Banana Bread

The banana bread recipe came from Daddy's college roommate's mom, Mrs Vodoklys, a very generous & loving lady, now dead, to Grandmother Marie Sienkewicz as Blueberry Banana Bread. You may add a cup of any kind of extraneous materials to it, blueberries, chocolate chips, chopped dates, chopped nuts, etc. It is a sturdy, simple batter. When I make it I use half whole wheat flour. You may reduce the amount of margarine by as much as half without making a lot of difference in the final results & that is what I do now, but I'm giving you the original form, which I know by heart by now. If you wanted to bake it in muffin tins, it would make a dozen normal muffins. Usually I bake it in a standard bread loaf pan, bigger pans make it flatter, smaller pans make it fatter. The fatter it is, the longer it will bake. Expect it to take about an hour at 350 degrees under normal conditions (shorter for muffins, of course.)

BANANA BREAD

1 3/4 cups flour (half whole wheat)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Sift dry ingredients together.

1 stick margarine
1 cup sugar

Beat together until fluffy.

1 egg
3 ripe bananas

Puree in blender, or mix the egg into the margarine & sugar & mash the bananas with a fork.

Add the dry ingredients to the sugar & margarine, alternating with the squashed bananas & egg. Mix just until combined. Add any extra fruit or chocolate chips here.

Grease a standard loaf pan and line the bottom with waxed paper. Grease the waxed paper. Pour in the batter & bake at 350 degrees for about an hour (until top is uniformly brown & dry & springs back to the touch).