What Do You Do When Good Bananas Go Bad? Make Banana Bread, Of Course!

My kids love to help out in the kitchen - especially Sarah.

But when the kids help, there is always a huge mess so I probably don't have them "help" me as much as I should.

But I guess I shouldn't complain because when the kids are awake, there's always a huge mess somewhere.

So a couple of days ago, when I couldn't stand the endless rounds of "Mommy, what can I do?" any longer and I noticed that I had four bananas that were drawing fruit flies, Sarah and I made banana bread.

I love banana bread. But I have high banana bread standards.

I want, no, I expect banana bread to be dense and moist. If it's dry, I won't eat it.

In 2001, a coworker brought in some banana bread and it was the best banana bread I had ever tasted. It was dense and moist and flavorful. It was everything I expected out of banana bread.

I immediately asked him to get the recipe from his wife. The next day he brought in the recipe and I made it multiple times trying to get the same results.

And every single time I made it, it was the driest, blandest banana bread I have ever eaten.

I am assuming that his wife purposefully left out her secret ingredient.

So (getting back on track here) Sarah and I made banana bread.

The nice thing about banana bread is that it can be made quickly and all in one bowl so the mess we created was minor:


But the smiles I got were major:

And well, the results were wonderful:

The recipe that I used has now become my banana bread recipe.

The recipe that I will make every single time I have bananas swarming with fruit flies.

The recipe that I will pass down to my grand kids.

And I would like to thank the Queen B and her Nannie for sharing this dense, moist, flavorful banana bread recipe.

And the best thing about this recipe?

Nannie didn't leave out her secret ingredient!

Nannie's Banana Bread

1 c. sugar3 over ripe bananas

1 c oil

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 1/2 c flour

1 t baking soda

1 t baking powder

1/2 c nuts (optional, I'm guessing)

1/2 t cinnamon

1 box instant banana pudding (the small box. she said you could use vanilla if desperate. but i don't think it would make her happy.)

1 t vanilla

Combine all that stuff. Put it in a lightly sprayed loaf pan. Bake at 350 for an hour or until done.