*Once Upon a Banana

                Once upon a time, there was a girl named Emily.  And this girl LOVED banana bread- so, she made it all the time.  She liked to experiment and try new banana bread recipes, but she soon noticed that some were yummier than others.  Some were too dry, and others lacked the "banana" taste that is required in banana bread.  As time passed, she made banana bread less and less often; until she didn’t make it at all.  One day, many years later, she was buying bananas from Wal-Mart with her two children and she thought, “I want to make some banana bread with these bananas!”  To Emily’s horror she realized that she didn’t remember how to make banana bread anymore.  *Gasp!!* 

                This was a serious dilemma, and it was keeping Emily from a nice warm slice of banana bread.  But she couldn’t just Google up any old recipe.  Because she knew, not all banana breads are made equal.  All too soon, there were only two bananas left.  Emily needed to find a good recipe and quick!!  Then one fateful day, she was blog stalking people she knew and happened to stumble across a banana bread recipe- it was meant to be.  This must be the recipe she was looking for … and as it turns out, it was exactly what she had been looking for.  Soon, she was sharing the magic of banana bread with her children.  The End.

*This tale was inspired by actual events.

One Banana Banana Bread

1 Large Very Ripe Banana (or two small ones)
1 Egg with enough milk to make 1 cup liquid
1 Stick butter (softened) (1 stick = 1/2 cup)
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 ½  cup Flour
1 cup Sugar
1 tsp. Baking Soda
Nuts (Optional, but seriously ... you need them.)

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl (you don’t need to sift or mix anything beforehand). Set mixer on slow or medium speed, and mix until lumps are pretty well gone (not too long or bread will be too firm).  Spray bread pans with oil (do not flour).  Then fill pans 2/3 full.
Bake for 55 Minutes at 350 degrees or until golden brown. Test with toothpick for done-ness. This bread comes out quite moist with quite a lot of banana flavor- with only one banana!  (Did you read that?!  Did you read what it said?!  It is NOT lying to you- it is moist and tastes of banana.  Perfect!)
You can use this same recipe to make itty bitty, kid-sized teacakes (bake time is about 15-18 minutes at 350 degrees), cupcakes, small loaves, etc.  (I baked them for 20 mins. and they turned out awesome.)
The baked loaves can also be wrapped up in foil and frozen. Just pull one out, defrost it, unwrap and reheat in paper towel in the microwave until warm.

We are going to try this out.

Everything you will need minus the baking soda.  It didn't make it into the picture, but it did go into the bread!

The finished product.

Samuel ate, like, three of them!