Heat Wave, Day 1: Banana Bread

Bananas are one of my favorite fruits for many reasons. They are sweet starches, the best of both worlds; they have a ton of health benefits; they’re versatile; and, the ultimate, they pair beautifully with chocolate. And since I prefer to munch on bananas when they’ve still got a tint of green in their jacket and utilize them for baking in their speckled state, there’s a ripeness that suits multiple banana fancies. Going back to the magical cocoa bean for a moment, chocolate and banana are a delicious power couple. Between the banana’s B-vitamins, potassium, fiber, and tryptophan (which converts to serotonin) and chocolate’s stimulation of endorphins and serotonin production, as well as its natural stimulants and antioxidants, you got a duo that not only tastes fantastic but you got a natural remedy for a whole slew of maladies. Happy to utilize the speckled wonders for a delicious quickbread before the high temps push their ripeness to a fermented, fruit fly trap, I used Isa’s recipe here to make my heatwave banana bread.

I subbed the all-purpose flour with an organic whole wheat flour because, frankly, I am scared of processed, white flour spawned from GMO crops. You do what you can when you can.

The loaf came out gorgeous. I could barely wait to cut a slice to see the cross-section. A must for this (and any) recipe containing cocoa: cocoa that costs more than $5.00. With cocoa, you get what you pay for always.

And there she is. A great reason to put the oven on in the 90 degree temps.