Banana Bread

Over-ripe bananas. They smell, they are squishy & they look terrible. Mark always eats bananas for breakfast (I personally can't stand them), but invariably we end up with left over ones that get too ripe. Because I'm not overly fond of banana bread either, Mark always makes it. This recipe came from my grandmother and was found in one of those small town, everyone shares a recipe, cookbook. We have gone way beyond the basic recipe, adding cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and what ever fruit (blueberries, cherries, etc) and nuts we happen to have on hand.

Inspiration: Left-over, over-ripe bananas
Time: 10 minutes to throw together, 1 hour to bake
Difficulty: easy
Special equipment: bread loaf pan
Servings: 1 loaf


2 cups flour -- sifted
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup walnuts -- chopped
1/4 cup salad oil
1 cup bananas -- mashed
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 whole egg -- lightly beaten
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Sift together the dry ingredients, add the nuts, combine the remaining ingredients and mix all together. Stir only until the flour is moistened.
Use 5 x 9 loaf pan. Sprinkle cinnamon & sugar mixture over the top of loaf.
Bake at 350 degrees for one hour.