When Christmas is approaching, it's time to think about stuff to feed your drop-in guests. Here is a delicious banana loaf recipe I found online and modified slightly:

Ingredients:
(Makes 2 loaves)

• 2 cups sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• 2½ cups flour
• ¾ cups vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ cup of soured milk (Add a couple of drops of vinegar to regular milk)
• ½ cup chopped walnuts (I put them through my mini-food chopper for a minute)
• 4 over-ripe bananas (The skins should be blackened all over)

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 deg F (180 deg C)
2. Peel and mash bananas until they are quite liquid. Set aside. (If they are not quite ripe enough to liquify, zap them in the microwave for a minute.)
3. In large mixing bowl, add baking soda to soured milk. It may foam up.
4. Add vanilla, salt, eggs, and vegetable oil to milk. Mix well with spoon, spatula, or knife.
5. Add sugar and flour, mix well with knife or spatula.
6. Add mashed bananas, mix well with knife or spatula.
7. Stir in chopped walnuts.
8. Pour mixture into two greased loaf pans.
9. Cook in 350 deg oven for 60 - 75 mins (until a toothpick comes out clean.)
10. Allow to cool for 15 mins before turning out of pan, then allow loaves to cool completely on a rack.
    (If you used foil pans, you can leave them in the pans, cover them with foil, put into freezer bags, and freeze for later!)
11. Serve cooled slices spread with butter or margarine. Plain is great, too.

I had had a yen for a banana-nut loaf for a while. A store-bought one was tasteless. I came across a super-easy recipe on line, but they had left somehing out, because it was a tasteless gooey mess. Then I found the original of this one and adapted it slightly. Enjoy!

Contributed by Ted