what I’ve learned since I started attempting banana bread.

First of all, it should be no secret that I love banana bread. I mean… I LOVE it. At one point very recently in my life, I was eating one slice of banana bread for every cup of coffee I had.

Seriously love banana bread. Especially when it’s chilled, and with walnuts. SO GOOD.

But recently I stopped eating gluten. Which meant no more Starbucks banana bread.  🙁 🙁 🙁 I don’t if you can hear my heart breaking from all the way over there… but it is still shattering when I think about it.

It didn’t mean, however, that I needed to stop eating banana bread all together. I just would have to…. make it.

and for the past month or so, I’ve been trying to make banana bread.

Key word: trying…

(that is a strawberry chocolate chip banana bread attempt)This morning, I decided to make use of the 3 brown bananas on our kitchen counter and attempt, once again, to make banana bread. I put on my apron (this is no joke) and some tunes. Poured the batter. Stuck it in the oven… for an hour.

Took a shower, picked out my clothes, brewed a pot of coffee, worked on a puzzle… and finally it was done!

Carefully took the bread out of the oven, toothpicked it to make sure it was done, and then went back to the puzzle.

Finally, two hours after I started, I sliced the first piece of bread. and for once… for once it was decent. No walnuts, but it was decent. I stood, sipping my coffee and slowly eating my banana bread and I realized that banana bread, like most anything I choose to look at with an open heart, teaches me about life.

There’s so much more to life than quick, easy and convenient. It is impossible to fully appreciate something you get immediately. Something about yearning makes the acquiring even sweeter, even if the bread is a little soggier than I’d like and is walnutless. It’s mine. I carefully measured the ingredients, mashed the bananas, poured the batter, and waited.

I am guilty of not living life like I’m trying to make a decent loaf of banana bread. I live life searching for the quick, easy and convenient.

But thanks to my quest to make the perfect loaf of banana bread, I am weekly being reminded to slow down, to wait, and to appreciate. Also to collaborate and listen. That’s a joke.

and please share any (gluten-free) banana bread recipes you’ve tried and love. PLEASE. I’m dying.

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