B is for Banana Bread

By Andrea Mulder-Slater

Anyone who knows me knows that beyond the coffee maker, I’m not real handy with the tools that can be found in a kitchen. Sure, I can load and empty a dishwasher and yeah, I have been known to fry an egg or two. Once, I even made a roast beef dinner, complete with potatoes, onions and – gasp – gravy.

It’s not so much that I can’t cook – it’s that I hate doing it.

However, kids (it would appear) have a way of changing our attitudes. So it was when the littlest one and I decided to bake banana bread this week. She LOVES the stuff and I’m rather fond of it as well. But baking from scratch is just so much work!

Instead, I was spurred on by a fun find at the grocery store. Simply Organic Banana Bread Mix, according to the company’s marketing department, is, “A Gluten-free Simply Organic Banana Bread Mix that combines cinnamon with the intriguing warmth of allspice and wholesome brown rice flour to create flavor that never loses its appeal. The rich, fruity flavor of Banana Bread will make consumers … go bananas.”

And go bananas we did.

The recipe called for water, eggs and two ripe bananas. Check, check and… pause, pause, pause, check. We had to wait three days for our bananas to ripen enough but as soon as they did, Jannique and I got to work and I have to say, the results were really great.

She loves the taste as much as the wheat filled variety and I loved baking with my girl. No, it wasn’t real sift-the-flour, knead-the-dough baking but hey, Grover from Sesame Street almost become part of the bread after being encouraged to take a nosedive into the mixing bowl.

As the kiddo always says, “It happens.”

No… Really.