This morning my husband did a wonderful thing.
He left me alone.
Without the kids.
OR THE DOG.
FREE-dom!
He took them all to the farm for Charlotte’s horseback riding lesson, which was a double, which meant 4 long blissful hours in a quiet house. Do I clean? Do I cook? Do I read? I actually decided to make some bread. I have been waiting for some bananas on my counter to properly ripen for some banana bread and since they were starting to attract tiny little fruit flies, I figured my time was short.
Except when I opened the pantry to pull everything out and saw some new boxes of this Squishem fruit, I was like…hey…waiiiiiiiiiiiit a minute. I can have “insert any fruit I want here” if I use the little pouches of fruit. Right?
Well, in any case, I thought I would try.
The results? Perfectly tasty Apple Banana Bread that I want to share for all of you moms like me that are too busy to smash down bananas and apples all day.
Easy Apple Banana Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup butter
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 1 cup of overripe smashed banana (mine was basically 3 small bananas)
- 2 packages of Dole Squishems fruit- I used apple
Preheat your oven to 350 and spray a bread pan. I use the spray with flour built in. Next add your flour, baking soda, and salt into one bowl. Add your butter and sugar in other bowl and mix up.
Then dump your bananas, pouched fruit and eggs into the sugar/butter side and mix up. Combine the two bowls of dry and wet ingredients together and mix with a spatula. Do not overmix.
This process will pretty much leave you with the worlds messiest kitchen. Which is fine…because I use Finish Power & Free. I know I told y’all about them last month (see my #FinishMoms Test Here). As a Finish and Free Mom, I am really excited to remind you that you can get a FREE SAMPLE of Finish Here!! . Enjoy all these great benefits
- Fights chemical residue 2x better than detergent alone
- Detergents feature a Hydrogen Peroxide action that powers away tough messes
- Detergents contain no chlorine and use less fragrances and dyes
- Jet-Dry® contains less harsh chemicals vs. the regular formula
Plus, do not forget with less harsh chemicals, you can wash your baby items like Nuk pacis, bottles, and bullets right in your dishwasher. Woot! (And let’s face it- hand washing is one less thing you want to do when you have a baby. P is 2, I totally get it. )
Add your pan to your 350 degree oven and bake for approximately 50-55 minutes depending on your oven times. When your toothpick comes out clean, its ready. Now the temptation here is to CUT your bread before its cool. If you do that, it will most likely fall apart. Let it cool completely before cutting.
Put away your clean dishes or something.
Of course I can dish out advice but I rarely take it..so basically my bread wasn’t sliced perfectly cause it was still steaming. But it was delicious. Now you can make other types of fruit breads with those fruit packages. Voila! I am a genius, here me roar!
Now if the kids and dog were gone all the time, could you imagine how productive I would be??
Want to pin it to save for later (and save some time?) Here is a pin ready image for you!
And do not forget you can pick up your Finish Power & Free dishwasher products like
- Quantum Power & Free: Delivering sparkling clean and amazing shine, even in harsh water conditions. Three chamber capsule to attach tough food stains!
- Powerball Power & Free: All in 1 power ball tablets combine cleaning with less harsh chemicals. Gently scrubs dishes and glasses sparkling clean
- Jet-Dry Power & Free: This rinse aid uses less harsh chemicals than the regular Finish Jet-Dry and works during the rinse cycle for less spots
What do you do when you have the morning off like I did?
~Trisha
PS Now I am off to CLEAN! It sounds FUN in an EMPTY house! Btw, just reminding you that I am a Finish & Free Mom and will be sharing this great product again on my blog! Don’t forget about that sample!
I love that you used the pouch fruit! Great idea! Banana bread is my favorite. I will have to try to mix it up with some other fruit in it!
Oh that looks so good! I need to find those Dole things, my husband loves pouches like that for work snacks since he has to eat while driving sometimes.
When I have a quiet house I usually do a little crafting or online shopping. Wish it was more often. Looks like you had a productive time to yourself. We all need a little break like that.
This looks so moist & delicious… and it is nice to see someone else makes as many dirty pans and dishes as I do when cooking…lol
Finish has always been my BFF in the kitchen! Have to find those pouches for Kay! Love how you used them in this delicious bread!
Your bread looks yummy! When I have time alone, I never think to bake. I do like to read though- something I rarely take time to do.
Oh that looks awesome, and four hours alone sounds like a vacation! We volunteered at a food pantry this morning and unloaded/sorted nearly two tons of food.
That looks really good! When I have time for myself, I usually catch up on work and clean around the house. 🙂
YUM! Your bread looks really tasty. I have not tried the new Finish yet but I need a new product for my dishwasher.
I usually cut the grass. I love the workout and I like that I feel like I accomplished something.
This is a brilliant idea. We always have the pureed applesauce around and other fruits too. It looks really tasty and the finish did a great job cleaning your dishes.
I haven’t tried the new formula just yet but I do like their original product. And good use of those fruit pouches.
I love using pouches when baking. They are like pre-measured, healthy baking yum!
I didn’t know Dole had fruit squishers! These look like something my son would love.
Yum, I never would have thought of adding in the squishem pouches. Now I want to see what I can find at the store to add to my favorite bread recipes.
Baby food bananas make the BESTEST banana bread EVER! Always perfectly sweet and pureed, this looks amazing!
That looks really easy! I love apple bread! Glad you found an easy clean up routine! We love Finish too!
I’ve made fruit bread with squeezie pouches before! It’s really good! (And, I never wait to slice my bread. It’s better warm!)
I am off to order my free sample of Finish!
Love the new formula of Finish! It does a heck of a good job and the lower chemicals — huge plus! The banana bread looks so good!