There are many fulfilling experiences someone can have in life and harvesting your own food is right there among my top 10. Unfortunately, I sometimes believe I have the record of having the worst “green thumb” in the world!  I try to educate myself, read and learn from trial and error, but I admit, mostly due to my inconsistencies, impatience and inexperience,  I have had more failure than success cultivating in my backyard.  However, there are some instances, like when harvesting cherry tomatoes, eggplants, herbs, bananas and lemons, when I feel I have accomplished something great and get my hopes high, doesn’t matter how irregular or random these events happen, I feel “enlightened” and motivated once again with gardening and growing food.

We have some banana plants in our back yard which flower about twice a year.  The whole bunch ripens at the same time.  As a result, there comes a time of the year in which we have plenty of ripe sweet bananas to feed an army!  There are so many bananas you can eat in a matter of 3-5 days, so after distributing to the neighbors, family, friends,  making smoothies and placing in the children’s lunch boxes, I always end up with a few brown bananas in my kitchen counter that are perfect to make this banana bread.  Most of the time I make it without walnuts, but I have added them to the recipe as an option. This is a great snack or dessert with some ice cream.  I must warn you its so good you won’t be able to stop eating it.

So don’t let the overripe banana’s go to the trash and make this banana bread.  You may also mash them and freeze them in a freeze proof plastic bag for later use.

Banana Bread

Ingredients

3 very ripe bananas

2  large eggs

4 tbsp unsalted butter (1/2 stick), melted

2/3 cups of sugar

1 3/4 cups of self-rising flour, sifted after measuring

1/4  tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup of sour cream

2 tbsp milk

OPTIONAL 1/4 cup of chopped walnuts, dredged in some flour

extra butter to grease pan

Procedure

1.  In a small bowl, mash very ripe bananas with a fork.

2.  Beat melted butter and sugar until creamy.  Add eggs, sour cream, nutmeg, vanilla extract, milk, mashed bananas and beat just until combined.

3.  Add sifted self-rising flour in two batches and beat until fully incorporated into the batter. Do not over beat. If you are going to add walnuts do so at this point by folding in with a silicone spatula.

4.  Pour batter into greased loaf pan and bake at 350º F for approximately 35 minutes.  Check for doneness with a sharp knife or wood bbq skewer.  Let rest for a few minutes.  Take out of baking pan and let cool completely.