After much experimentation and trial & error, I have come up with what I consider to be the perfect recipe for banana bread. It is moist, with lots of banana flavor, and holds together really well. It has a "secret" ingredient. It's not really secret, since I'm happy to share it with others, but it is rather surprising. The surprise ingredient is .... baby food!
No, not the yucky strained peas kind, LOL. This is the dry baby cereal. I usually use oatmeal, but you can also use rice cereal or mixed grains cereal. The oatmeal helps hold the bread together very well, allowing me to use more bananas without having mushy bread.
RECIPE:
1 1/3 cups flour
2/3 cup dry baby cereal
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 to 3 cups mashed overripe bananas
Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
In a large bowl, combine flour, cereal, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar well. Stir in eggs and bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
Bake at 350 for 65-70 minutes, until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.
I like to wrap my bread in aluminum foil after it's cooled for about 1 hour. I think it retains more moisture that way.
I came up with this recipe out of necessity. My daughter used to be on WIC and we got TONS of dry baby cereal, way more than she could ever eat. I didn't want to throw it away, and I figure the food shelf can only use so much of it, so I started adding the cereal to various recipes to see what would happen. Note to self - it does not work so well for cookies.
You could of course add nuts, if you like banana nut bread. My kids hate it with nuts, so I never make it that way.
Enjoy!!
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Comments: 41
Yummy.. Im going to have to ty this
yup.It sounds yummy.Im going to try this also
Oh my gosh......what an incredibly interesting recipe, Jodie! I don't generally have baby food dry cereal on hand, however.....LOL!!!! I love banana bread soooo much.....especially with black walnuts in it....yummy!!!!!
It's pretty inexpensive, and can be a good way to add some extra nutrients to things. I've used it now in almost everything I cook. Sometimes it's just a few sprinkles, like in gravy or spaghetti sauce. But I've also used it in meatloaf and meatballs and it works really well. I figure I'm getting some good nutrition into my kids, better than just all-purpose flour.
Share more recipes like this I am having a hard time getting James to eat like he should anymore
You used it in meatballs?
Yes, Renee. The meatball recipe I have from my grandma uses bread crumbs. I just substituted 1/4 of the breadcrumbs with baby cereal. I could probably have used more of it really. The crumbs are mostly to hold the meat together. If you make your own hamburger patties from ground beef, you could use a little of the cereal there too. Like I said, I tend to sprinkle some of the cereal into almost everything I make. My kids have never noticed!
I will definitly keep this in mind. Now Im gona have to buy a box again.. Kairi has outgrown it so I got rid of what I had..
Fabulous idea! Thank you for sharing!!!
What a great idea. Cool.
I will have to try this for Eric and James I don't like banana's period for myself but will try for them
If you make any kind of bread or muffins, you can use this too. In fact, anything that uses flour, mix some baby cereal into the flour.
I would have never thought of baby cereal but you have a good point .. it is definetly a good way to get the extra nutrition into the kiddo's!
Looks really good - I never would have thought of that!
ok I will give this a try I have to compete withthe sister in law,, hubby only want here banana bread....
i'm giving you a standing ovation, jodi!!! how creative & resourceful. i'm hitting print when i'm done with this comment. :)
looks good thanks for sharing
Interesting recipe. Looks good.
Going to have to share this tip with my youngest daughter. She is the baker in the family. She has been trying to make a good banana bread and it is always too moist or too dry. Maybe this trick will help her.
Sounds like a keeper! Thanks for sharing your good info!
I bet it taste good!
interesting. might have to try that.
What a great idea, Jodie! I'm long past the stage of having baby food in the house, but I might just pick some up to try in different things, such as meat loaf. This is too funny as well, I just used my old mushy bananas for muffins on Tuesday!
That looks SO good!
This sounds so good, Jodie. Thanks.
Sounds great to me!
This is a great idea for adding nutrition to things - I will have to give it a try!
Ok..my favorite food is bananas and I have tried just about every recipe for banana bread and pudding out there so I will def be trying this-it has a lot of competition but I can'r wait to see how it holds up to the others!
Looks & sounds great. TY for sharing.
THanks for sharing. Sounds good.
RE: My daughter used to be on WIC and we got TONS of dry baby cereal, way more than she could ever eat.
Great frugal eating tip for using what you have Jodie! This really looks ideal as far as the texture goes, and I may give this a try with regular oatmeal ground to flour consistency for any future banana-based creations.
That is a good way to use up excess baby cereal.
I like the way you think! I created a similar recipe using pulverized oatmeal so that it was almost like flour (oatmeal flour). I made another one that was a combo of almond meal and pulverized oatmeal but it was too heavy.
What a great idea! I'd like mine with nuts and toasted and slathered with butter.
Yummy Yummy
Wonderful idea. I am going to try this. I think it would be very healthy for my kiddos too.
Thanks everyone! If you try it, let me know how it turns out for you.
Have you ever thought of publishing a receipe book ?? If not maybe you should!! Start out receipe book for picky children. lol