The Ultimate Fate of the Banana

When my mom visits the grocery store, she will invariably bring home a HUGE bunch of green bananas. Within a couple days, they're at their peak, but they don't always get eaten in time... Sound familiar? This happens frequently here, and I usually make muffins with the stinky, gooey over-ripe bananas, but today I grabbed some blueberries from the fridge, and made this yummy loaf.




Blueberry Banana Oat-loaf with Walnuts
Ingredients
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup applesauce
2 eggs
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon wheat gluten
1/2 cup oatmeal
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup fresh blueberries

Directions
Preheat oven to 325F
In a medium-sized bowl,combine the sugar and applesauce with a fork, until homogenous.
One at a time, add the eggs, stirring well. Mix in the mashed banana. Stir aggressively for a couple minutes to add a bit of air.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, gluten, oatmeal, salt, baking soda and baking powder.
Add walnut pieces to flour mixture, then slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing in a folding motion with a rubber spatula. Don't overly mix. Once satisfied that all the powder has mixed into the batter, gently fold in the blueberries.
Pour the batter into an oiled loaf pan. Bake in the preheated oven 60-65 minutes, and until the center is cooked, according to a toothpick test.
After removed from the oven, let sit until room temperature for a softer crust, or let cool about 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack, which allows for a harder crust.