The other day I asked in @thesteemengine discord group what to do with all my bananas I had recently bought at market. The lady had them on sale 16 for $1 instead of the usual 12/$1. I bought quite a few and they were all getting too ripe at the same time! I had some in the freezer already, but needed a good recipe to use some up quickly!! That's when banana bread was brought up and decided upon! This is a tasty recipe that I hope you'll try!

_{Slice of bread on my favorite Fiestaware lilac plate.}

I put quite a few of the peeled bananas in the freezer to use for smoothies in the future. I even convinced a kid or two to eat a frozen banana - they were kind of shocked that they were so cold. Ha! I needed something to make for our Bible study meal and decided to try out a banana bread recipe. It ended up being really yummy and everyone loved it! I've made 3 loaves since then and need to get another one going! Everyone really likes it!

Ingredients:
3 to 4 very ripe bananas, peeled
1/3 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

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First things first, set your oven to 350°F (175°C) to preheat. Take 3-4 overly ripe bananas and mash them up in a bowl. Mash them some more if you don't want chunky banana bites in your bread.

Stir in about 1/3 cup of melted butter into the bananas. I just used a fork the whole time as it was pretty easy to mix up the mixture.

I have said before that Mexican vanilla makes all the difference in the world, and I still believe that. Mexican vanilla is the best (and can you believe that Panama doesn't sell it??). I used to be able to find it on the International aisle at Walmart in Texas. I asked my mom to bring me some last year when they came and she thought I meant the real deal. Apparently I use an imitation which tastes pretty good to me. She bought me a bottle of REAL vanilla for $18 (yikes) but I still haven't opened it! Just a teaspoon of this goes into the mixture - imitation vanilla works well if you don't have Mexican vanilla!

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Next add 1 teaspoon baking soda, a pinch of salt, 3/4 cup of sugar, and 1 egg. Then add in 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour. Mix it all up nice and smooth. I also add 2 handfuls of chocolate chips which is probably about 3/4 cup or so. More or less depending on how chocolatey you want it!

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Yum yum yum! Pour this into a loaf pan that has been sprayed with cooking oil or spread with some butter and put it in the oven for about 50 minutes. Insert a toothpick in the center to check that it is done. If it comes out clean, it is ready to come out! Allow to cool in the pan for a few minutes before removing and slicing.

Let me know if you try it! YUMMY!!