Eating an elephant

One of the quirky features of our local public radio station is a call-in show called the Gestalt Gardener. The host, a good-old-boy hippie, cajoles listeners to "just chill" about their gardens. Do you have spots on your roses? Take off your glasses! And when someone calls moaning about all the kudzu or mimosas or other weeds in their garden, he tells them, "Do you know how to eat an elephant? Just take one bite at a time."
So why do I bring this up? Well, mostly because Maida prefaces her recipe for Peanut Banana Bread with a story about how she developed a recipe for an elephant meat omelet (involving peanuts and bananas) as a publicity stunt during a GOP convention. Well, double yuck to that. Fortunately, the banana bread is yummy.
I also thought of it because this blog and keeping up with it can seem like eating an elephant. Except one with a lot of chocolate frosting. I don't have Alicia's insane schedule and still it seems like a lot to do sometimes. But at least each bite of this elephant have been delicious so far (except for that nasty chocolate cake).
I can't find my pictures of my banana bread, so you'll have to take my word for it. I made this for breakfast Saturday morning, and I first had to go to the store for peanuts, so I really didn't feel like waiting around for 1 hour and 15 minutes for a loaf to bake. Therefore, I made six mini-loafs and six muffins, and that worked out perfectly. The muffins still took a good half hour, though.
This is a nice banana bread--the peanuts give it an extra zing. I bet it would be really good with some coconut added. And Alicia will be happy to note that the raisins don't have much of a pronounced presence. So don't be afraid to take another bite...

Here's the recipe I made.
Banana Peanut Bread

1 stick (4 oz.) butter, room temp
1 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1 scant cup (6.5 oz.) brown sugar
1/2 t. vanilla
3 large eggs
3 large ripe bananas (12 oz. peeled), mashed
1/3 c. (2.6 oz.) sour cream (I used light)
1-3/4 c. (7 oz.) sifted flour (I used half whole wheat)
1 c. (4 oz.) salted peanuts, coarse chopped (honey roasted might be nice here)
(1/2 c.[1.4 oz.] coconut)
1/2 c. (2.5 oz.) golden raisins

Heat the oven to 325. Grease 6 mini loaf pans and put papers in six muffin cups (you could probably get about 18 muffins at least out of this instead). Beat together the butter, baking powder, and baking soda until it's light and creamy, then gradually beat in the brown sugar and beat that for 1-2 minutes. Add the vanilla and then the eggs, one at a time, scraping the bowl as needed. Then add the bananas and sour cream and beat until just barely mixed. Add the flour and mix that in until it's just incorporated. Finally mix in the peanuts and raisins (and coconut, if you want). Scoop the batter into the pans you have prepared and bake the muffins about 25-30 minutes; the loaves will take 40-45 minutes. Let cool on a rack for about 5 minutes before popping out and enjoying with a nice cup of tea.