Bake: Sunday Strawberry Bread

This is one of my favorite quick breads to make. Strawberries were on sale last week at Vons for $1.88 a pound so I took the opportunity to buy some.  My recipe is a healthier - less sugar and oil (and in my opinion, tastier!) version of the strawberry bread on allrecipes. As some of you may have noticed, I pretty much never follow a recipe as is, but modify it to my liking

Delicious LA Strawberry Bread Recipe 

Makes 2 loaves, or 24 servings. 

Ingredients:

• 1 lb strawberries, stems removed and sliced (approx 3 1/2 cups)
• 3 cups flour
• 1.5 cups white sugar 
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 eggs, beaten

Directions:

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees F.  Butter and flour (or spray PAM) 2 9x5 in loaf pans (I only had one so I made one loaf, and 12 muffins)
2. Slice strawberries and place in medium sized bowl, sprinkle lightly wiht sugar, and set aside while preparing bread mixture
3. Combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, salt and baking soda in a large bowl, mix well
4. Whisk eggs, oil and vanilla in a separate bowl and combine with strawberries
5. Add strawberry mixture to flour mixture, blending until dry ingredients are just moistened (do not over-mix! This will affect the texture of your bread!!!). Batter will be dense and sticky.
6. Divide batter into pans or muffin tins
7. Bake bread loaf for 45-50 min or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Bake muffins for 20-25 minutes until done. Let cool in pans for 10 min on wire rack. Then take loaves out to cool completely.