Banana Heaven

Written by: Sabine Roggermeier; Gluecklich Im Sein

When presented with the recurring topic of the Artist Date I immediately thought of the public collection of antiquities we have here in Munich. I have always wanted to take a sketchpad and spend a whole day there. Then on the day I had planned my Artist Date, it was so cold and rainy outside I just didn’t feel like leaving the house at all! Wandering my home looking for something else I could do I, of course, thought about painting a picture. I even had a picture in my mind already from an energy healing session I was given this week. I was thinking about how that wasn’t really anything new when my gaze fell on the bananas in the kitchen, all spotty and brown, well over their “I love to eat ripe bananas” date. Banana bread! That’s it; I hadn’t done that in ages.

So I was off to the computer to find a recipe (isn’t it crazy how we need the internet for almost anything we do these days?). There is a specific German cooking website I love to use. It is community-driven; everyone can enter their recipes. Therefore there are usually a few for anything you’re looking for. I love to sort them by reviews, which gives me an idea which ones are really good. Thinking of you ladies I chose a Canadian recipe. Please don’t ask me what made it Canadian, though, as it didn’t call for any maple syrup! 😉

I had more than enough uber-ripe bananas so I made double the recipe using one for a big loaf and the other for my silicone form that makes nine little ones at a time. I love those. They are the perfect size, either to snack on or to give away as a present!

The creative part in making this banana bread included swapping ingredients. There are a number of things I don’t eat either because of food intolerances or as a lifestyle choice. So I replaced the regular wheat flour with spelt, lowered the amount of sugar and mixed regular sugar with birch sugar. The interesting part was replacing the eggs. You can buy powdered egg substitute here, but I recently started using grounded flaxseeds. It’s always exciting to wait to see whether it worked out in the recipe. It did beautifully with the bananas and the nuts I added to the dough. A little cinnamon needed to be added, too, of course. I have a strong preference for this delicious spice, and this wintery Christmassy season being at the ready is the perfect excuse!

Now, this is the perfect ending of this Artist Date: sitting down with a warm piece of banana bread and a cup of tea watching the rain from my couch!