Go bananas!

I have always been a fan of bananas. They are loaded with good vitamins and minerals. Plus, they come in a pretty, bright yellow skin that composts. What’s not to love?

But there’s more.

I’m most in love with them when they start turning brown and spotty. Over-ripened bananas mean banana bread in our house. Unless they are a pulpy mess — which happens sometimes — bananas take on new life for a few more breakfasts and snacks. It’s like giving to Goodwill. Things we have and hold (often for too long) can take on new life and meaning for others, if we just let them.

If you have some brown bananas on your counter today, remake them into tonight’s dessert: banana bread. Here’s a simple recipe, borrowed (of course) years ago from someone else.

Enjoy!

Banana Bread
3 to 4 ripe bananas, mashed
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 and 1/2 cups of flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix butter into mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix. Add the flour last and mix again. Pour into a buttered 4×8″ loaf pan or. Bake for one hour. Cool on a rack.

(Sometimes I use four small loaf pans so I can share. If you do that, cut the baking time in half.)