I have been staring at two bananas as they turn brown in the fruit bowl. Banana Bread here we come.

Krusteaz pancake mix is basically self rising flour with some dried buttermilk mixed in. It is a good base to start with and build on.

I found several experimenters like me who are not afraid to try something new. Long ago when I started with yeast breads and teaching myself about bread making, I often experimented with slight variations in recipes that I found.

Lately I have become fascinated with Krusteaz Pancake mix which by the way makes pretty good pancakes on its own unaided with anything except water.

After cruising through several recipes on Pinterest that pointed me to other foodie sites, I selected this combination to try.

• preheat your oven to 350 F
• 2 bananas (brown) medium length — why because I had two of them
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 C. of water
• 5 Tbsp. of unsalted butter melted
• 3 Tbsp. of margarine also melted – why because I had used the first 3 Tbsp. of butter for something else and the recipe I am basing this on used 8 Tbsp. of oil
• 1/4 C. of walnuts chopped
• 1/4 C. of almonds chopped (part of these go on top after dumping) – why because I only had half of the walnuts this recipe was based on.
• 1 tsp. of psyllium husk power – why because I am always looking for ways to get Cheryl to eat more fiber and I read that this stuff is 100% soluble fiber. I thought might as well make it healthy banana bread.
• 1 C. of Krusteaz pancake mix
• 1/3 C. of sugar – white this time but I might try brown sugar in further experiments.
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract – real not imitation – there is a difference.
• Prep a 5 x 9 loaf pan by greasing it with Crisco and tap a about a tablespoon of flour around to coat the inside everywhere
• Dump the batter into the loaf pan and sprinkle the rest of the almonds on top.
• bake for 40 – 50 minutes and work on your blog entry

I have chosen to drizzle some roll icing on top after it has cooled for 15 or 20 minutes more. This icing is merely sugar, water and Kayo corn syrup – 1:1:1 tbsp. – mixed with 3 – 4 tbsp. of confectioner sugar until it is the right texture for me. I warm the first three up in the microwave and whisk for a bit to dissolve everything and then whisk in the confectioner sugar.

When I do this experiment next time I will select the 4 x 8 loaf pan I have. It will be taller in stature when it comes out of the oven. I have found it is hard to get that right. I have to develop my volume estimation technique.

Carpe Diem.