A Strawberry-Banana Quick Bread to bid Farewell to D.C. Summer

Goodbye D.C. summer.  I know, I’m jumping the gun.  It’s still early August, summer isn’t over yet.  But D.C. summer is, for me at least.  After this weekend, I will be in the city all of three nights and two days.

Sunday, I’m flying to South Dakota  where I’ll be working for ten days.  It may be work, but getting to the state to meet with folks and do site visits is one of my favorite parts of the job.  It puts in perspective and makes tangible what we do the rest of the year.  I fly back the 23rd, work the 24th, and drive to Cape Cod the 25th.  Although we went every year as kids, it’s been eons since I’ve been back to the Cape.  I can’t wait to swim in the ocean, stroll through Provincetown, enjoy long dinners with the family, and of course go to Kate’s for fried fish and ice cream.  Then we fly back the 30th, close on our new house the 31st (assuming all goes well), and fly to Atlanta that afternoon for a wedding.  When we get back it will be September, and time to move.

It promises to be an exciting few weeks, but I’m not ready for summer to be over.  There are a lot of things left on my (Every) Summer Bucket List: Go camping;  sit around a bon fire; make s’mores; pick crabs; go to Screen on the Green; make a strawberry rhubarb pie; go to a fair; eat a lobster; enjoy a liter on the patio of Biergarten Haus; have real strawberry shortcake.  The list could go on.  Perhaps a few I can cross off on my journeys.

Clearly strawberries make me think of summer, which rang true with this strawberry banana bread I made earlier this week.

I was so distraught about having broken El Gallo (yes, it is this quick bread’s fault), that I somehow put only 1/4 cup of brown sugar instead of the 1/2 cup the recipe called for.  Luckily, my bananas were so ripe that they almost made up for it, but I would definitely add more sugar next time (although perhaps 1/3 cup would do just fine).

It was delicious for breakfast topped with greek yogurt and maple syrup.  I really enjoyed the texture.  The greek yogurt make it particularly moist and chewy.  I will definitely experiment with more greek yogurt based quick breads in the future.  I also think the recipe could translate well to muffins.

Strawberry-Banana Quick Bread

Inspired by Closet Cooking

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups flour (I used 1C White, 3/4C Wheat
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 3 large ripe bananas
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
• 1 cup strawberries, sliced
• 1T Cinnamon
• Sprinkle of nutmeg

For Topping: 

• 1T Butter
• 2T Brown Sugar
• 2T Oats
• 1T Sunflower seeds

Melt Butter in a small skillet.  Add sugar, oats and sunflower seeds and allow to cook under browned, stirring constantly, about 30 seconds.

Directions:

1. Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium-sized bowl.
2. Mix brown sugar, bananas, eggs, vanilla extract, yogurt and strawberries in a large bowl.  Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
3. Pour the mixture into a greased 9×5 inch loaf pan.
4. Make the topping (see above) and sprinkle over batter using a spoon.  Top with one sliced strawberry.
5. Bake in a preheated 350F oven until golden brown and a toothpick poked into the center comes out clean.  The original recipe said 60 minutes, but the time really depends on your oven.  I recommend checking it at 35-40 minutes to ensure you don’t overcook.

Johanna