Recipe: Strawberry-Banana Bread

Image found here.

This past weekend, I actually had an evening to myself, so I thought I'd bake something. I had just bought some strawberries and had a couple of bananas that were a little over-ripe, so this recipe from Delish.com was perfect!

Ingredients

• 1 c. vegetable oil
• 3 c. all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. freshly grated or ground nutmeg
• ½ tsp. kosher salt
• 4 large eggs
• 1½ c. granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp. grated lemon zest
• 2 large ripe bananas
• 1 lb. strawberries
• 1½ c. walnuts
• 1 c. confectioners' sugar
• 2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Oil and flour a 9- by 13-inch casserole dish. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg, and salt.
2. In a medium bowl, lightly beat eggs. Add granulated sugar, oil, vanilla, and lemon zest and whisk to combine. Mash bananas (you should get about 1 cup) and stir into egg mixture. Add egg mixture to flour mixture and mix just until incorporated. Fold in strawberries and walnuts.
3. Transfer batter to prepared dish and bake until a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool for 5 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together confectioners' sugar and lemon juice until smooth. Spread icing over warm cake, then let cool completely.

As usual, I made a few changes for my own convenience:

1. I did not "oil and flour" the casserole dish. I simply used PAM.
2. I did not bother with the lemon juice. I didn't have a lemon on hand, and it's just for flavor anyway.
3. I did not make my own icing. I just microwaved some store-bought vanilla icing and drizzled it across the top of the cake.

I should note that this isn't a well-written recipe. No where does it say to slice or dice the strawberries, or to chop up the walnuts; as a regular baker, I just assumed I should do those things. But this lack of direction reminded me of the classroom activity when the students give the teacher "clear"' directions on how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. You'll see what I mean in the video below:

But this bread is really yummy! I highly recommend it!