Banana Bread

The first time my husband came to visit my hometown while we were dating, we arrived very late. My mother had just baked a banana bread and greeted us with a house that smelled heavenly. As we sat down to wind down from our long trip we dug into the warm banana bread. My then boyfriend, immediately exclaimed that “Alison makes the best banana bread!” My mother tilted her head and answered back in a perturbed voice “Alison’s banana bread? Where do you think she got it?” Needless to say, that was my mother’s first impression of my boyfriend. Whoops! Long story short, my mother makes the BEST banana bread….hands down, her recipe, no denying.

About a week ago I found myself with a predicament I’m sure you all have come across…no freezer space. The culprit was about 10 over-ripe bananas I had frozen and put into a Ziploc bag to save for smoothies or baked goods. I was already in a baking mood, so I made a banana bread…and then I made 3 more pans and 1 batch of muffins, until my freezer space went from having space to being overloaded with 5 freshly baked banana breads. Problem solved?

Banana Bread

Makes 8 or more Servings

1 C. Sugar

½ C. Butter or Earth Balance

2 Over-Ripe Bananas

2 Eggs

½ t. salt

1 ½ C. Flour

1 t. Baking Soda

½ C. Sour Cream or Soy Milk or Almond Milk

1 t. Vanilla

½ C. Chopped Walnuts

½ C. Chocolate Chips (I like ShopRite brand)

Preheat oven to 350. Beat butter or Earth Balance and sugar together. Add bananas and eggs. Alternate adding the dry ingredients and sour cream or almond/soy milk. Stir in vanilla, nuts and chocolate chips. Pour into greased loaf pan. Bake for one hour. (Muffins = 30 minutes bake time)