Mini Banana Bread Loaves: An Exercise in Portion Control

I would consider myself skilled in various things, but portion control is not one of them. Hubby and I are on an Anti-Atkins diet, high carb movement: we go to restaurants and not only finish the bread basket, but ask for more. For kicks, try doing this in Miami where the waitress only looks at you quizzically, not sure whether you're joking and finally asks "you're not from around here, huh?!" Because of our lack of self-restraint, I've come to love my mini loaf pan. You get your own little loaf (since I never want to share my sweets), and after eating one, its at least satisfying enough to hold you out for the rest of the afternoon. Oh, and if anyone else uses a pan like this, please share your wisdom on how to clean it. It's stumped me for years. :)Though I have a file full of banana bread recipes I would like to try out, I must sadly admit my pantry is nearly empty so i went with an old standby from Cooking Light. There's no bells and whistles to this recipe, but its quick and comes out delicious every time. When I can, I would LOVE to try this recipe from delicious days' blog.

But for now, here's the old classic.
*If you're wondering, the red speck above is from a loaf I experimented with blueberries added. I prefer without.

Classic Banana Bread

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 /2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup butter, softened

2 large eggs (I've substituted 2 egg whites and 1 whole egg)

1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)

1/3 cup plain or vanilla low-fat yogurt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Cooking spray

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.
Place sugar and butter in a large bowl, and beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 1 minute). Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add banana, yogurt, and vanilla; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist. Spoon batter into an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean**. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

**Kitchen Note: to make these into mini loaves, I baked at 350 for approximately 30-35 minutes.