Good ole banana bread: often thought of when you see those ripe bananas starting to go to waste.

This recipe, shared from by friend, Lara, was served at our church coffee hour. As you can see, its where I can taste test it before I share it. I have not had banana bread with sour cream, mostly because I don’t care for sour cream, but it added moisture and complimented the flavor.

For me, I’m always thinking of ways and reasons to share food, so banana bread is perfect for my neighbor who kept my sidewalks clear of snow.

INGREDIENTS

½ C. butter, softened ½ tsp salt

1 c. sugar 1 c. mashed bananas ( 3 ripe)

2 eggs ½ c. chopped nuts (opt)

1 tsp vanilla ½ c. sour cream

1 ½ c. flour

1 tsp baking soda

DIRECTIONS

Grease one large loaf pan

Cream butter with sugar; add eggs and vanilla. Add dry ingredients, then bananas, sour cream and nuts.

Mix well; bake at 350 degrees for one hour or until knife comes out clean.

MY NOTES: I bought this great cookbook recently that says, “Favorite recipes and tips.” It has all the substitutions and measurement equivalents in the back. Sure enough, it said 3 bananas equals 1 cup. Did you know that the darker the banana, the better cancer fighting agents it has, or so they say. Perhaps we can say banana bread fights cancer;))

I like nuts in my banana bread, but not all do. I’ve also added mini chocolate chips if I have them on hand.

Enjoy — Tip for the day: you can substitute ¼ tsp baking soda plus ½ tsp cream of tartar for 1 tsp baking powder. While we are on the subject of baking powder, did you see that it says to shake well? Not sure why. And be sure it’s not past its pull date to guarantee your recipe will not fail.