Mmm Mmm...Banana Bread

Anytime I go into the kitchen and start making something, Ben grabs a chair from the kitchen table and pulls it over to me. He wants to hold any measuring cup and pour everything in. Today was no exception and he was a really good helper. It was a fun morning in the kitchen.


Today we made one of my favorite family recipes. It is hand written in the recipe binder my mom has had for as long as I can remember. The page is stained from years of getting dough on it. You can tell flipping through that it is one of our favorites. It is the best banana bread recipe, in my opinion. I have tried others, but I always come back to this.

BANANA BREAD

Ingredients:
3-4 ripe bananas
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup oil
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
2-3 eggs (use 2 with 3 bananas and 3 with 4 bananas)
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup nuts and/or chocolate chips, if desired

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In large mixing bowl, mash bananas. Add sugar, oil, vanilla and eggs, and mix well. Add in flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix until well blended. Add nuts/chocolate chips, if desired. Pour into two well greased loaf pans. Bake for about 35 minutes or until the top in golden and a toothpick comes out clean. Do not overbake. Let cool on rack for 5 minutes and then take loaves out of pans. Enjoy immediately or sometime later. (These loaves freeze really well too.)

ENJOY!