Banana Bread

~Banana Bread, Family recipe~

Happy weekend friends! Fall is among us now, even here in the southwest and I'm loving it! For me fall is all about soups, fresh baked bread, pumpkin coffee, hot chocolate, and delicious baked goods! What about the fall colors you ask? Well I'd love those too except I live in the desert and the only color changes I see are in the fields when the tractors are either Green (personal fave!) or Red (blech! hehe!). However I grew up back East and can totally appreciate the beautiful leaves changing colors, and at times do miss the change. But alas, I'm stuck baking up goodies in my kitchen instead of watching the leaves change... Hmmm... I think my waistline would be happier if I moved... ;-)

Ok, back to the recipe at hand. Well I have to admit I can't take all the credit for this one. It's a recipe I slightly adapted from my Mother In Law! Why did I change it you ask? No good reason, except pure laziness and my need to spice things up.... LOL! Ok, truthfully the original recipe has some wheat flour in it (which I rarely use and so it goes bad quickly) and OJ which doesn't keep long in my house... It's usually half gone by bedtime the day I buy it. I love the original recipe, and will post the original and tell you how I changed it so you can make it both ways and see it's fabulous no matter how you make it! 

Now I know, most everyone is posting sinfully delicious pumpkin recipes, and I love those too. But who doesn't love a good Banana Bread? This is great for fall, full of delicious flavor, and wonderfully moist! Enjoy a loaf or 2 this weekend, it's great with a cup of coffee! ;-)

 

Ingredients:

1 1/4 Cup All Purpose Flour (or 1 3/4 cups if you're being lazy like me!)

1/2 Cup Wheat Flour

1 Cup Sugar

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

1 teaspoon Cinnamon (my additions, you can leave it out but I love the spiciness it adds!)

1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg (^ what she said up there!)

3 Mashed Bananas

1/4 Cup Margarine or Butter, softened

2 Tablespoons Orange Juice (I usually leave this out and just do all of it Lemon Juice)

1/4 teaspoon Lemon Juice

1 Egg

1/4-1/2 Cup Raisins (or chocolate chips, cinnamon chips, use your imagination here!)

Directions:
Heat oven to 325*F, grease & flour (or use Baker's Joy!) the bottom and sides of a loaf pan, or mini loaf pans work too. Using your mixer blend all the the wet ingredients together, and while that's mixing whisk together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and beat for 3 minutes at medium speed. Add the raisins, and gently mix. Then pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 60-70 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the pan and let it cool.

Review:
This is a pretty basic and classic recipe which is why we love it so much! My family gives this 5 stars, and I hope yours does too! ;-)

    Happy Fall Baking!