Banana Bread with Dried Cherries

I am intrigued by vegan dishes...by no means do I want to be vegan. Hello, remember these? I just like to see different ways people cook to accommodate certain diets, allergies, and preferences. I just do not have the willpower or the desire it takes to deprive myself of dark chocolate, chicken salad, and salmon all of the time.

Anyway, I found this recipe that didn't require Vegenaise, random egg substitute, or dairy-free chocolate, and I gave it a shot. This is definitely worth making again, and I think it would be delicious toasted and topped with butter...forget the vegan aspect here, but hey, everything is betta with butta!

This bread was insanely moist and chewy. The whole wheat flour gave it more texture than if you were to use all white flour; I liked the added texture and slightly nutty flavor. If you don't, leave it out. Next time, I will try fresh blueberries, a dash of cinnamon, and some milled flax seed.

These can obviously be made into muffins and popped in the freezer for mornings when you are running late because A) you're convinced nothing in your closet fits/you've worn it once already this week or B) you turned your alarm off by accident, and when you finally wake up, you swear it never buzzed in the first place. I swear, neither of those ever happens to me...

                                                                  

3 overly-ripe bananas
2 T lemon juice
4 ounces unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup soymilk (or regular if you're not trying to keep it vegan)
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 cups flour (I used 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup white flour)
3/4 t baking powder
3/4 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/2 roughly chopped dried cherries

Preheat the oven to 350 and grease a loaf pan.

Begin by mashing the bananas; I used a pastry cutter, but forks and potato mashers work perfectly well.

Mix the lemon juice, applesauce, soymilk, honey, and brown sugar in a medium bowl with the bananas. In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the wet; stir just until combined.

Add the cherries and stir until fairly evenly distributed. Pour into the loaf pan, and bake for 50 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool completely before slicing. You may want to make it the night before you're serving it. And if you've already screwed up the vegan-ness by using cow's milk rather than soymilk, you might as well throw a slab of butter on there and stick her in the toaster! If you used soymilk, it's okay if you cheat with the butter. If you're going to keep it kosher/vegan, more power to you. I couldn't imagine life without this, this, or this.

Before...ignore the scary shadow.

After...sans shadow.