Baked Comfort

Sometimes in life things get cloudy.  Things at work just don't seem to be going so well, things at home are 'meh', and you just don't know why you feel so confused.  As I shared in my last post, I am 25 years old... an age synonymous with the Quarter Life Crisis ("QLC" for short... we're tight so I'm allowed to abbreviate).   Thing thing about your QLC is that it is worse (or better, depending on which way the pendulum swings that day) than the mid-life crisis that so many people fear.  Why do I say this, you ask?  Because during your QLC, you are still young enough to actually do something about the things in your life that are bothering you.  There are no kids, no significant others, no strings, nothing is holding you back from making a dramatic change in your life.  So if you've got nothing holding you back, what's the problem?  The problem is that you know that you're still not old/wise enough to know what exactly you want to change.  You're old enough and have enough experience on your own to know what you don't want but you haven't quite racked in enough miles on the odometer to know what you do want.  *sigh*  So what is a girl to do??  I make banana bread.  Good old home baked banana bread.  The kind that fills the house with smells of Home and fills your belly with love.   Because there is nothing worse than contemplating your uncertain future than contemplating your uncertain future on an empty stomach.

Lucky for you, I woke up early this morning to perform a little experiment.  Banana bread is in no way bad for you, especially considering all of it's marvelous healing qualities that I listed above... but I wondered, being that Joe wants me to get in a bathing suit today and go tubing down the river, is there any way that I can make my favorite breakfast treat a little healthier?  Applesauce.  Applesauce? Yes, applesauce.  I have heard over and over again that replacing the oil in a recipe with applesauce yields great results.  Now I wasn't willing to put the quality of my banana bread to chance so I did the only thing that I could... make two loaves, one following the traditional family recipe with oil, and another which replaces the oil with unsweetened applesauce.  Here are the results:

BB#1:

BB#2:

Can you tell the difference?  BB#1 is a little darker in color, and BB#2 rose a little higher.  So which is which?  I should have changed the order to mix things up a bit but they are in the same order in which I introduced them, BB#1 is with oil, BB#2 is with applesauce.  We held a taste test and the results were somewhat expected.  BB#1 is definitely your traditional soft, cake-like, super banana-y traditional banana bread.  BB#2 was super moist, delicious, and had great banana flavor as well; however, the texture of the bread was more of a bread rather than a soft cake.  The verdict?  Both were delicious.  So on those days where you need a little more comfort, go with the traditional BB#1, but for any other day BB#2 is a great, and healthy alternative.

Mom's Banana Bread


1 3/4 C all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 C sugar
1 egg, beaten
1/2 C oil (or unsweetened applesauce)
1 C mashed ripe bananas (approximately 2-3 bananas)
1/2 C milk

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Combine all dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl.  Combine wet ingredients in a separate bowl.  Stir wet ingredients into dry mixture until blended (do not over mix!).  Place in a greased loaf pan and bake for approximately 50 minutes.