There’s nothing worse than an unexpected 6 am wakeup call. We recently had some visitors in our attic of the furry four-legged kind. To be specific, red squirrels seem to have an affinity for the living quarters above our house.
These squirrels are tiny and adorable. We are part of the problem in feeding them for our viewing pleasure. It’s hilarious to watch them do just about anything to get their hands on a peanut. This includes chasing regular squirrels at least twice their size. Providing them with food is not an invitation to chew through our siding, however. This year they even had little squirrel babies! Too cute!
They’re taken up residence in the attic before and been removed before. Most of the time they live up there quietly and neatly. That’s right, they’re neat. But not too long ago, came a string of days where each morning they rose with the sun and started chewing or digging . . . or doing other things, which would wake me up. I don’t like being woken up. Girlfrand needs her beauty sleep 🙂
After calling around, we found a humane removal company that would relocate our little critters. They took away one very calm little squirrel and one very rambunctious little guy. Then the other squirrels got smart and began eating the peanut butter out of the trap. Genius squirrels live in our yard! The problem has been solved . . . for now.
With all those early wakeup calls, I needed an extra delicious breakfast. I’m obsessed with summer fruit so Blueberry Banana Bread definitely fit the extra delicious bill. Insanely moist on the inside with a dense crumb and intense banana flavor, the slightly crunchy outside provided a texture contrast. The pop of color and flavor from the blueberries was more than welcome. Add a little peanut butter and you’d have a treat for you . . . or a squirrel!
Blueberry Banana Bread
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 2 loaves, 8 generous slices 1x
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 cup vegetable or canola oil
- 4 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 7 large ripe bananas, well mashed
- 2 cups fresh blueberries, washed and picked over
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Oil 2 loaf pans and line the bottom only with parchment. Place the loaf pans on a sheet tray for easy removal from the oven later.
- In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
- In a large bowl, stir together sugar, brown sugar, and oil. Stir in the eggs one at a time until well combined. Stir in the vanilla and bananas. Add the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Fold in the blueberries until distributed.
- Divide the batter equally between the loaf pans and place in the oven. Bake for about 1 hour, rotating halfway through, until a toothpick inserted in the center of each loaf comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. If the loaves are getting too brown, tent with foil. I recommend doing this between 30-40 minutes into baking. Cool loaves in the pan for about a half an hour before removing and allowing to cool completely on a rack or serving tray. Bread may be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 4 days or frozen, wrapped in parchment and foil and placed in a zipper bag for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature for about an hour or in the microwave for about 1 minute.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
We once had a squirrel make its way into the house, and I found it in my bed as I was trying to go to sleep! The banana bread looks yummy, I have two pints of blueberries in my fridge right now…
In your house? Worse yet, in your bed? Now I’ll always be checking my bed before I get in! Love squirrels . . . when they’re outside 🙂
Squirrels can be a huge pain but they also can be super cute at the same time 🙂 Love that you feed them. This is a tasty looking banana bread! I like adding blueberries to my quick breads.
Oh, yes – they are super cute! We love all the animals we have – birds, groundhogs, ducks, chipmunks, frogs. A lot of awesome wildlife!
Oh those pesky critters! My husband and I had a very similar situation when we first got married. This blueberry banana bread is a great way to shake off an early morning. Delicious!
I hate to wake up suddenly from my sleep, So I can imagine how you felt 🙂 … Adding blueberries to your banana bread made them look amazing, extra deliciousness 🙂
don’t you love how versatile banana bread is?
it can take and hold almost any flavors.
Wild critters are cute, but not in the house! I’ll bet they’d enjoy some of this banana bread — you could use this instead of peanut butter instead of bait in the traps! It’d definitely catch me, for sure. 😉
Now I have a huge craving for banana bread! And adding blueberries can only make it better!
I love baking with blueberries! And, they go really well in a banana bread! I really want a slice now!
Great idea of adding blueberries in banana bread.. saw something similar on a zucchini bread.. sounds delicious.
Oooh, blueberry zucchini bread sounds awesome!