Baking our way through Quarantine

By Lexie Millard

During this quarantine time, it seems that all I have been doing is baking. I've made biscuits, pretzel bagels, cookies, you name it. The recipe I have chosen to showcase is my favorite banana bread, as made by Half Baked Harvest. Let's be honest though, there was at least a month where I baked this specific loaf weekly. It is fast, easy, and obviously delicious. I almost always have a few dead bananas that were forgotten about, and they graciously donate themselves to the cause. This recipe is also good in case you need to make a few modifications, like if shelter is in place in your area and you don't have the right ingredients on hand. This recipe calls for coconut oil but I made this one with extra virgin olive oil. It changes the flavor slightly, but I quite enjoy the earthiness it takes on. Although probably an unpopular opinion, I chose to make this loaf without chocolate chips. Partly because I don't have any laying around, but I also really enjoy just plain old banana bread. This bread is nearly impossible to not scarf down immediately out of the oven. If you can wait for it to cool, then toast it and slather with a bit of butter and honey, it is no joke to die for. Definitely worth staying in and baking on a sunny Monday as I have chosen to, and eating multiple weeks in a row. Breakfast, snack, dessert, this banana bread wears all the hats! I have linked the recipe, which you'll notice is called chocolate-chunk-coconut-banana-bread. Please enjoy exactly as written by Half Baked Harvest, or my no-chocolate, olive oil quarantine version!