Banana Bread

I didn't eat this banana bread. I gave it away to a friend, along with pretty flowers and a lot of movies for her to borrow. I baked it because sometimes it is easier to express love in a tangible way than to try to find the words. Especially when you really don't know what a person is going through and you've already said "I'm praying for you" a dozen times and "I hope you feel better" starts sounding hollow after saying it over and over . . . for years. 

I wanted to bake something comforting for her and so that is what I did while Wendy napped, but at the same time, I was comforting myself. 

Do you ever comfort-bake? I know a lot of people who eat for comfort or "stress eat" (sometimes I do it too!). It's kind of like that . . . only instead of eating, you bake. The best things to comfort-bake are the ones that you know well, the ones that you've made too many times to count. I had trouble sleeping last night, lying awake feeling pain over this friend's chronic pain and grief over a family who just left our church after being there for longer than I've been alive. 

Anyway, that's the story behind the bread, in case you were wondering. There is nothing unusual about this recipe, but it is the one that I always turn to after experimenting with others . . . because it is simple and delicious and the best. 

Banana Bread

Recipe from Jan Karon's Mitford Cookbook and Kitchen Reader

Makes one 9x5 inch loaf

• 1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil
• 1 1/4 cups white sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 3 very ripe bananas, mashed with a fork
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup buttermilk (since I rarely have buttermilk on hand, I usually substitute regular milk with about 1/2 teaspoon white vinegar added to it.)

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spray a 9x5-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray. Cream the oil and sugar together in a large bowl, using an electric mixer. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Add the mashed bananas and mix well. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add 1 cup of the flour mixture to the banana mixture, mix well, then add half of the buttermilk and mix well. Add the remaining flour, and then the buttermilk and mix until just blended. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of loaf comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then gently loosen with a knife and invert onto a wire cooling rack. 

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