from the pantry: banana bread

My kiddos have been sick on and off for about a month.
We hope to get some answers when we take Naomi to the GI Dr. on Monday.
My pediatrician has told us to keep her on a pretty bland diet,
with no dairy products, so we've done the same with Micah as well.
We've had so many bananas and plain sandwiches, that I'm totally over it.

We had been buying bananas in bulk it seemed,
and then the kiddos stopped wanting to eat them.
(I can't blame them one bit.)
So, the bananas started to go bad.
What does one do with mushy bananas?
Make banana bread of course.

So, I bucked the "no dairy" diet and let the kids make and eat banana bread!
And so far they've still been okay.
But I made the banana bread baking into a lesson
a lesson in measuring, pouring, stirring and sharing!

I had four little bread pans from last Christmas and
decided to make four little loaves instead of one big one.
I asked Naomi who she would like to give the loaves of bread to,
she mentioned two of her little friends from church and their moms
and then our neighbor Pam and then she said we needed to keep one.
Well, of course! We get to delight in our baking goodness as well.

Here are some photos from our day in the kitchen,
and our random acts of kindness delivering banana bread to our friends.
It was kinda neat that our friends weren't home and we got to surprise them!

And yes, the recipe is at the end.
It's a great "from the pantry" recipe because
you probably already have all the ingredients on hand.
The bread came out super moist and extra yummy!!

1 1/2 sticks of butter
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
4 ripe bananas
1 T. lemon juice
2 c flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon (I added more and still can't really taste it)
1/2 tsp nutmeg
Mix all ingredients in large bowl. Spray pan with Pam and pour batter in. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Recipe taken from St. Mark Lutheran Church (Omaha, NE) 50th Anniversary Cookbook.
Recipe by Steve Barry.