going bananas......

 

Two for Tuesday!

 Yes I know, it's hard to imagine, another recipe for banana bread, not just one, but two! Well, I guess I'm one of those girls who thinks you can always have just one, ten, fifty...... honestly, is it ever enough? Clearly, I know what you are thinking...who needs another banana bread recipe, it was one of the first things I ever learned to bake in Mrs. Smiley's junior high home economics class and one recipe, maybe two in my dossier is plenty...... or is it? These two banana breads are as different as night and day, (read this part while humming the theme song for the Patty Duke Show) where one is moist, nutty, banana-eeee, and just plain heavenly, the second is rich, chocolately, with a tease of banana, and just plain sinful, both nevertheless are dreamy indeed.

Baking banana bread brings me an unexpected jolt of pleasure and a rush of memories, like the feeling I get when I have lunch with an old friend I haven't seen in awhile. I remember baking my first loaf, then sitting in the cafeteria with my friends at lunch time nibbling on it as if it were pain au chocolat, what better way to get in touch with your own creativity while enjoying a surge of joie de vivre (sorry, French class was after lunch!). This may have been my first Ah Ha! food moment. Homemade banana bread... everyone eating... talking... having fun... Ah Ha! I love this! I love to bake! I love to feed people!

Soon banana bread lead to brownies, etc. etc. and I never looked back.

Banana Bread

 
Chocolate Banana Bread

(go here for recipes)