Nutmeg Banana Bread

     Originally this recipe started out as buttermilk cinnamon bread.  If you are lactose intollerant you can't have buttermilk even though it is a great ingredient in baking because you get the added benefit of milk and butter in one ingredient.  Several weeks ago I shared a recipe for banana cinnamon crumb cake.  This has a minimum of cinnamon.  Generally I try to avoid cinnamon and replace it with nutmeg wherever possible as I have done with this recipe.  In this recipe you can use egg substitute for real eggs if you want and because you are making two loaves you will use four bananas.  If you have some bananas which need to be used before they go bad, this is the perfect recipe.  If I have some bananas that are about to go bad and I don't have time to make the bread then, I put them in the freezer until I do.  If I don't need two loaves, I wrap one tightly and freeze it for up to one month.

                                                                Nutmeg Banana Bread

4 cups flour
2 tsp. nutmeg
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 sugar
2 cups low-fat lactose free milk
1 egg or equivalent
4 mashed bananas
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/3 cup chopped nuts

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking soda, 2 tsp. nutmeg and salt.  In a small bowl, combine oil and 1 1/2 cups sugar.  Add milk, bananas, and egg.  Mix well.  Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.  Fill two baking pans 8 x 4 x 2 in., which has been sprayed with baking spray, about one-third full.  Combine 1/2 tsp. nutmeg and remaining sugar and nuts; sprinkle half over the batter.  Top with remaining batter and nutmeg-sugar-nuts.  Swirl batter with a knife.  Bake at 350F for 50 min., then 30 min. at 300F or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.  Cool  in pans for 10 min. before removing to a wire rack.

     Next time, my version of Beef Burgundy.  If you saw the movie "Julie and Julia" you saw the book editor try to faithfully follow Julia Child's recipe for Boeuf Bourguignon.  I have simplified the recipe.  No, I don't think I am Julia Child or better than her, I just don't think I have as much time to make dinner, so I had to find a way to make a really good beef stew and not be in the kitchen all day.
I'll share this when I see you next time.