I love to bake! I'm pretty sure the reason Jeff gained as much weight as I did during my pregnancy was because all I did was bake for 9 months :D. After little William arrived, I ran out of the time and the energy to continue baking all the time; plus I wanted to shed my baby weight as fast as possible. Recently however I have been making baked goodies here and there because it is always nice to have something sweet every now and then.

With my attempt at eating healthy, there is a surplus of fruits and veggies around the house and every now and then some of then get forgotten about. This time it was the bananas and they ended up looking like this:

Very Ripe Bananas

I wasn't 100% sure what to do with the mushy bananas; I contemplated cursing then throwing them away. But I came to my senses and decided to make banana bread.

After cutting out the extra mushy parts, I went on to making banana bread. (A note about recipes: Most of the time I search the internet for awesome recipes, but this time I just took the recipe right off of the King Arthur Whole Wheat Flour bag. I must say it turned out delicious!)

Thus far I have made this banana bread twice and it has been delicious. The first time I made the bread I followed the recipe and used vegetable oil, but the second time I started to make it I didn't have enough vegetable oil. So I used the trusty internet and discovered that applesauce can be a substitute for oil in baked goods. (I've heard this before but had never tried it). Well I finally tried it, and the banana bread turned out just as tasty if not better than the first time.

Delicious Banana Bread!

Whole Wheat Banana Bread

• 2 cups very ripe bananas, mashed (I used 3 large ones)
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil (or applesauce)
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts ( I didn't have walnuts so I used pecans)
• 2 tablespoons sugar + 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1) Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan. In a large bowl, mash the bananas. Add oil, sugar, eggs, milk, and vanilla and stir to combine.

2) Mix in the flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt and chopped walnuts. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl to thoroughly combine ingredients.

Transfer the batter into the prepared pan. Mix together the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the batter.

3) Bake in preheated oven for about 60 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then tip out of the pan and transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Yield: One loaf, about 16 slices.

And that is it! Super simple and super fast. I hope y'all enjoy this banana bread as much as Jeff and I do!