The obvious next step, alphabetically, after apple pie...

Alright, let’s get this out of the way first—YES, I was the one who told you all the bananas are dying. Clearly, I haven’t managed to completely wean myself off of our delectable tropical friends. While I was training for the Race That Never Was, Jason often bought me bananas as a good source of potassium after a run. But somehow, no matter how many he purchased, it always seemed to be one banana too many for me to finish before they turned off-puttingly brown and mushy. I’d heard long ago that when this happens, you’re supposed to peel the banana and stick it in the freezer to use later for banana bread, and I’d adhered to that wisdom. Of course, that solution supposes that you can bake, so I’d always just sort of skipped the last step and had been left with a Ziploc bag of scary permafrost bananas to throw out every time I changed apartments.

Um, not the best way to do this.

But no longer! This time I yanked those babies out of the freezer, along with one that I’d neglected to peel. (I was in a hurry, okay?) After letting them defrost, I managed to free the unpeeled one from its skin. And the defrosted bananas really were easy to use in the recipe.

One baking technique that I have yet to master is trusting that something is cooked all the way through when the recipe says it will be. I think I overdid it on the banana bread a little, and I was worried that it would be dry. But luckily, it seems to be a pretty forgiving baked good, and it tasted quite yummy, especially after it sat overnight. For breakfast, Jason liked slices of it toasted, making it crispy and buttery on the outside, moist and cake-y on the inside. So dive into the freezer and give it a go:

Banana Nut Bread

1½ cups flour
1½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon cinnamon
Dash of salt
1 egg
3 bananas, mashed
¾ cup sugar
¼ cup vegetable oil
½ cup chopped walnuts

Grease a loaf pan and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients.

In another bowl, combine the egg, bananas, sugar and oil. Add egg mixture all at once to the dry ingredients and stir just until moistened. Fold in the walnuts.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 50 to 55 minutes. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes and then remove from pan to fully cool.