Banana Bread

Last Halloween, we weren't going to buy a pumpkin but on our way home from my parent's house, we noticed a sign that said "pumpkins $1". Who could pass that up? It was at this small tent set up in the parking lot of a small candle and craft shop. I had seen it there all summer but that was the first time we stopped.

A couple weeks ago, Kay and I noticed they were back so we stopped there after going to the library. I don't know where the produce comes from but there is a lot of it and the prices are really really REALLY low. We've started going there every week and I'm always amazed at how much we get for so little.

This week when we were checking out, the guy who I think is the owner said "You want some bananas for a dollar". Why not! He gave us two huge bunches of bananas and then said "I give you more if you can use them - no charge". 15 bananas is more than enough for us though!

So over the next week or so, we are going to post recipes using all of these bananas. The first thing I made was banana bread. Kay doesn't like banana bread and didn't even help make it this time (she is always at tennis) but Bill loves this recipe and he is very child-like at times so it counts as a child friendly food! I messed around with several recipes until Bill declared that it was perfect a few years ago.

I pulled this out of the oven just a couple minutes before Bill walked in the door. As you can see, one disappeared before I could even get my camera!

I usually make mini loaves but I only have 2 pans and this makes 4 and I didn't feel like doing two batches so I tried it in giant muffin pans and it worked great. Plus we don't feel as guilty eating a whole muffin (no matter how big) as we do when we eat a whole loaf!

Banana Bread

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2/3 cup milk (I used rice this time)

2 eggs or 1/2 cup egg beaters

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup mashed bananas (usually around 2 bananas)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1 tablespoon ground flax

Mix all the wet ingredients together. In a separate bowl mix the dry. Add the wet to the dry and stir until just mixed.

For small loaves or large muffins, bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

For a regular size loaf, bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.

The small loaves work a lot better than the regular size one.