2-3 very ripe bananas

1/3 c. butter, melted 1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking soda pinch of salt

1 c. sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 ½ c. flour

Preheat oven to 350° and butter a 4 x 8 inch loaf pan. In a mixing bowl, mash the ripe bananas with a fork until smooth. Stir the melted butter into the mashed bananas. Mix in the baking soda and salt. Stir in sugar, beaten egg and vanilla extract. Mix in the flour. Pour the batter into prepared loaf pan. Bake for one hour and 10 minutes (check at 50 minutes) at 350° or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool completely on a rack. Remove the banana bread from the pan. Slice and serve. A bread knife helps to make slices that are not crumbly.

Note: This recipe is from my mother, Mary T. Richard. She won a blue ribbon at the Blackwell Fair when I was a child. One of her employees took it and had it judged. They did not know she was a colored, Negro, Black, and now African-American woman. We were not allowed to be in Blackwell, OK after 6:00 p.m.