Banana Coconut Bread

"Can you make banana bread?"

"Sure, but not till we get the secret ingredient."

"What's the secret ingredient?"

"Coconut."

"But, I don't like coconut."

This exchange that I had with my little sister a few weeks ago can be partially explained by mentioning that our mother isn't a great fan of coconut and the number of times in my lifetime that I remember her buying it is exactly two: the first, I have no memory of what we used it for, and the second, I tossed it in the cart specifically to make this bread.  I first made this recipe for Vanessa from a recipe she had gotten from Mrs. Nutter...while I polished off the end of the previous loaf.  Toasted.  With butter.  I'd never eaten banana bread at home before (another of Mom's aversions), but I just knew that it was because she hadn't been introduced to this perfect pairing.  Knowing that the worst thing that could happen would be my eating the whole loaf, I set out to change their minds.  I think it worked; I only got to eat half of it.

Banana Coconut Bread
2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar (I've also used evaporated cane juice crystals with equal success)
1 1/2 cup coconut
3 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
3 Tbsp. canola oil
3/4 cup milk
1 cup mashed banana
1 egg

Preheat the oven to 350.  Stir together the first five ingredients (flour through salt).  In a separate bowl (or your measuring pitcher, if it's big enough), blend together the last four ingredients (oil through egg).  Combine wet and dry together, making sure the dry gets well-hydrated, but taking care not to over-stir.  Scrape into a greased 9"x5" loaf pan and bake for 55-65 minutes.