When you cook, you begin with dough-re-mi

This being the very first entry in my cooking blog, there seems to be no better place to start than with my mom's classic banana bread recipe. I'm sure many families have their own banana bread recipe, but let me tell a little story to prove the worth of mine. In my Freshman dorm in college (see picture of us baking on a different day), my friend Raisa down the hall had a hoard of smuggled dining hall
bananas which were rapidly browning in her room. We had
established that we both liked to bake, and her cupcakes were absolutely delicious (if I can, I'll convince her to lend me the recipe for this blog). I volunteered to email my mom and get her banana bread recipe. My mom replied, we baked, and Raisa loved it, as did our friends and down-the-hall neighbors who got a bite. Here's the recipe; if you're feeling daring, add some cinnamon or chocolate chips.

BANANA BREAD

3 ripe bananas mashed with:

¼ cup butter

¾ cup sugar

1 beaten egg

1 ½ cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

½ cup walnuts (optional)

2 heaping tbsp ground flax seed (optional)

Bake at 350 for 45 min or more, until knife comes out clean, in a regular loaf pan.

If you make muffins, about 25 min.

(the above picture was taken as I rode to work with the banana bread in the passenger seat. I woke up and baked it in the morning for our staff meeting)