The first time, I went bananas

Okay, I know I said this post would be up on Thursday, but I've been migraine-y (that's a word) for the past couple of days, so you'll forgive me for being an hour or so late, right? Thanks.

My family practices Jainism. You may want to ask me about Jainism. I'd rather just direct you to Wikipedia. Because Wikipedia knows more than I do about EVERYTHING.

Because we are Jain, we are vegetarian. This means no chicken, no fish . . . and no eggs.

You need eggs to bake, people.

So we never baked.

* cue the smallest violin in the world playing the saddest song *

This changed at some point and time. We all have a terrible sweet tooth - at buffets, my dad has been known to skip dinner entirely and go straight to dessert (that's smart, except he's diabetic). And then my mother got a KitchenAid stand mixer, and BLAM, we began to bake at home.

Around this time, I had a boyfriend. He was lovely until he wasn't, and then we broke up. But while we were together, he would tell me of his banana bread and how warm and delicious it was. He never brought me any, though. No wonder things didn't work out. Anyway, one day I asked him for the recipe and wrote it down. 

Then I did nothing with that scrap of paper for approximately four and a half years. 

My friend, Streetz - yes, that's actually her name, and yes, it's way cooler than any of our names - was having a Memorial Day Party, and I didn't want to come empty handed, because my momma taught me better than that. So I scrounged around and dug up that scrap of paper and made me some banana bread. 

And lo and behold, it was all gone by the end of the night. Success!

I bake so often, and I have many, many recipes that I love. But banana bread holds a special spot in my belly, because it was the first. So . . . here's the recipe - enjoy.

Banana Bread

* Ingredients

- 1½ cups flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 3 eggs
- 2 ripe bananas, peeled
- LOVE. No, I'm kidding, that's so cheesy.

* Steps

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F.

2. Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Use an electric mixer to blend everything together until smooth.

3. Pour the batter into . . . something. The obvious choice is a loaf pan, but I use a large Pyrex dish. The bread seems to bake more evenly, and it's easier to store. But whatever you use, use baking spray to grease your pan before you pour the batter.

4. Bake for an hour or until a toothpick inserted comes out mostly clean. Allow the bread to cool.

5. Eat some, and share with people you like. You can also share with people you don't like. That's cool.

* Add In Options (because I'm fancy like that)

- 1 cup of milk chocolate chips = chocolate chip banana bread. NOT semi-sweet chips, because they are gross.

- 1 cup of walnuts = banana walnut bread. You could even take the loaf out partway through baking and sprinkle additional walnuts on the top. Pretty and yummy crust.

- 2 tsp of cinnamon

- ½ tsp of nutmeg

- Or you could combine some, or all, of the options above. Get crazy.

Much love,

Kavi