When I was a kids my mom used to just throw this together and bake it.  Banana bread was always a hit.  It still is!  Sometimes I forget how easy it is to make.  It takes less than 10 minutes to get it into the oven.  Homemade smells in your house, happy smiles from your family, up-cycling your old, pitiful “cheetah bananas”…all priceless.

My kids call the bananas that are yellow with lots of black spots “cheetah bananas.”  To them, it is waaayyy better to enjoy banana bread, than to get stuck with a cheetah banana.  Me too.

Ingredients:

• 2 overripe bananas (mashed)
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3/4 cups milk
• 1 egg
• 1 cup nuts, like pecans or walnuts, chopped (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat the over to 350 degrees and grease/flour loaf pan.
2. Mash the bananas.
3. Mix all ingredients at a medium speed until everything is incorporated. Some lumps will remain.
4. Pour batter into loaf pan and put in the oven for 1 hour. Banana bread is done when a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
5. When it is done, allow it to rest until room temperature before cutting to keep it from drying out. Store covered.Notes:

Notes:

• It is good to mix the dry ingredients together well before adding the wet ones. Otherwise, the baking powder can stick in a clump and end up in someone’s slice.
• Depending on your oven and your loaf pan, the banana bread could cook faster than the allotted 1 hour. Try setting the timer for a slightly shorter time, like 55 minutes. It is on the verge of overcooking when the loaf has risen in the middle, is golden in top and brown at the edges, and begins to pull away from the pan.
• Banana bread doesn’t last long at our house.  People eat it in thick, moist slabs for breakfast, as a snack, or for dessert.  My mom’s recipe is the only one I know, but it meets the criteria for me: easy and delicious.  For me, Momma’s Banana Bread is #ASimplerJoy. I hope you like it too!