My Favorite Banana Bread

This recipe comes from one of the most unique cookbooks that I own. It is "Cooking With Mickey, Vol. II" and contains the most requested recipes from Walt Disney World and Disneyland. I have to admit that I haven't made most of the recipes in this book, but keep it just for this recipe. It is in no way low-fat, in fact it is high fat, high sugar and really, really yummy!
I ended up with this book thanks to my brother. My brother and I have a love affair with everything Disney since we were kids. It was one of our favorite family vacations. I grew up on the west coast of Canada and quite often we would camp our way down the coast from BC to San Diego and back. I was almost 5 the first time we did Disney and I look forward to the day when I can take my kids there too. Jeff (my brother) spotted this book at a Disney store in Seattle about 9 years ago and knew it would be something I would like (especially since it had their cinnimon french toast recipe in it which he loves and knew there was a good chance I would make it for him).

My family at Disney way back (circa. 1989?) I'm about 12 in this picture.

The Recipe
1 cup butter (melted)
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp water
2 cups banana (mashed)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
1 cup walnuts, chopped (optional) - I've never put in the full 2 cups, usually I make it without, today I added about 1/4 cup

Preheat oven to 350*. Sift together flour, salt and baking soda. Set aside. Mix melted butter and sugar until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each. Add bananas, water and vanilla. Fold in flour mixture and walnuts and blend until all flour is moist. Pour batter evenly into 2 greased loaf pans. Bake for 1 hour or until the centre of the loaf is firm and a toothpick comes out clean.