It's Banana Day!

by Shirley Raye Redmond

Wednesday, April 18 is Banana Day. Who knew? Think of all the delicious dishes you can make to celebrate the occasion—from banana bread to banana cream pie, a banana split and banana pudding—you know, the kind with vanilla wafers.

I learned that banana peels are pretty handy too. Supposedly, the fibers are used to make fabric and paper in Japan. The peel, when rubbed across the forehead, can relieve a headache or whiten teeth, when rubbed across one’s teeth. But today I want to share my favorite banana bread recipe with you. It’s my go-to recipe when I have overripe fruit withering away in the fruit basket.


You will need:
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 ½ cup mashed ripe bananas (that’s about 3 large ones)
½ teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs
2 1/3 cups Bisquick baking mix
1 cup sugar
½ cup chopped walnuts or pecans, but macadamias are good too.

Grease bottom of a loaf pan, and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Beat all ingredients vigorously, then pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean—about 55 to 65 minutes. Cool before removing from pan.
If you live at high altitude like I do, decrease the baking mix to 2 cups and use only 2/3 cups of sugar.
Add ¼ cup all-purpose flour. Bake for 50 minutes at 375 degrees.
Enjoy!