First, I’ve never seen anyone look hotter with a loaf of bread on her head. I like your earrings, too. Maybe we should turn this into a personal-style blog if the cooking thing falls apart. I wish I had seen your blog post before I cooked banana bread because then I would have put it on my head as well and taken a photo, so we could be bread-heads together.
Though your ladies didn’t like the meat, I wouldn’t judge it a “disaster” based on the opinions of these young vegans in training. Sliders are the greatest. In fact, I would argue that most things taste better when they are smaller, such as Reese’s mini cups and those little cucumber sandwiches you get at afternoon tea and … baby potatoes, which is what I cooked last week. They did come fresh in a bag, not frozen. They’re actually called fingerling potatoes. And I just cut them lengthwise and tossed them on a sheet with oil, salt and pepper. I remember Aaron’s sister once cooked something similar for us, and I thought she was a cooking wizard. Which she is. But I’ve learned in the last four months that making vegetables delicious is not as challenging as I once believed.
But back to banana bread. This recipe actually did not stretch my cooking skills this week because it’s probably the only dish I’ve been making consistently since Aaron and I moved in together and it seemed like a good idea to know how to cook at least one thing.
I don’t know if people are just being nice, but they always say they love this. So I’ll share my super secret recipe here. The foundation for the recipe actually came from the Good Housekeeping cookbook, but I’ve changed several key elements over the years.
Banana Bread
Bake 1 hour and 8 minutes (don’t open the oven no matter how tempting it is to see it rise!)
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 3/4 cups mashed very ripe bananas (as in covered in lots of brown spots but not overly black and mushy)
1/4 cup milk
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup butter (1 stick) softened
1 cup sugar (heaping)
2 large eggs
Step 1. Preheat oven to 350. Evenly grease 9” by 5” metal loaf pan. In medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. In small bowl, combine bananas, milk, and vanilla (see top photo for what bowl of banana mush looks like).
Step 2. In large bowl, with mixer at medium speed, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Reduce speed to low; (important!) alternately add flour mixture and banana mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture, occasionally scraping bowl with rubber spatula. Beat just until blended.
Step 3. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean or cleanish (may need longer than 1 hour and 8 minutes depending on your oven).
Step 4. Cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes; remove from pan and cool completely on wire rack.
Angela
