What Should I Do With These Bananas? Foodie Friday

     It is Foodie Friday and our hostess Michael @ Designs by Gollum is once again showcasing some of the best recipes you will ever see. Make sure to visit the other bloggers, but eat something first! It is sort of like grocery shopping, you don't want to go when you are hungry.

I don't know about you, but no matter how many bananas we buy, we always end up with at least 2 or 3 that are too ripe to eat. When that happens, I make this banana bread recipe. I can do it all in one bowl, very quickly and it always turns out great. The house will smell wonderful, your family will love you and you will only have a couple of items to clean up.

Ingredients:

2 or 3 very ripe bananas

1/3 cup vegetable oil

2/3 cup sugar

1 or 2 eggs (I generally use 2)

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour

2 1/4 tsp. baking powder

optional additions: approx. 1/2 cup nuts, dried fruit, chocolate chips, raisins...whatever you happen to have on hand.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a standard size loaf pan

Mom hint: When I grease a pan for dessert breads or cakes, I spray them with Pam (or you can use a little butter) and add enough sugar to coat the entire pan. Shake out the excess. The sugar melts into the bread but also makes the removal from the pan very easy. It doesn't leave that ugly residue you get if you grease and flour a pan.

In a large bowl, mash the bananas with a fork. Add the oil, sugar and eggs and blend well using a wisk or a spatula.

Stir in the flour and baking powder and mix well. Stir in your optional ingredients if you want them. I like nuts in my banana bread, so on this day I used walnuts.

Pour the batter into your prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour (you might check it at about 50 minutes with a toothpick in the middle, some ovens are very hot and cook faster). Allow to cool for a few minutes before removing from pan. Take a knife around all of the edges first, then slowly flip the bread out of the pan. Cool and slice. Enjoy!