Buying "right" and the best banana bread

One of the things I've figured out over the last few years is how to better approximate how much food we'll eat and use. I stopped going to Costco; I stopped buying so much food at once. Instead, I now grocery shop twice a week and concentrate on what we actually need for those days. I used to buy large quantities of food and I'd end up throwing too much of it away. I admit to having to throw away leftovers, but rarely now do I toss uncooked meat and vegetables. I still overbuy on fruit, but I'm getting better. I actually found that by shopping my local grocery and buying the correct amounts, I spend less than if I'd bought more food with a discount at the bigger stores.

So that brings me to banana bread. My younger son and I are the big banana consumers in our house. My husband will occasionally eat one smashed with honey on toast, but the little guy and I normally each eat one banana/day. So, I buy accordingly. But, it turns out that some days one of us doesn't really want a banana. So I always have leftover bananas.

As a result, I went on a massive hunt for the best banana bread recipe to use up the leftover bananas. The recipe I'd used for years (I think this was the first banana bread I'd ever made, at the age of 12) was a fairly complicated, multi-step process. It had a lot of ingredients, and although delicious, wasn't something I was eager to make every week. (I can't find a link to the recipe, but sometime I'll post that recipe as I made my mom turn over the Elsah Landing cookbook where I'd found it this Christmas).

Instead, I've subsituted this great recipe from Elise. Her site is fabulous, with lots of delicious recipes. Since I use it as is, rather than reproduce it, I've linked to it, with the added bonus that you can go exploring her great recipes.

Just a couple of notes:

1. I have never tried not to use a wooden spoon.
2. I find that it takes about 50 minutes in my oven.
3. It works best with 3 - 3.5 bananas. You go the full four and you need to make mini muffins out of some, as it overfills the cake pan.
4. I love my silicon loaf pan.
5. Elise says you can reduce the sugar and you definitely can.
6. A couple of times, I haven't stirred it enough after adding the baking soda. Make sure the baking soda is evenly dispersed through the batter, but try not to overwork the batter.
7. Feel free to add in nuts or mini chocolate chips. They make a delicious add-in.

That's all. I have some banana bread in the oven as we speak. Can't wait....