Banana Nut Bread

Really, i am too much. Or i really am turning into my mother with all of this cooking and baking stuff. First the jam, now the Banana Bread....but i so love this recipe. It's one of my Mama's recipe but i have no idea where she got it from. It may be from a old church cookbook or a Lion's Club Cookbook; she loved getting and trying recipes from these kinda cookbooks. I'm grateful that i managed to get as many recipes from her as i could find. I love seeing her handwriting on a recipe where she changed, added or subtracted something to make it 'better'. I keep all of my recipes in clear sheet protectors, filed in a large black three-ringed binder like a recipe nerd would do so i can keep track of them. Yeah, my Mama did the very same thing....not only do i come from a batch of Mother Earth types, i also apparently come from a long list of control freaks who must have everything in perfect order.

Since i had bananas that were spotting, I decided to bake Banana Bread this morning from my favorite recipe. Of course, i had to add certain things, like, chocolate and pecans because it's so very healthy to add chocolate and pecans to everything and anything that i bake if i can get away with it. Honestly, though, it's just not "my" Banana Bread if it doesn't have chocolate and pecans. A piece of this bread with a large glass of milk, and i almost feel like i'm sitting in my Mama's kitchen again....

It's it amazing how a scent, a baked bread, or a song on the radio can transport you back? Just hearing a certain song can transport me back into a red Darango with the windows down, singing to a long-ago much loved, boyfriend, who i was certain would always be around. The scents of fresh bread, or Spanish cooking take me back to my Mama, watching, talking and giggling with her after a long school day; soft country music playing in the background. I guess that's nature's way of keeping treasured memories with us long after the time has moved on....

Back to the Banana Bread and it's recipe...

Banana Bread
3 or 4 ripe bananas smashed (use four...trust me on this)
1 cup melted BUTTER (please use butter...)
1 cup sugar
1 egg beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla (or a touch more...)
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

~Preheat oven to 350 degrees
~With wooden spoon, mix butter into mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in sugar, egg and vanilla.
~Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add flour last, mix til just mixed.
~Add in the chopped pecans (i just eye-ball the pecans amount) and chocolate (i use Baker's Semi-Sweet Chocolate and chop 2 squares up). Mix till just mixed and pour mixture into a buttered (i use PAM) 4x8 loaf pan and bake for 1 hour. Cool on rack.

Just a note about the butter: i used Publix store brand and skip the 'pinch of salt'.

I think that i will have Banana Bread with a large glass of milk for dinner, because, you know, it's just so healthy with all the bananas in it.