I have tried and made many different Banana breads and I always seem to come back to this recipe.  My husband gets irritated when I make a different one because, "Why try something new when you have a recipe that works?" So, to use up some very ripe bananas I had sitting on my counter I pulled out this classic and baked for him.

Lion House Banana Bread

1/2 cup margarine, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup mashed bananas (2 large, or 3 small)
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp lemon juice
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, chopped finely (optional)

Preheat oven to 350˚ F.  In the bowl of an electric mixer or a batter bowl cream the margarine, and sugar.

 Beat for 2 minutes until light and fluffy.  

Add the eggs and beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy.  

Add the mashed bananas (I run mine through my ninja food processor), milk, and lemon juice.  

Stir on medium until all the liquids are combined and the mixture starts to look curdled.

In a mixing bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  

Grease and flour a bread pan and set aside.

Add the dry ingredients in two separate additions on the lowest speed.  

Mixing only until all the flour is incorporated.  

Fold in the nuts if desired.

Add the batter into the prepared bread pan.  

Bake for 50-60 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for 15-20 minutes.

Then remove to a cooling rack to cool completely or slice immediately.  

I love this warm with butter or cold with cream cheese!

Makes 1 loaf
http://ahandfulofeverything.blogspot.com/2013/10/lion-house-banana-bread.html

*This is a Recipe from the Lion House Cookbook

Nutella Swirl Banana Bread

While my husband is the traditionalist always enjoying the classic recipes, which don't get me wrong are fabulous.  I still like to venture out and try new things.  I love the combination of chocolate and banana, and I love Nutella, so I thought I would try my hand at making a Nutella Swirl Banana Bread.  I modified my go to Lion House Banana Bread recipe to make this one.  No one in the ate any besides me.  No adventure I tell ya! I shared a few slices with my neighbor, who's family has become my official taste testers, but other than that I got to eat every last bite :)

Nutella Swirl Banana Bread

2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup shredded coconut (optional)
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 large bananas, or 3 small bananas mashed (1 cup)
1/4 cup sour cream
1 Tbsp milk
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup Nutella

Preheat oven to 350˚ F.  In a mixing bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  

Stir in the coconut, if desired and set aside.  

 Grease and flour a bread pan and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer or a batter bowl cream the butter, brown sugar, and sugar.  

Beat for 2 minutes until light and fluffy.  

Add the mashed bananas, sour cream, milk, cinnamon, lemon juice, vanilla, and the lightly beaten eggs.  

Stir on medium until all the liquids are combined and the mixture starts to look curdled.

Add the dry ingredients in two separate additions on the lowest speed.  

Mixing only until all the flour is incorporated.  

Place the Nutella in a small bowl and microwave on 15 second increments until melted and smooth and is easily stirred with a spoon.

Add 1/2 of the batter into the prepared bread pan.  

Spread 1/2 of the Nutella over the batter and swirl in a figure 8 pattern with a knife to give it a marbled look.

  Add the remaining batter and repeat the with the remaining Nutella.  

Bake for 50-60 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean, not including any melted Nutella that may happen to stick! Your kitchen should smell like chocolate banana heaven!

Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for 15-20 minutes.  Then remove to a cooling rack to cool completely or slice and enjoy warm!  

*I highly recommend eating this warm! Who needs to wait anyway? 

My son liked these slices.  He said it looked like the bread was smiling at him!

Guest Post: Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie

Good Morning!

I am so excited to share with you a post from a Guest Blogger! Meet Miss Heather from Notes from the Neslens! She is super sweet person and has an amazing blog.  You'll notice her button over on the left in my sponsors! Yup, she's pretty awesome!  Let's give her a big welcome and check out one of her favorite childhood recipes!

Guest Post: 

Hi friends! I'm Heather, and I blog over at Notes from the Nelsens. I'm an elementary school teacher who loves Jesus, cooking, laughing, coffee, tennis, traveling, book stores, and date nights with my hubby- especially when those date nights involve any or all of the above things.

Like this one- a date-night cooking class at the Viking School.

Or this one that ended at Barnes & Noble.

This is Matt, by they way. :)

We met in high school,

dated through college,

and got married 5 months after we graduating from Furman and Clemson - GO TIGERS!!!

We've been married for 5 1/2 years now and together for almost 12!

I started blogging a little over two years ago when we bought and renovated our first house. We imagined buying a move-in-ready house for our first home but ended up doing quite the opposite... we gutted the entire thing and lived with Matt's parents for 5 months while our house was under construction. You can see the before and after pictures here. It's come a long way since we bought it nearly three years ago, but we still have some to-do list items to tackle.

Apart from house and yard projects, we love to travel. Road trips, plane trips, or a quick one night away, we love getting to see new places and make memories just the two us before we start a family.

One of our favorite trips was a Mediterranean Cruise we went on last summer. You can read about our other travels here.

Apart from traveling, one of my other loves is cooking! Today, I'm going to share a recipe with you that I've been making since I was a kid. If you're interested, you can see all of my other recipes here.

Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie:

My mom used to make this for me as a kid. She would always put an extra scoop of peanut butter at the bottom and tell me to make sure I ate the whole thing. She wanted to fatten me up and get me all the protein she could since I was such a picky eater. ;) This is also one of the first things I remember making "all by myself" as a kid, and I've been making it ever since! It's the perfect snack that can really serve as a meal if you need it to. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Ingredients:
1 banana (spotted is the best so it's sweet!)
2T peanut butter
1T honey or agave nectar
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk or almond milk
handful of ice cubes

optional: add fresh blueberries, strawberries, and a scoop of greek yogurt for extra protein!

Directions:
Blend and enjoy!

Thanks, Krista, for letting me share a little bit of our world with your readers! And thanks to you for taking the time to get to know us a little bit! I'd love it if you'd stop by our blog and say hello sometime. Here are the other places you can find me:
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Email: notesftn@gmail.com

Have a wonderful week!

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