It’s been a while since I last posted, and, lest you think I haven’t been busy cooking and baking, don’t worry. I’ve been hard at work in my kitchen feeding and watering my husband. To be honest, it just didn’t feel right to be posting pretty pictures of food right now. It’s such a strange time. As an introvert, it’s not the social isolation that’s getting to me. I love that I’m being given permission to stay home and not feel bad about it. I’m feeling so sad about all the suffering around the world and worried about everyone I love. This uncertainty is causing a heavy blanket of anxiety. Plus, my grey roots are not helping things at all.

I was also starting to feel a lot of pressure and guilt to “use this time productively.” It seemed that everyone was immersing themselves in mastering new skills, (I’m looking at you sourdough bread) honing their craft, or coming up with innovative ways to learn and grow. I just wasn’t feeling creative. I felt unable to focus.

When I shared these feeling on an Instagram post, several people reached out to me and told me that they were feeling the same way. There is no one right way to do this. I decided to give myself permission to do less and just feel those emotions. Life lesson #1: Don’t compare yourself to others. Eventually those rotting bananas on my counter whispered that they weren’t going to turn into banana bread by themselves, and I got back into the kitchen.

Over the past two weeks I have made about 7 banana breads. I didn’t think I could just post my classic banana bread recipe. With all the creative ions in the air, I felt compelled to innovate and give you something different. I found a jar of cookie butter in the pantry and tried a few variations of Cookie Butter Swirl Banana Bread. No one complained but it was just too sweet and the spices in the cookie butter overwhelmed the bananas.

I baked a sour cream version in a fancy pan and dusted it with icing sugar. A real looker, but not so tasty.

Then I tried adding a of chopped pecans and dark chocolate. Too much! But it sure looked pretty.

Life lesson #2. Sometimes less is more. Don’t screw with the classics. So, I went back to my favourite banana bread recipe from Noreen Gilletz. Sadly, Noreen passed away in February, after a long illness. My mom’s generation learned to cook from her legendary 1968 cookbook, Second Helpings Please! I became a Noreen fan in 1985 with the release of her book, The Pleasures of Your Food Processor (reprinted as The Food Processor Bible). She will be missed by many!

This is a dense, dark and heavy banana bread. Extremely moist and very intensely banana flavoured. In short, everything a banana bread is supposed to be.

I made a few a few adaptations to Noreen’s recipe. I added a caramelized banana to the top and stirred in a big handful of toasted, chopped walnuts, but feel free to leave them out. You do you!