Banana Bread

Or, as my cousin Amber says, this bread is banana, B-A-N-A-N-A-S!! :)

For some reason, I buy bananas almost every week and rarely eat them plain. I put frozen banana chunks into the smoothies I make a few times a week for breakfast, but only really eat a banana once a week or so, so I always wind up with more ripe bananas in the fridge. This should serve as my "note to self" for next week's grocery list!!
It's in my eventual plan to make banana soft serve, but banana bread sounded better at the moment, mainly because I knew we would want a carb-y side with our chicken salads that night! I got this from Amber's blog, and I really really liked it. It has simple ingredients and good flavor. You could add in chocolate chips, nuts, etc., but I liked it just as is!

Banana Bread

4 ripe bananas, mashed
1/3 cup melted butter (Amber used Smart Balance and it worked for her!)
1 cup sugar (can easily be reduced to 3/4 cup--I used 1/2 cup sugar and 1/4 cup Splenda)
1 t vanilla
1 egg, beaten
1 t baking soda
pinch of salt
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
Preheat oven to 350 F. With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Mix in the flour. Pour mixture into a greased loaf pan and bake for ~55 minutes. Cool on rack.