Banana-Raisin-Pecan Bread

The weather has had me in a funk the last few days.  Flash flooding and random tornado warnings are getting old.  I thought that banana bread would be a nice treat for Skylar when he got home from school and the rest of us could have it for dessert tonight.  Of course, the schools decided to let out early today, so Sky got home while I was still mixing the batter, but it's the thought that counts, right?

 I have several bananas stored in the freezer because no one in the family will eat the bananas once they start to get really ripe.  Frozen bananas make this really easy.  I just set them out on the counter to thaw for about an hour and then they just fall out of the peel.  They look yucky (the peels are really brown), but they are super easy to smash.   Maybe it wasn't ready for Sky as a snack, but we will all get to enjoy it after supper in a little bit.  Anyway, I thought I'd share my recipe here.

Banana Bread

3-4 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 cup of sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda
pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
chopped pecans (optional)
*today i randomly decided to add raisins. like the nuts, this is optional

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- With a wooden spoon, mis butter into smashed bananas in a large mixing bowl
- Mix in sugar, egg, & vanilla
- Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over mixture and mix in
- Add flour last; mix well
- Add any optionals at this point
- Pour batter into a buttered 4x8" loaf pan
- Bake for 1 hour
- Cool on a rack