Barbara’s Banana Bread

Simply wonderful banana bread…Thanks Barb!

While I was raising my children, I had the privilege to stay at home with them.  However, when they started college I went back to work. Well not necessarily back…it was 20 years since I worked outside of my home so, what do I do? I started looking for jobs in the help wanted section of the newspaper (that’s the way it was done back then) hoping to find a job in a local office. I was fortunate enough to find a job in a pediatric office as a receptionist.  The office was incredibly busy and, phone hour was agonizing! For those of you who don’t know about phone hour in a pediatric office….it’s the hour the doctors set aside to take all phone calls from new and anxious moms and dads. I was very lucky to work with a wonderful nurse who was there to give allergy shots. I’ll always remember her kindness. Realizing the “new girl” was being overwhelmed, she sat beside me and started to answer phones. It was one of those things that live in my memory as a make or break day!  After that, she would always be close by on those hectic -phone hour- mornings.  Her name was Barbara and, we usually ate lunch together followed with a walk, to get some fresh air. We found we had a lot in common, including food, and would take turns bringing in baked goods for the office. On one of these occasions, she brought in a very luscious banana bread! We always shared recipes so of course, she wrote it down for me. Through the years I’ve made it quite often; always thinking of Barbara’s wonderful smile as I made it. I have tried many banana breads, some claiming to be the “best” but, I always go back to Barbara’s recipe. I heard recently that Barbara lost her very courageous battle with breast cancer. So today, as I was cleaning out my freezer, I found eight bananas that I had previously frozen because they were over ripe. I pulled out four and  decided to make a loaf of this delicious, quick banana bread and, dedicate this post to my friend Barbara! I hope you give it a try and enjoy it as much as I do!

Frosty frozen bananas…a great way to save bananas that are getting too ripe

Beating in all ingredients in order 

Adding the softened butter

Pour into loaf pan and bake

Just out of the oven

My breakfast…so yummy!

This bread is so rich, moist and tasty…with only ⅓  cup of butter 

Barbara’s Banana Bread

1 cup sugar
1 egg
4 bananas~crushed
1 ½ cups flour
1 teaspoon of baking soda
⅓ cup butter or margarine~softened

Mix all the ingredients in the order given. Then bake in a 9x5 loaf pan at 350〫degrees for 45~60 minuets or until a toothpick comes out clean.
**Do Not Grease Baking Dish**