Okay, so my blog theme this week appears to be reusing old food, or leftovers. Staying in that same vein, today I made banana bread. I made it for two reasons…first, I’m going to moe.down this weekend; second, I had about nine black bananas in my freezer just waiting to be defrosted and born again.

Call me a monkey, but I am a big fan of bananas. On those weeks when I buy more than I can eat, or the warm weather ripens them before I can eat them, I toss them in the freezer where they accumulate until I have enough to make a nice big double batch of banana bread, or even some mini-muffins, which are fun to make, but it’s also a real pain to clean the pan afterwards.

The double batch I made today yielded seven mini-loaves and two large loaves. Here’s a nice simple and delicious family recipe I use. You can just throw all the ingredients into the bowl, mix it up and pour it in the pan and you’ll have plenty to share! Banana bread is just another way old food can be born again!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

½ cup of shortening or butter

1 ½ cup of sugar

2 eggs

3-4 mushed bananas

½ cup milk

¼ cup vinegar

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla

2 cups flour

Be sure to grease the pans before filling. You can get fancy if you want and add nuts, golden raisins or even chocolate chips, but even plain, this is a treat you’re guaranteed to enjoy!