Banana Bread

Remember when I said I never, ever eat raw over-ripe bananas? (In a previous post I showed you my Banana Pancakes.) Well, it's happened again. That resolution that I made at the grocery store this week to eat a banana every night for dessert vanished when my hubby came home with a half-gallon of Breyer's ice cream ( an unavoidable weakness ). So there my little bundle of good intention bananas sat, exponentially gaining brown spots by the day until I deemed them inedible.

Not one to be wasteful, I promptly arranged to make

Banana Bread.



2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. white sugar
1/4 c. butter, room temperature
2 eggs
3-4 over-ripe bananas, smashed (preferably 4 - for a moister bread)
1/3 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tbs. strong brewed coffee (I usually just use my leftover morning coffee)
1/2 c. coarsely chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a loaf pan with oil and flour. Combine the first three ingredients and set aside. Cream together sugar and butters with an electric mixer. Add eggs one at a time, then add bananas, milk, vanilla, and coffee. Gradually add dry ingredients and mix just until blended. Fold in walnuts. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until inserted knife in center comes out clean.



I've also followed this same recipe for Banana Muffins. It makes exactly 12 large muffins. And tastes great with a cappuccino!



This is one of a pair of Mourning Doves nesting in a tree outside of our kitchen window.



While I was preparing this bread one of them kept dashing down to the ground and fluttering back up again with food (I assume seeds of some sort. I don't think they eat worms). Mourning Doves are one of my favorite birds so I'm happy to have them as neighbors. I love the way they look, move, and sound. Interestingly, they also tend to form strong bonds with their mates, often staying with them through the winter, after the breeding season is over.