Lemme share a little secret

You can make banana bread with just 4 ingredients.

I love banana bread.  But it always seems like it's "bad" for you and it makes such a mess for so little reward.

But I stumbled across this little book 4 Ingredients One Pot, One Bowl at the library and this little recipe was in it. . .and the author has this little recipe on her website as well.  So I simply must share. 

Because you cannot have a secret like this and keep it forever.

My middle gal mixed this up for us on Father's Day. . .because yes, it's that ridiculously simple. We started with this recipe. . . .

4 Ingredients Banana Bread

However, true to form, I didn't have the required ingredients.  So I had to make due with what I had. . .mostly waaaay too many overripe bananas that I couldn't bear to throw away.

So we followed the gist of this recipe and came up with this:

5 very ripe bananas
1 tightly packed cup of brown sugar (OK, so ours was really a blend of brown sugar, cinnamon and a touch of butter, it was leftover from a mass kuchen making session)
1 cup of mayonaisse
pinch of salt
4 cups of all purpose flour

Mash bananas then add brown sugar, mayo and salt.  Mix well.  Slowly add the flour to the mixture. 

Split batter evenly between 2 loaf pans (mine are non-stick pans so I didn't line with parchment or use a no-stick spray).

Bake at 350ºF for 45-50 minutes.  To see if they are done, stick a toothpick or cake tester into the middle of a loaf; if it comes out clean, it's done!   Let rest for 10 minutes then loosen the edges and remove from the pan.

Banana Peanut Butter Bread

Breakfast is often a struggle in our household.  Traditional breakfast foods don't appeal to all members of our house (I'm not judging--I'm one of those who would eat pizza or chili for breakfast).  This little recipe helps solve the problem for us. . .tasty enough to be eaten by all but with enough healthy stuff mixed in that I don't feel too guilty for serving it.

Banana Peanut Butter Bread

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 cup peanut butter
4 bananas, mashed
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup oats
2 tablespoons of wheat germ
2 teaspoon baking soda
1 12 oz bag of mini chocolate chip morsels

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Lightly grease a 5x9 inch loaf pan.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs; beat well. Stir in peanut butter, bananas, flour, oats and baking soda until blended. Fold in chips. Pour into prepared pan.

Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for 70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Remove to a wire rack to cool.