Banana Bread {recipe}

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and now that the nice weather is actually making its appearance over in our area, I'm so ready to get outside and enjoy it. 

The most exciting part is that I can finally go walking in the park with my munchkin and start getting back into shape faster. I do have a treadmill but running in the garage, while staring at my husband's tools, is not fun or does it make me want to do it over and over again. 

If you notice, all my recipes haven't really been 'diet' type. I don't know why, but I have such a sweet tooth lately. I've always been more of savory kinda gal but I think breastfeeding, working out, or what have you, is making me crave sweets. Yeah, not good. 

So I'm trying to curb my cravings a little bit while not indulging in too many sweet things. One of my favorites is banana bread. Our pastor's wife has been making most delicious, moist and decadent banana bread for years and always shares with us during Christmas time. She did give me the recipe but it never came out right. I decided to give it a try one more time with a little tweak. It was pure perfection. 

Go get some bananas. Let them sit on your counter for a week and make yourself a banana bread. 

Trust me. It's gooooood.  

INGREDIENTS

• 3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 3/4 cup sugar 
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

HOW TO:

No need for a mixer for this recipe. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). 

With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

***My oven tends to be on hotter side so I bake it on 325F for an hour and then leave on 300F for another 30 minutes. It seems to do the trick - comes out moist and perfectly browned. Work with your oven.