I swear, bananas do not last long in my house. Maybe it’s because my kitchen is so warm and humid, or because we’ll at a few bananas and then forget about the rest, but at least 1-2 bananas goes bad before we can get to them.
Right now we are in ‘waste not, want not’ mode. Nothing in the kitchen is going to waste. Old, partially stale hamburge bun? Toast it and use it for a breakfast sandwich. Wilting basil in the crisper drawer? Blend it into a pesto. We’re trying our damnedest to not leave this house at all costs–which is hard for us because we live so close to grocery stores.
Before coronavirus, if I didn’t have enough milk to make something, I’d just send my husband down the street to pick up some more.
Not anymore.
Now, I try to improvise. Adapt. Overcome. This whole shelter-in-place order is really making me creative in the kitchen. I’m using up what I have left before I venture out to the grocery store to stock up with more.
That’s where those old bananas come in handy. Banana bread was actually Rob’s idea. He saw the almost-all-brown bananas hanging there and mentioned we should make banana bread. I took it to the next level and used the bread as a catch-all for leftovers.
I had a half empty bag of walnuts and minced pecans leftover in my pantry from Christmas. I had a quarter of a pinepple leftover from a sheetpan meal I baked for the week. So, using all the castaways in my kitchen, I made this bread.
I managed to use up all the nuts, all the vegetable oil in my cabinet, and all the bananas and pineapple. This ended up being the perfect way to create a good bread without having to buy any extra ingredients.
I implore you to try it out as well. Don’t have walnuts at home? Use another nut—or even oatmeal! Don’t have pineapple? Try another fruit! The world is your oyster, and creativity is key right now.
Enjoy!
Banana Pineapple Bread
An ultra-moist banana-pineapple quick bread.
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
- 3 eggs
- 1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup chopped pineapple (fresh, or one 8 oz. can crushed pineapple)
- 2 cups mashed bananas (3-4 bananas)
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and cinnamon. Add walnuts and pecans and mix well.
- In a separate large bowl, whisk together vanilla, pinepple, eggs and oil. Add mashed bananas and mix until creamy.
- Pour banana mixture into dry ingredient bowl and using a spatula, mix well until just combined.
- Grease and flour two loaf pans generously. Pour banana bread mixture evenly into both loaf pans, coming up halfway up the pan.
- Bake for 60-65 minutes or until browned and toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in pans for ten minutes before turning out on a wire rack to cool completely.
Step-By-Step Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and cinnamon. Add walnuts and pecans and mix well.
In a separate large bowl, whisk together vanilla, pinepple, eggs and oil. Add mashed bananas and mix until creamy.
Pour banana mixture into dry ingredient bowl and using a spatula, mix well until just combined.
Grease and flour two loaf pans generously. Pour banana bread mixture evenly into both loaf pans, coming up about halfway up the pan.
Bake for 60-65 minutes or until browned and toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in pans for ten minutes before turning out on a wire rack to cool completely.
