One of my favorite comfort foods is banana bread.  It’s simple, filling, and very easy to make.  Thanks to my dear friend, Renee, she enlightened me to the idea of freezing brown bananas if you don’t have time to bake a loaf, that way you’ll always have bananas that are over ripe and ready for baking, and you won’t let them go to waste (I simply take them out to thaw for 20 or so minutes).  My favorite recipe for banana bread comes from one of my favorite food blogs, Simply Recipes.  I only make slight changes, adding 1 heaping TBS of ground flax seed and add a sprinkling of rolled oats on top of the loaf before it goes in the oven.  I also try to use whole wheat or white whole wheat flour since it’s better for you.  And since the loaf is so hearty, I don’t notice the difference from all-purpose flour.

Banana Bread (from Simply Recipes)

• 3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1 cup sugar (*I cut the sugar down to 3/4 cup)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt (*I omit the salt)
• 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour (*I use white whole wheat or regular whole wheat flour)

INSTRUCTIONS
1.  Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).  With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl.
2.  Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in.
3.  Add the flour last, mix. Pour mixture into a buttered 4×8 inch loaf pan.
4.  Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

I spent a lovely Saturday afternoon baking a loaf using everything I had on hand, including my frozen bananas.  It was the perfect compliment to a hot cup of tea and an episode of Masterpiece Theater.

{to view more of my banana bread photos, please visit my Flickr}