Strawberry Banana Bread

Sorry it has been a bit since my last post, things have been slightly hectic lately with work and side projects. I'm really enjoying being a Page, it's the best job I've ever had by far. The first time I supervised a section of The Tonight Show audience by myself someone in my section threw up during Justin Timberlake's interview which was....stressful. BUT, I figure that that's probably the worst thing that could possibly happen, so now that I've gotten that over with I'm pretty much good to go.

Back to the food, I made this banana bread a few weeks ago, simply because I was craving banana bread and happened to have some extra strawberries on hand. It tasted wonderful and was really moist, the flavor from the strawberries kind of leaks into the bread when you cook it, so there's a nice strawberry tang as well. Plus, it looks really pretty when you cut into it and it appears as though you've put waaaaay more effort into the preparation than you actually have. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

3 Slightly Overripe Bananas

10 Strawberries

2 Eggs

2 and 1/2 Cups Whole Wheat Flour

3/4 Cup Regular Sugar

1/2 Cup Brown Sugar

2/3 Cup Butter, softened

1/2 Cup Whole Milk

1 Tablespoon Vegetable Oil

1 Tablespoon Honey

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1 Teaspoon Baking Soda

1 Teaspoon Salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Mash the bananas together in a medium sized bowl using a potato masher. Set the bowl aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and the sugar. Add all of the liquid ingredients, including the eggs and mashed bananas, and mix until until well-blended. Set them aside.

Mix together the remaining dry ingredients in a small bowl and then stir them into the banana mixture until thoroughly combined.

Pour the batter into a well-greased small loaf pan, about 9 x 5 inches, and place 2 rows of 5 strawberries on top of the dough. Press them in with your finger until they are covered by the dough, but aren't touching the bottom of the pan. Ideally, you want the strawberries to float in the middle of the loaf so that when people cut into the loaf the strawberries are a nice little surprise.

Place the pan in the oven and bake for an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes, or until golden brown and a knife inserted into the loaf comes out fairly clean. Allow the loaf to cool for 30 minutes before serving.