Banana Oatmeal Bread

The first thing to do is prepare heat the oven to 350 degrees. Next, gather ingredients. It's tough to cook much of anything gathering ingredients while preparing and cooking. With that in mind, the ingredients needed for this recipe to make banana oatmeal bread are:

1/2 cup softened butter

1/3 cup uncooked old fashioned oatmeal

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

2 large eggs

1 1/2 cup flour

1/4 cup milk

3 to 4 very ripe medium sized mashed bananas

Also needed is a bread pan which is lightly greased and floured, a large bowl, a spoon(wooden works best), a rubber spatula, and an electric mixer. With the mixer on medium speed, mix the butter and sugar together until it is smooth with no lumps. The remaining ingredients should be mixed in at this point except for 1 tablespoon of oatmeal and brown sugar. Using the electric mixer, beat the ingredients until smooth again, about 1-2 minutes. Spoon the mix into the greased and floured bread pan using a rubber spatula and bottom to clean the sides of the bowl. Reserve oatmeal and brown sugar should then be sprinkled evenly over the top.  Bake 40-60 minutes until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the bread cool 15-20 minutes before tipping the pan upside down and sliding it out on a cutting board. Cooling the bread first helps to ensure the bread will not fall apart during cutting. Also, greasing the pan before putting the mix in and cooking it, helps to ensure the bread will not stick to the pan and also helps the bread slide out of the pan. Slice the bread with approximately 1/4" to 1/2 inch thickness with a sharp non-serrated knife. Serrated knives tear the bread instead of making a clean cut. None of this bread is for wasting, so tearing it would create a big mess of crumbs which would result in waste. Serve the bread as is or spread with a thin layer of butter for extra good taste. As an optional addition to this recipe, when the ingredients are added to the butter and sugar, finely chopped walnuts could be added as well. Walnuts add more texture and taste to an already abundantly tasty recipe, but also add to the importance of using a non-serrated knife during slicing. Next, enjoy and share with your family and friends.