Banana Banana Bread

It's no secret that I like to get down in the kitchen. I'm a big fan of baking, cooking, and when I don't know how to make things, I can even pretend to bake and cook! Last week I could feel the urge coming on and decided I'd give in and bang out some oatmeal cookies. As I started to gather my ingredients, I came to find out that I was all out of vanilla! GASP! Ugh, every bakers worst nightmare!!! And because running to the store for one item with three children is WAY more work than I wanted to put into these cookies, I decided not to bake after all. But the itch wouldn't go away...I just had to bake!! (Are you loving this dramatic recollection of my baking predicament? Because I'm digging it! Ha!) After throwing back my cabinet doors and scouring the kitchen for some kind of sign that baking was still possible, I happened to notice the bananas laying on the counter. YES!!! Bananas! And I knew it would be perfect because I remembered from my old Banana Bread Recipe that I didn't need vanilla! Yayyy for banana bread! So, instead of jumping  on the blog and pulling up the last recipe, I decided to google away and find another one to try. There are certain recipes, mostly ones that were passed down from family, that I stick to and try not to change because  they're just that good. But others that I came up with while scrolling around the web sometimes leave me feeling a little less than satisfied. Or even if they are up to par, I can't help but think they need a little something more. This time I ended up finding an easy recipe over on All Recipes and decided that this was right up my alley. Just a handful of ingredients, and no call for vanilla? Sounded perfect! After dinner we all sat around eating banana bread and my children were in banana heaven. Does that exist? I couldn't blame them because it ended up being the best banana bread I've ever made! And because it was that good, I even made the effort to hunt down the most brown and squishy bananas at the store over the weekend so that I could give it another try yesterday morning. Good news is, it was just as great the second time around! Wanna try? 

Banana Banana Bread

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter, softened (1 stick)

3/4 cup brown sugar 

2 eggs, beaten

2 1/3 cup overripe bananas, mashed (I used 3, minus the piece Gavin ate)

Preheat oven to 350f. Grease 9x5 loaf pan. In large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar. Mix in eggs and mashed bananas. In separate bowl, (ahem, here's where I rebel and put them together, but don't because I'm sure the reasons are logical) combine dry ingredients...flour, salt and baking soda. Mix into wet inredients and pour into loaf pan. Bake for about one hour, or until inserted knife comes out dry. (Tip: If the top starts to get too brown before the inside is done, cover with foil.) Remove from oven and let stand to cool. Flip over and slice, and if you're like my family - spread with butter! Ta-dahhh!!!