Banana Bread

I mentioned previously how I had 13 bananas in my freezer waiting to be put into banana bread. Which I did. 2 large loaves and 3 mini loaves later here it is. It's a simple recipe. No yeast. No waiting for bread to raise. I only made a few alteration to the original recipe, as I do to most recipes. And it's a prefect turn out. It's important that you have enough bananas otherwise it will end up a little dry and make sure to wrap the bread when are done or it will dry out.


2 c all-purpose flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t cinnamon
1/8 t nutmeg
1/4 t salt
2 eggs
1 1/2 c mashed bananas (5 medium)
1 c sugar
1/4 c cooking oil
1/4 c melted butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom of one 9x5x3 or 7 1/2x3 1/2x2 loaf pan; set aside. Combine flour, baking, powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Mix together. In a medium bowl combine eggs, bananas, sugar, oil and butter. Add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy). Spoon batter into prepared pan(s). Bake for 55-60 minutes for larger pan, or 40-45 minutes for smaller pan, or until toothpick comes out clean in the center. Cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan. To keep wrap in plastic wrap and again in tin foil.

Banana-Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I buy bananas almost every time I go to the store but they usually end up brown before I can eat them all. So what do I do? I throw them in the freezer until I have time to make banana bread. Well this time it got a little out of hand. I had THIRTEEN, 13, bananas sitting in my freezer taking up precious freezer space and not getting put into banana bread, much to my husband's dismay. Well I set out to make banana bread, but after I doubled the recipe and had 2 large loafs and 3 small loafs I still had 3 bananas waiting to be put in something. Then I came across this recipe in Cooking Light. I already enjoy oatmeal chocolate chip cookies so why not add a little banana. And the nice thing is it reduces the butter and sugar in the recipe so I don't feel as guilty eating one. One cookies has 115 calories and only 3.6 g of fat.


1/2 c mashed banana (about 1 medium)
1/2 c packed brown sugar
1/4 cu softened butter
1/4 sugar
1 t vanilla extract
1 egg
1 1/4 c flour
2 c oats
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/2 c chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl, beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Add egg, beat well. In a medium bowl combine flour, oats, baking soda, and salt. Stir. Add flour mixture to banana mixture beat until well blended. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop batter by tablespoon onto greased cookie sheet. Bake for 18 minutes or until golden. cool on pans. Enjoy! Yields: 2 dozen Serving size: 1 cookie