banana nut bread

a friend on facebook just made an appeal tonite for anyone who might have a good banana bread recipe, and of course since i have one, i offered to share. and if i shared it with her, i might as well share it here because...my dad's recipe is the BEST! it's been a classic in our family since as long as i can remember. now if only i would get around to making it more than once or twice a year, that would be just lovely! next time you get a hankering to make banana bread, try this one on for size and see what you think. it's good warm, it's good cold, and it definitely tastes way better with a little smear of butter on top!

BANANA NUT BREAD

½ cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour, sifted
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
3 really ripe bananas
½ tsp. salt
½ cup chopped nuts

DIRECTIONS:
Cream together sugar and butter, add eggs one at a time and beat. Add baking soda, salt, and sifted flour alternately to mixture with mashed bananas. Add vanilla and nuts. Place in a greased and floured bread pan. Bake for one hour at 350 degrees (for a metal pan) or 325 degrees for a glass pan. If you use mini loaf pans, bake for 30 minutes. The full size loaf pan can sometimes take a little over an hour to fully cook, just keep an eye on it.