Spotty Rotty Banana = Carrot & Banana Bread

There's something about spotted bananas that calls for an immediate, drop-everything need to bake. There was a lone spotty banana staring me down on the counter this morning and even though I should be spending every waking moment with my head in a book I succumbed to it's calls and mashed it into a chunky mush. Unfortunately, it only yielded a measly half-cup. Not to fear, I have a supply of frozen shredded carrots on hand for dilemmas like this!

The loaves didn't rise as high as I would have liked, but the results were delicious. When I measured my carrots I packed the measuring cup tightly. I think if I measured the carrots "loosely" then the batter would not have been as heavy and the loaves would have risen higher.

Carrot & Banana Bread

• 1 large over-ripe banana mushed in a 2cup Pyrex measuring cup
• Shredded carrots with the moisture squeezed out added to the bananas to make 2 cups - see the note above about measuring "loosely"
• 3 cups flour
• 1t salt
• 1t baking powder
• 1/4t baking soda
• 2t cinnamon
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups sugar
• 2T oil
• 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce (I use one snack-pack size container)
• 1t vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1-1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped walnuts

Mix all the wet ingredients & sugar together. Add the bananas & carrots, mix well. Then add the dry ingredients in 2 or 3 batches, mixing to incorporate after each. Finally add the chopped walnuts.

Pour into two greased 8 1/2 x 5 pans
Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes until a toothpick tester is dry

This is really good served with a little cream cheese on top. Yum!