Banana Bread

I don't know about you, but we don't tend to have many extra ripe bananas left over at the end of the week over here. So although we absolutely love banana bread, we don't make it that often. Just say the word banana and Tucker comes running. It's hilarious. He loves them! And we love using banana in our morning smoothies.

Anyway, I'm getting off topic. I found myself with two bananas on their way out this week. One really on its way out from the week before....but I told myself this would be the week I finally baked something in our new home. The smell of freshly baked banana is like no other. It makes the whole house feel warm and cozy.

My mother-in-law gave me a great recipe for banana bread back when J and I got married. Not only is it delicious, it's the most realistic banana bread recipe I've found. The only ingredient we rarely have on hand in our home is orange juice. But that's easy enough to pick up. What I love about this recipe is that it only calls for 2 bananas. I actually googled around a little bit Sunday morning looking for a recipe I could throw together without a trip to the store (for OJ) but they all called for 3-4 ripe bananas. We never have 3-4 extra bananas. We only buy 4, 5 at most each week! So no, these recipes are not realistic for us. So instead I made J go to the store for me. :)

Ingredients (makes 2 loaves)

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 tsp boiling water
• 3 tbsp boiling water
• 2 bananas, mashed
• 3 cups flour (I used 1 1/2 cups whole wheat, 1 1/2 cups all purpose)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup orange juice

Recipe to follow after you drool over the pictures

Disregard the milk in this picture....not needed

Cream together the sugar, butter & eggs

Add baking soda to boiling water, stir

Mix into creamed mixture

Mix dry ingredients together, add alternatively to creamed mixture with the orange juice

Add mashed bananas (and nuts if you prefer)

Pour into 2 loaf pans (or 1 loaf pan, 1 muffin tin if you're like me)

Bake at 375 for 35-45 minutes. (take muffins out after 15-20 minutes)

Enjoy!