Southern Living Banana Bread.....Farmer Approved

 
We love bananas around here.... In cereal, in shakes and most definitely in bread. :) In my search for a great banana bread recipe I came across this one from a Southern Living magazine -  it must be perfection. It's easy, it's nutty, and it has one secret ingredient....cream cheese.

 

 
 
 



Cream together the butter and the cream cheese.

 
 Combine the dry ingredients together in a bowl. And slowly add to the cream cheese egg mixture.


  Smash up the bananas and add the chopped nuts (pecans and walnuts) and the vanilla.

Stir it all together. You don't need to mix hard at this point, just combine everything.

 

 Add to two buttered and floured bread pans.

 

 

 

While they are baking... clean up your kitchen,. :) I'm a sloppy baker.... But I fixed a cup of coffee and cleaned my little heart out.

 

 

 

 Bake on 350° for 1 hour..... then treat yourself to a slice... I am missing a big glass of milk.

 

It makes two loaves and we DO NOT need that sitting around here... So I wrapped up the extra loaf for someone special.

 

 

My farmer and my father-in-law have been busy in the field... It's corn planting time and the days are long and the nights are short. I snuck my extra loaf of banana bread in my father-in-laws truck... Hopefully he enjoyed a piece this morning with his coffee - I know I did.

I posted this photo on Instagram last night and got a lot of messages and e mails about my tag. the little post it note I think I may have gotten at Home Goods, it has a "K" already on it. But the "From the Kitchen of" stamp is from Paper Source. That's actually the first time I have used it - but now I am hooked. It's so cute and adds a little charm to your treats.

 
See below for full recipe

 



 

Ingredients Nutrition                                                     

• ³⁄₄ cup butter, softened
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• ¹⁄₂ teaspoon baking powder
• ¹⁄₂ teaspoon baking soda
• ¹⁄₂ teaspoon salt
• 1 ¹⁄₂ cups mashed bananas (1 1/4 pounds unpeeled bananas, about 4 medium)
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• ¹⁄₂ teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition.
2. Combine flour and next 3 ingredients; gradually add to butter mixture, beating at low speed just until blended. Stir in bananas, pecans, and vanilla. Spoon batter into 2 greased and floured 8- x 4-inch loaf pans.
3. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a long wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean and sides pull away from pan, shielding with aluminum foil last 15 minutes to prevent browning, if necessary. Cool bread in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Remove from pans, and cool 30 minutes on wire racks before slicing.

Bake up a couple of loaves to let the hardworking farmers in your family know how much you appreciate their hard work. That's what I did for my two farmers.

This photo is from planting season 2015... but its one of my favorite. I'll be back in a couple of days to talk more about planting season pictures from 2016 and how I do meals during this time.

 

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