According to my midwife and the collection of pregnancy books I have been given I should be consuming 2 peaches, ½ lb of cherries, a handful of blue, straw and raspberries, 2 bananas, half a cantaloupe, 3 kiwis, 1 very expensive mango and an entire watermelon …..PER DAY in order to fill my unborn child with all her necessary vitamins. And that’s just the fruit. Don’t even get me started on the vegetables.
I have tried my best. The man at the vegetable market smiles big when he sees me waddle in, knowing that with each child I have he is one step closer to retirement. But as good as my intentions are, inevitably every day or so I have to throw away some fuzzy raspberries or expensive mangoes leaking brown juice, grapes that smell of alcohol or something that resembles a wrinkly tennis ball that I am pretty sure was once a peach. You see, when I am lying on the couch in the late evening with my feet elevated to the Gods (so that my toes no longer resemble little pork sausages) I am hit with cravings – for chocolate……or olives……or chocolate covered olives. But never for apples and pears.
But there is one rotting fruit that I can put to good use. Bananas. When baked with copious amounts of sugar and oil a rotten banana tastes sublime. So tonight, when I am lying like a Greek goddess on my couch, propped and pouffed with pillows and fans I can yell to my husband to bring me fruit…..in the form of carbohydrates. And while lying there with crumbs nestled between my now enormous bosom I can drift off into sleep knowing I have just provided soon to be Little Lady with some essential vitamins.
Damn Good Banana Bread:
There are a ton of recipes out there that “jazz up” banana bread with luxurious ingredients like dried fruit and nuts, coconut and even chocolate. But in my opinion Banana Bread should taste like one thing – bananas. As my Dad would say “Keep it simple, Stupid.”
When you serve things like Banana Bread or Carrot Cake (a vegetable cake?!!) to Europeans they raise one eyebrow as if to say “Whatchu talkin’ ‘bout, Willis?” But after one bite they have to admit that us Americans can be quite ingenious. My Russian boss loved this banana bread so much she could eat half a loaf in one sitting. (Of course we led her to believe that because it’s primary ingredient was the banana it was therefore low in fat – HA! )
This recipe is so easy it can be in the oven in ten minutes.
½ Cup (120 ml) Vegetable Oil
1 Cup (215 grams) Sugar
2 Large Eggs
1 Teaspoon (5 ml) Vanilla Extract
3 Large Overripe Bananas – the blacker the better
1 ¼ Cups (175 grams) Flour (always spoon the flour into your measuring cup instead of scooping it)
1 Teaspoon (6 grams) Baking Soda
Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit or 180 Celsius. In a large bowl combine the vegetable oil and sugar with a whisk. Add the eggs and vanilla and whisk to combine. In a separate bowl mash the bananas with a potato masher or the back of a fork. In another separate bowl whisk the flour with the baking soda. Gradually add the bananas and the flour mixture to the sugar/oil mixture until well combined. Spray a loaf pan with baking spray and pour in batter. Bake for about 50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out moist but not gooey. Allow to cool slightly before removing from pan.
Enjoy! Mamma Mia!
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