March 16, 2015

Going Bananas turns into Banana Bread

Happy Monday, everyone! As of tomorrow, It's a Grandville Life is 4 months old and during those 4 months I have predominately blogged about our house transformation and  DIY projects. When I started this blog my intentions were to also write lifestyle posts from time to time because after all my life here in Grandville, MI goes beyond just home design and DIY projects so that said, what better time to start writing these kinds of posts than now.  


Today's I'm talking about food. More specifically, banana bread. I know, it seems kind of random.  Banana bread, however, is one of the few things that I successfully know how to make or bake. If you have been following me on this blog or Instagram then you probably already know this, but if not, I am 23 years old and am a newlywed and new homeowner. I got married in June and we bought our first house in September, and one the largest changes and challenges in my life has been learning how to cook, meal plan, and grocery shop accordingly.  I got married right out of college so I never lived on my own and was never forced to learn how to cook for myself .  Additionally, I also never really went grocery shopping. I lived in the dorm for 3 years during college which meant I had a meal plan (oh how I loved the conveniency of a meal plan), and senior year of college if I went grocery shopping I would pick up only the bare necessities (milk, bread, peanut butter, cereal).  I lived on breakfast shakes for breakfast, peanut butter sandwiches for lunch, and Paul usually made dinner since I had school work.  So when we got married and bought a house and all of a sudden I had to start weekly grocery shopping and meal planning for the two of us since I no longer had the excuse of having too much school work, let's just say I was completely unprepared, totally out of my element, and overall really bad at it. 

So where does banana bread play into all of this? 

When I go grocery shopping, I'm bad at knowing how much Paul and I will actually consume that week. It seems like I  always buy too few or too many groceries.  Additionally, Paul and mine's food preferences seems to change on a weekly basis, and this is very apparent with bananas. Some weeks Paul eats one a day, and other weeks he will barely touch them. That said, we have had A LOT of bananas go untouched and get so ripe to the point of both of us refusing to eat them and therefore need to be thrown out. That said, that's where the banana bread comes in and the reason why I have gotten really good at making it.  In order to make banana bread, you need super ripe bananas, so instead of letting the super ripe bananas go to waste, I started making banana bread. Right now I'm making about one loaf a month. I guess you can say it's one positive thing that has come from my bad grocery shopping estimation skills. So in case you find yourself in the same predicament at times of buying too many bananas like I did this past week, or you just love banana bread like I do and want to try to make it, I have included the recipe below. It's super easy to make, and very delicious. Also, if you don't want to make the banana bread right away after the bananas have gotten really ripe, you can also freeze them and make the banana bread at some other time. 


Recipe: Banana Bread (This is the one I grew up on, not sure where it's from but it's delicious)

Ingredients: 
  • 1 cup sugar 
  • 1/3 cup butter (softened) 
  • 2 eggs
  •  1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (3 to 4)
  • 1/3 cup water 
  • 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional - I usually don't include them) 

Yes, you want the bananas really  this ripe. You don't want them black, but you want them to be brown and extremely soft so that you have no problem mashing them up with fork. Also, the recipe calls for 3 to 4 bananas and I prefer using 4, but this weekend I only had 3 ripened so that's all I could use. 



Directions: 
  • Heat oven to 350 degrees. 
  • Grease bottom only of pan (I like to use a loaf pan). 
  • Mix sugar and butter in 2 1/2 quart bowl. Stir in eggs until blended. 
  •  Add bananas and water, beat 30 seconds. 
  • Stir in remaining ingredients except nuts, just until moistened, stir in nuts. 
  • Pour into pan. 
  • Bake until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean which is about 55 to 60 minutes. 



Once the banana bread is out of the oven,  I like to put it on a cooling rack. Once the pan has cooled down some I remove the love from the pan and put the loaf of bread directly on the cooling rack. 

Then you enjoy!! (Also it looks like the bottom of the bread is black in this photos, but it's not. It's just a shadow... I promise!) 

What is your favorite banana bread recipe? Also,  I'd love to hear in the comment section below if you would like more of these lifestyle types of blog posts!

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2 comments :

  1. I always love banana bread and it's a great way to use up those bananas for sure.

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