Banana Bread with Blueberries

Last year when I started learning to bake I was making a lot of pies.  When I wanted to try something different I thought I would try banana bread -- partly because it was a size pan that I had, a nice 5x9in glass pan, and partly because  I happened to have some bananas laying around at the time.  It was really easy to make, and I've probably made it 4 or 5 times since then...

Today I cooked a big breakfast for the first time in my new apartment, and I wanted to keep it going after I ate.  So I went right into the banana bread, took some good pictures, and experimented  by adding blueberries.

Start by smashing about 4 bananas in a big bowl.  I decided to add some blueberries as well.  One of the things I try to do is add more fruit and reduce the amount of sugar I use.  

Then all you do is add the following ingredients one after the other, put it in a buttered pan and bake for an hour at 350:

• 3-4 bananas
• blueberries or other fruit (optional)
• 1/3 C. melted butter
• 3/4 C. sugar -- I reduced this to only 1/2 a cup, which is healthier (plus I used the blueberries)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 t. vanilla
• 1 t. baking soda 
• salt
• 1 1/2 C. flour

That's it!  I used a 5x9 inch glass baking pan and baked for an hour.  It turned out splendidly, and the added fruit is a total bonus.  I do encourage drinking while cooking/baking.  Today I enjoyed some Magic Hat HIPA.

I like sorting my music in iTunes into various playlists for different moods, events, subgenres, etc, and one category I have is cooking lists.  So today I went with a classic, "Cooking List 01," which features Chuck Berry, Eminem, Cake, Ella Fitzgerald, and mc chris, among others.

Check out the rest of the pictures:

smash the bananas, but not the blueberries

melted butter -- I used Earth Balance

about half a cup of sugar, baking soda, salt, vanilla

1 beaten egg

just a cup and a half of flour

pour it into a little bread pan

bake at 350 for an hour

looks great!

time for a slice