Killer Banana Bread

Bananas were super cheap at Costco this month. We got a bunch of 12 bananas for 2,000 won or $1.60 give or take.
We bought them on Wednesday, keep in mind Joe and I both like our bananas green, and by Saturday they were covered in brown spots. :(

I checked around online for a good recipe but couldn't find anything that I was sold on. So I turned to Facebook. In the morning I posted a quick request something like, "anyone have a REALLY good banana bread recipe that they don't mind sharing?". Before lunch I had 4 recipes in my inbox!

I decided to combine my favorite, most intreging or "secret" parts of each persons recipe. Here is what I ended up with:

Killer Banana Bread

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

1/2 cup melted butter
1 1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs (lightly beaten)
5 medium size ripe bananas, smashed
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup  buttermilk. If you don't have buttermilk add a cap-ful of vinegar to regular milk
1/3 cup boiling hot water

1/2 cup nuts (optional)

Mix melted butter, sugar and eggs together. Blend in the smashed bananas. Stir well.
In another small bowl combine flour, salt and baking soda.
Add Half the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Stir well.
Add the 1/3 cup hot water. Stir well.
Add buttermilk and the remaining flour mixture. Stir well.
Add nuts if you want.
Grease loaf pan.
Bake for 1 hour-ish.
(ever oven is different keep your eye on it and check with a tooth pick around 50 minutes and add time as needed)

 Some of the recipes overlapped so I decided that those were important parts to keep. Leah's recipe had the hot water added to the flour. I have never seen that before and I liked the idea.  Debbie and Bev sent me a similar recipe with the buttermilk/sour milk. They are both seasoned bakers so I thought that was a good idea. I added a bit more sugar because my bananas were not very sweet and a bit more four because I added the extra liquid (hot water and the butter milk). I wanted to add vanilla but I didn't have any....maybe next time.
 

We were going to let it cool then wrap it up for breakfast tomorrow. But it smelled SO good we decided to try some for dessert.

I must say this was THE best banana bread I have EVER had!
It was light and fluffy, super moist with tons of banana flavor, delicious!
It was more cake like than dense bread like.

Joe is not a fan of nuts and we didn't have any at home but next time I will add a handful of walnuts.
Can't wait until breakfast so I can have some more. Thanks for all of the great recipes!

Sugar Cereal

When I was a kid my mom was a stay at home mom. She was pretty serious about us making good eating choices for breakfast. She would make eggs and toast, oatmeal, maybe yogurt, or my personal favorite ham and cheese scramble. But we always ate breakfast!

On occasion my mom would serve us up a fresh bowl of cereal. Cheerios, Raisin Bran or maybe Kicks. On really special occasions we would have Basic 4, a health combination of bran flakes, almonds and dried fruit.  We ate serious cereal.

It's not like I never ate a bowl of Lucky Charms or Coco Puffs. They were just very rarely bought when I was a kid. So naturally when I grew up I never went through the college aged "cereal" phase. My roommates in college would kill a box of Lucky Charms in a few days. Cereal for every meal and dessert. 

Then I married Joe.
He LOVES cereal.

Joe is the kind of cereal eater that will down a box of Lucky Charms for dessert! That's right, after a full meal, Joe will eat 3 huge bowls of sugar cereal.

Needless to say I blame Joe for my addiction to Cinnamon Toast Crunch. I didn't even know this sugar masterpiece existed! It is the perfect dessert! Obviously it is great for breakfast and it has been known to cure a hangover.

While at Costco, Joe and I were cruising down the cereal aisle. Normally we can find oatmeal,  Cheerios, Special K, and a few Korean brand cereals. (think Kellogg's knock offs) All of a sudden I can not control myself and I literally shrieked with joy, slightly running/skipping down the aisle! Right in front of me is the biggest stack of Cinnamon Toast Crunch that I have ever seen! Not just the big boxes but a big double box! Two huge bags of delicious, cinnamon/sugar toasted squares!

As I grab for a box, hugging it with pride, a middle aged Korean man chimes in with;
"Looks like you hit the jack pot." said the middle aged Korean man.
"YES! This is my favorite cereal, and they NEVER have it here!" Me, placing my precious box of sugar, I mean cereal into our cart with a huge grin.

As I turn to walk away, the Korean man grabs a box of Cheerios that was in his cart and places them back on the shelf, and in its place he puts a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

I hope he enjoys his Cinnamon Toast Crunch as much as I do.