BANANA STRAWBERRY NUT BREAD

Fall is here and I've been waiting for a chance to turn my oven on and start baking but with this heatwave we've been having in Southern California, it's been a game of patience.  Today was finally cool enough where I could turn on the oven without needing to turn on the air conditioner.

As I was homeschooling my son, my mind was wandering as to what to bake.  I ran through the ingredients we had on hand and remembered we had raspberries and bananas.  Since I like both, I decided to try a banana raspberry bread.  I found my recipe for banana nut bread and figured I could toss some raspberries in and it wouldn't hurt.

Unfortunately, I didn't have as many raspberries as I thought but did have strawberries so I decided to substitute with those.  I added chopped walnuts because after all, what's banana bread without walnuts.  You could also use pecans instead of walnuts which would taste just as good.

I love how moist this bread is.  Not too sweet but oh so good!

BANANA STRAWBERRY NUT BREAD

2 Cups Flour
3/4 Cups Sugar
2 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
1/2 tsp. Salt
3 ripe bananas (mashed really well)
1/4 cup milk
1 egg
1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup strawberries (hulled and finely chopped)
1 cup finely chopped walnuts 

Heat oven to 350º.  Grease or spray two bread loaf pans.  In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Mix well.  In another bowl, combine mashed bananas, milk, egg and vanilla extract.  Add the strawberries and walnuts and mix well.  Add the banana mixture to the dry ingredients and gently fold together.  (You don't want to mix too much or the bread will come out dense and dry)  Divide the batter into the loaf pans and bake for 1 hour.  Let cool and enjoy!!