Banana Peanut Butter Chip Oatmeal Bread

(Yes, that top one has a slice taken out of it already.)

It was supposed to be Banana Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Bread, but I’m still holding on to the perhaps groundless hope that Juliet will actually eat some of this. And we all know she doesn’t eat chocolate, unless it comes in a wrapper from a store. Booo.

It’s been ages since I had some ripe bananas around, so instead of doing my usual (spectacular) Banana Yogurt Muffins, I had the urge to try something new.

You know, the banana thing is getting a little silly. I wait and wait for the bananas to get gross and the kids eat them when I’m not looking. I’ve resorted to extremes to keep my nasty bananas safe.

Yes, it’s official: I’m now labeling food. This brings back childhood memories of ownership messages written on eggs, but that’s another story and not mine to tell.

Sometimes I put stickers on the bananas that are newer saying EAT THESE and stickers on the rest saying DON’T EAT THESE. Bananas are a battleground and only she who takes preventive measures wins.

But there I was with five smallish rotting bananas, and two loaf pans, and a slow Sunday morning. And so I began.

Dry ingredients in one bowl: whole wheat white flour (I didn’t have whole wheat white BREAD flour but I was just hoping that’s what the recipe really implied), rolled oats, organic cane sugar (which I shockingly have in abundance), brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. As always, I assume that one teaspoon of cinnamon really means two heaping teaspoons. It’s my automatic cinnamon translator, and it has yet to let me down. Cinnamon rules.

Then I heard a voice.

“Let me know when it’s time for whisking, Mommy!”

That was Juliet, warming my heart with a love of whisking surpassed only by my own. She was thrilled to learn that the time for whisking had already arrived. Whisk away!

She lost interest in helping me when I moved on to banana mashing. The recipe said three medium bananas, so I used four, since they seemed a little on the small side.

And once again, as I mashed, I wondered why it took me so ridiculously long to recognize the potato masher as a banana masher. All that fork-mashing, all that wasted time, all those tired arms…so unnecessary. Look.

See? Perfect.

Then I beat two eggs, lightly, a happy instruction because I got to use my glass prep bowls and my tiny whisk. I’ve become a baking nerd.

I added that to the bananas, along with buttermilk and some melted butter.

I stirred it all up nicely, then poured it into the flour mixture, trying to ignore the vomit-like texture while it was pouring.

I stirred well, added the peanut butter chips (just over half a cup), forgot to photograph it, poured it into two loaf pans, forgot to photograph those, and put them in the oven. I’m tired.

They were ready about 45, maybe 50 minutes later. I don’t remember. (I’m still tired.)

Worthy of a close-up, I believe.

And the verdict?

Very very delicious. I have one loaf to bring to work, and I’m hoping the kids will be interested in the one we have here, because if they’re not, I fear I will eat the entire thing. The peanut butter chips were a good call, although cinnamon chips would have been nice too, and it made a nice breakfast.