Oatmeal Banana Bread

i love to bake. granted, it sometimes brings disastrous results, but who doesn't love some baked goods?

i also love cereal. and i love me some bananas in my cereal too! but when the weather started turning colder, i started eating less cereal for breakfast, and therefore less bananas. for some reason, i kept buying bananas, and then they just turned too brown for my taste. well, when life hands you brown bananas, make banana bread!

every few weeks this winter, i've made a loaf of this oatmeal banana bread. i love anything with oatmeal, and this is a good way to add a little more fiber to your normal loaf of banana-y goodness. my version doesn't incorporate nuts, but feel free to add walnuts or pecans for a "good fat". you could even throw in a few flax seeds for some omega-3s; you'll never even notice them.


1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup quick oats
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter (not a butter spread)
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (i use 3)
1/4 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs

crumb topping:
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons quick oats
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons brown sugar

preheat your oven to 350 and grease a 9"x 5" loaf pan. combine baking powder, baking soda, salt, flour, oats, and brown sugar until blended. cut in the butter until you form coarse crumbs. i use a fork for this, but you could use two knives, one of those pastry butter-cutter-inner thingies, or even your hands. once butter is cut in, stir in bananas, milk, vanilla, and eggs until every thing is just moistened. pour into your loaf pan.


crumb topping:
combine flour, oats, brown sugar, and butter, again cutting in the butter to form the "crumbs" of the topping. if you like more of a glaze type topping, i also found out (by mistake) that you can pop these ingredients in the microwave until the butter melts and it will become more of a liquid. either way, top your batter with the mixture.

bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until knife comes out clean. the reason i say knife is that this bread will rise considerably and if you stick a toothpick in there, it will barely reach the middle of the loaf. use a very thin knife, like a filet knife and you'll be able to make sure it's done through the middle.

run a knife loosely around the edges, remove from pan, and cool on cooling rack.

enjoy!