My Green Mouth: Cool, Cruel Summer: Bananarama Bread (with Butter)

Summer: beautiful and hot. I love it. Yet, when I see summer coming round the corner, I begin plotting ... I'm on the look out for cooler days on which I can still bake. I come up with a list of "What I Must Bake" before the heat hits. The list is like a survival guide. Foods I need to taste one more time between now and autumn.

Will Monday night be cool enough? Thursday evening? Please, God, give me one or two more cool days so I can bake up the last of the cool weather treats!

That is how I talk to myself throughout the spring. And this year, banana bread made it to the top of my list of things to bake on one of the last cool days of spring. YUM!

Banana Bread, with Butter
This recipe is for a super high-fiber, low-fat, and low-processed sugar banana bread that is absolutely scrumptious. I feel completely fine about slathering butter or butter substitutes onto a slice of this, ... or several slices.

2 1/2 cups unbleached organic wheat flour
1/2 cup bran flakes
1/2 cup ground flax seeds
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
4 T. maple syrup
1 T. molasses
3 eggs
1 T. organic vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
5-6 smashed ripe organic bananas (about 2 cups or even more)
1 cup organic raisins
1/2 cup chopped organic walnuts
Some maple sugar if you have it!

1) In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, bran flakes, ground flax seeds, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon.
2) In a separate bowl, mix together the maple syrup, molasses, eggs, oil, vanilla extract, and bananas.
3) Fold the flour mixture into the wet mixture. Carefully mix. Then, add the raisins and walnuts.
4) Split the batter between two loaf pans. This will make about 2 small loaves. Be sure the loaf pans have been greased. (I use organic coconut oil. You could use organic vegetable oil or butter.)
5) This is the time to use the maple sugar if you got it! Sprinkle liberally over the top of the batter in each loaf pan.
6) Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. At this time, check using a toothpick to see how wet the batter is. If the batter is very wet, leave in for another 10 minutes. If the batter is slightly wet, turn off the oven and leave in for another 10 minutes. And listen to Bananarama while you bake!
7) Cool the loaves for 5-10 minutes. Then unmold. Slice. Serve with fresh creamy butter! (Or butter spread!)

Meaner, Greener, Leaner!
* This recipe doesn't need much sugar--there's already so much natural sugar in the bananas and raisins. If you're watching your sugar intake, do not add the raisins (dried fruit contains a lot of fructose).
* This bread is filling and healthy--lots of fiber, vitamins from the bananas, and some protein from the nuts.
* Instead of butter (bad), use organic butter spread, like Earth Balance. It's got a ton of Omegas!
* Freeze bananas that have gone too soft instead of tossing them. On average, Americans throw away a pound of food per day per American! (NYTimes) Where does it go? Mostly into plastic garbage bags and landfills, where the food will sit in the garbage bags for billions of years. Don't do it! When a banana darkens, freeze it. Over time, you'll have enough to make this delicious bread. Take 'em out of the freezer to sit on your counter for a few hours. Cut off the ends, then squeeze the ripe defrosted bananas right out of their skins! It's fun.

Here are more pictures from the process.

Bananas from the freezer. Pretty frost on 'em! (Strangely, bananas, even with frost, look like naughty bits.)