This bread came about because I had two extremely ripe bananas one lonely peach.

 The strawberries came from a small farm about five minutes from our house. But like most freshly picked fruit, if you don’t have a plan for them they will have a plan to go bad. So I thought I would add them with the bananas and make a bread.

Niara looking for those berries!

I also had a bunch of beautiful lemon balm that I have been growing and was excited to use it. I saw the herb at a farm one day and it smelled so good that I bought it without knowing anything about it. Lemon balm is a perennial herb from the mint family (and it grows like mint–quickly). The leaves, which have a mild lemon aroma, are used mainly for medicine to treat digestive problems, headaches,and toothaches. Many people also use it for calming purposes–like in tea before bedtime. When used in foods it provides a wonderfully light lemon flavor. That is  exactly what it did to my bread.

Washed and dried…from my garden. One of my only surviving plants!

Unlike most times when I bake, I didn’t have clear directions–this recipe was something that only existed in my imagination and I prayed that it would all come together to make a moist and yummy bread.

Look, you can see the specks so lemon balm and strawberries.

And it did! We all waited for the bread to cook and cool down (the girls were able to stay up extra late so they could get a taste. Boy was it worth it. It was thumbs up all the way around. Since Lela told me I had to share this recipe, I followed orders and am sending it to all of you. We hope you enjoy!

What You Need:

*Note: This recipe will yield one delicious loaf!

Kitchen Gadgets:

Mixer (hand held works just fine as well)

Mixing Spoon

Measuring Cups

Loaf Pan

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cool

1/4 cup chopped dry lemon balm

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 strawberries, drained and mashed

1 cup ripe bananas mashed (about 2 large ripe ones)

1 small peach, diced

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 /2 cup sifted flour

Glaze:

1 cup confectioners

1/4 lemon balm, finely chopped

Juice from 1 lemon

pinch of salt

2 tb. butter, melted

pinch of salt

What You Do:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl combine your dry ingredients: flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon and set aside.

In a mixer cream together butter and lemon balm until well combined.

Add sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract.

Switch to hand-mixing (I like using a wooden spoon), fold in bananas, peaches, and strawberries until well combines.

Gently fold in (still hand mixing) the flour mixture until well combined.

Pour into well greased loaf pan and bake for 45 – 55 minutes on the middle rack (be sure to check often as every oven is different).

For the Glaze:

*This glaze is transparent

In a small sauce pan add confectioner’s sugar, lemon and melted butter, salt, andlemon balm . Heat on low continuously mixing.

One the loaf is warm pour glaze onto in the loaf in the pan–zest with lemon.