Banana Mania

Do you constantly have banana emergencies? Maybe you have no bananas, green bananas, or god forbid, bananas with brown spots that are deemed diseased, cursed and untouchable.  If you are in the later situation by some misfortune, I have a Banana Bread recipe for you. My kids love to help make it, which can also turn this into a rainy day activity. Even a very small child can mash the bananas for you, and they love to crack eggs with your help. I usually make this in a loaf format, but you can bake it into muffins if you reduce the cooking time to about 20-25 minutes. Sometimes I make the muffins and pop them in the freezer for consumption on a later date!
This is a great breakfast treat if you have kid that won't eat any breakfast foods and is hysterical by 10am every day. Not that I know any kids like that.
You need:
8 Tblsps of unsalted butter (1 stick). Helps if it is room temperature
3/4 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 cup unbleached all purpose flour, and 1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking sode
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large (overripe) bananas
1 tsp real vanilla extract
1/4 cup to 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (optional, sort of). You can do nuts or raisins instead
I also like to add a half cup of shredded coconut.

1. Grease a 9x5x3 inch bread pan, and preheat the oven to 350F. Kids are good at greasing.
2. Whip out your Kitchenaid mixer. If you don't have one, just get out whatever sort of beaters you have.
Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Kids love to watch this. Then, carefully crack the eggs one at a time. Pick the eggshells out of the mixture. Because you know you let one get in there.
3. I'm sure I should tell you to sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt, and fold it into the mixture. But I'm a realist. Nobody does that in real life. Just get it all in there.
4. Fold in the mashed bananas and vanilla and chocolate chips/nuts/coconut or raisins.
5. Put it into the pan and show to the children so they can oooh and ahh at the difference when it comes out.
Bake for about 50-60 minutes. It's a easy to take it out too early, so look to see that the sides are pulling away from the edges and put a cake tester in the middle to make sure it's not gooey. Actually you probably don't have a cake tester. I don't. Stick a fork or a meat skewer or a toothpick or whatever you've got in there to determine if it is still gooey. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, and then on a rack if you can fight the kids off for that long. Enjoy!