Carrot-Banana Bread * how to grate carrots * how to choose bananas for baking

Carrot-Banana Bread

2 very ripe bananas, mashed

2 carrots, grated

1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/3 c. shortening

1/2 to 2/3 c. sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

Grease a loaf pan and preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a small bowl, mix the mashed banana and grated carrots. In a large bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. In another large bowl cream together shortening and sugar, then add eggs and vanilla. Mix well, then add flour mixture alternately with banana and carrot mixture. Batter will be thick.

Pour into prepared loaf pan. Bake for 45-50 minutes.

Welcome to the Real Life Cooking Podcast. I’m Kate Shaw and this week we’re going to learn how to make carrot banana bread.

The weather here in East Tennessee is rainy and cool as I record, which has made me want to bake. But I’ve also been trying to cut back as much as possible on sugar. So I pulled out this recipe and tinkered with it to see if I could make it slightly more healthy. I like the results, so let’s get started.

First, of course, you’ll need some bananas that are getting over-ripe. They don’t have to be completely black, but they can’t have any green left on the skins. I’m not a huge fan of bananas, but I do eat them from time to time, and I like them very ripe. The two I had on the counter were to the point where they were perfect for eating, to my mind, and when I peeled them there were no places where they were getting gross. That’s ideal for banana bread too, personally, but if you have some that are getting really over-ripe, they’ll work just fine.

As for the carrots, peel and cut off the tops just like you would for any other recipe. Then you’ll need to grate them. I feel like we’ve talked about grating carrots before but if so, I can’t remember which recipe it was for. Possibly I’m remembering the zucchini pineapple bread recipe, where you have to grate zucchini. But let’s go over it briefly here.

Once your carrots are cleaned and ready to use, get out your grater. My cheese grater is just a piece of metal with holes punched in it that I set across a medium mixing bowl. If you have the kind that’s like a little metal house, you’ll just stand it on a clean surface.

Hold the grater steady with your off hand. Then just start grating the carrots against the smallest holes in your grater. It actually goes pretty quickly. It’s easiest to hold the carrot perpendicular to the grater so that you’re grating the end of it right across, not grating it at a slant which will be awkward to hold as the carrot gets shorter and shorter. It doesn’t matter if you start grating at the thin end or the thick end.

Eventually you’ll get down to a little carrot nub that’s too small to hold without risking grating your fingers too. Just pop that little piece of carrot in your mouth and eat it. It’s a healthy snack.

As you grate, you’ll need to occasionally knock down the pile of grated carrot you’re creating, because you don’t want it getting so high that it touches the grater. Just shake the bowl. If you’re using a standing-up grater, stop occasionally to remove the grated carrot into the bowl you set out.

Okay, so that’s that. I kind of got ahead of myself so let’s start at the beginning and catch up.

You’ll need a loaf pan for this recipe and three mixing bowls, one of them medium-sized and the others larger. Use the medium-sized bowl for the grated carrot and mashed banana. It doesn’t matter what size loaf pan you use as long as it’s not teeny, but if you have a choice of sizes go for a medium-sized one.

So, grate your carrots first. You should have a good amount of grated car