When Life is Bananas, Make Bread

It only took a global pandemic for me to start writing on my blog again.  Welcome 2020!  First post of the new decade!  I'm trapped...uh, quarantined...sheltering in place with three boys.  The oldest of the boys, my husband, has transformed our dining room into an office space.  So now we eat in the living room.  I try to think of it as a little bistro table at a cafe somewhere in Europe.  Armchair travel.  The oldest actual boy, my 16 year old Junior in High School, has found a new hobby since some beaches are closed and the ones that are open for surfing are quite crowded.  He is skateboarding and giving me daily anxiety as I hope he doesn't send us to the Emergency Room from a fall.  The youngest boy, my 8 year old, is now an online student prone to extra sassy behavior, tantrums, and a lack of focus.  Between school lessons we try to bring some zen into the household with a variety of online Yoga classes, swimming in our blow up pool in the backyard, and driving Remote Control cars in the driveway. 

No wonder we have resorted to baking.  Back to my blog roots.  It used to be that everyday I would bake something (we weren't even in a global pandemic quarantine situation) and I would blog about it.  So now, things have come full circle.  I'm not hiking as I would like to be (crowded trails, busy homeschooling, cleaning, doing mounds of laundry and dishes) but I am feeding my soul, uh belly, with new and old recipes that are now being devoured in minutes (believe it or not, these boys never used to eat all my fun cupcake treats).

So, it may be temporary, or it may be the new normal, but either way, I'm gonna try to hop back on the laptop again, in between Virtual Field trips to the Smithsonian, enjoying a daily cup of Yogi Tea, and virtual hangouts with friends. 

Our first quarantine bread adventure:

Banana Nut Bread, a simple classic for sure, but somehow under these circumstances, tasted all the better.  The smell from the oven was divine, luxurious even.  The anticipation of the warm, sweet taste of an old favorite was our big excitement for the day.  Both kids helped out in the baking process.  And I'm happy that this task knocked out some math, sharing, reading, and culinary school tasks for the day.  Photography too!  Gotta get a pic!  Work that light and angles! The only complaining was over who would be on dish duty.  Shocker, it was me. 

Once the bread was finally finished and ready for consumption, it was like we were having a party.  All smiles, feeling accomplished, and with full stomachs.  A day well spent.  Appreciation for the ingredients that weren't necessarily easy to come by, appreciation for the fact that our family is lucky enough to be together during this time, appreciation for many things that during normal times we take for granted. 

While these new bread chefs may be irritating to manage from time to time, and unwilling to wear shirts, there's no one else I'd rather bake or break bread with.  Here's the recipe below...hope you have someone to be bananas with, bake and break bread with too. 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup soft butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 large or 4 small bananas (we used 5 apple bananas from our freezer)
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup walnuts (optional...we did not have any on hand, and it was just as tasty without)

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees
2. Mix together butter and brown sugar
3. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix well
4. Smash bananas and add to mixture
5. Add flour, baking soda, and salt.  Mix well
6. Pour into greased loaf pan, muffin tin, or bundt pan
7. Bake at 325 degrees for 25 to 60 minutes (depending on the pan)
8. Test center with toothpick or knife to see if done