. I used one cup of all purpose flour and one cup of whole wheat flour vs. two cups of all purpose. And, in addition to the brown sugar called for in the batter, I sprinkled extra brown sugar on top of the batter before baking to add a sweet crunch to the bread. This is seriously the best banana bread I have ever had!

Enjoy!