Few things boost my spirits like eating a ton of different food at the same time. I also occasionally enjoy when I don't have to pack a lunch. I mean, I've had a lot of yogurt containers explode and salad dressings leak. So schlepping a non-blow-uppable cake to school is something of a comfort. If worst did come to worst, I'd way rather eat squished crumbs of out of my bag than try and scrape up spilled yogurt. Sigh. What I wouldn't give for some more reliable tupperware.
I wanted to make something sweet, but not heavy. And lets be honest, I wanted to show off my baking prowess. But instead being diligent last night and doing homework, I made the banner for this blog. So I hit my always faithful, always fast fall-back. I made banana bread.
Mom's Banana Bread
If more people ever start to read this blog, I wonder if I'll be sad that I am sharing family foods. I don't think so, because I hate a secret recipe. Every Christmas I have to struggle against denouncing my Aunt Lorelei, simply because she won't give me the recipe for her amazing salt-candied cashews. I have tried so many friggin' times to recreate it, and I get close. I make a ton of other really good candied cashews, BUT NOT HERS. Raaaagh!
So no. I won't feel bad about hawking off my family recipes. Make this loaf. Think of my Mom. She's really tall and thin, and once someone yelled "OH MY GOD, THAT'S JAMIE LEE CURTIS!" and my Mom laughed and said "No, no. I'm her sister Bessie!"
My Mother's name is Shelley. She is also not related to Jamie Lee. Sigh.
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp canola oil
1 cup flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
2 mashed-up bananas
1/2 cup of one of the following (or a combination! Yes! I love to combine!) millet, raisins, chocolate chips, walnut chunks, pecans, coconut, fresh blueberries! I used millet in this recipe because I love the little crunch they add.
Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Grease and flour a loaf pan.
In a medium sized bowl, mash the bananas into a paste. Beat in the sugar and eggs til creamy. Mix in oil.
In a different bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, allspice, and whatever added ingredients you have decided upon.
Add wet ingredients to dry, and pour into your greased pan.
Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour. When a toothpick comes out glossy but clean of crumbs, you're done.
