Banana Bread

If you want to make your grocery dollars go further this list might be of some use. If you are debating what produce are better off bought Organic this dirty dozen will help.

Dirty Dozen
1. Celery
2. Peaches
3. Strawberries
4. Apples
5. Blueberries
6. Nectarines
7. Bell Peppers
8. Spinach
9. Cherries
10. Kale/collard greens
11. Potatoes
12. Grapes(imported)

Clean 15 (lowest in pesticides)
1. Onions
2. Avocados
3. Sweet Corn
4. Pineapples
5. Mangoes
6. Sweet Peas
7. Asparagus
8. Kiwis
9. Cabbage
10. Eggplant
11. Cantaloupe
12. Watermelon
13. Grapefruit
14. Sweet Potato
15. Honeydew
Source:foodnews.org

Baking has never been one of my strengths. I am impatient and not good at following order directions. I like to improvise and substitute on whim, all of which are not good things while baking. So I have reluctantly arrived at
a compromise where I try my best to follow directions and some good results have followed.

My first attempt at making banana bread was a disaster, the bread never rose and looked very pathetic. I gave up and never tried again for a long time. Last week something possessed me to give it another try.What this clearly shows is if I can bake anybody can and this is perhaps the easiest recipe ever to try out. My friend who is an excellent baker, people think of her creations as store bought gave me the recipe and I obviously made some substitutions but stuck to the recipe for the most part.

Banana Bread
1. 1 Cup unbleached all purpose flour + 2 tbsp of any flour
2. 1 Cup whole wheat flour (I used the chapati flour)
3. 1 tsp baking soda
4. 3/4 tsp baking powder
5. 3 very ripe bananas (1 1/3 cups of mashed bananas)
6. 1/2 cup of sugar (I used raw sugar)
7. 1/4 cup of honey
8. 5 dates seeded and chopped
9. 1/2 cup of Olive oil (I used a little less than 1/2 and a tbsp of butter)
10. 2 eggs

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 350F
2. unpeel and mush the banana free of any lumps(hands work best)
3. Beat the eggs lightly and add the eggs, oil, sugar and honey to the mushed bananas
4. Sift the flour (see Notes), baking soda, powder and add it to the mushed bananas and mix it gently till
all the flour is well incorporated into the liquid (keep aside the 2tbsp
5. Add in the chopped dates
6. Butter the pan you intend to use (I used a square tin pan)
7. Pour in the batter and place it in the middle rack of the oven
8. Bake for 45 minutes. Check for doneness by inserting a skewer in the middle and see if it comes out clean
(Mine was done in 50 minutes)

Notes:
1.Chapati flour is half way between whole wheat flour and all purpose flour
2.Depending on the size of volume of the mushed bananas a bit of extra flour might be required
3.The baking time depends on the oven and you will be able to decide if it is too hot or just right
after a few times

Hope you all have a good relaxing long day weekend. See you all in a few.a