going nuts, or not

nuts on the left, plain on the right

I made some homemade banana bread last night.  I love baking with bananas or apples.  It makes the house smell SO good.  I used the banana bread recipe from Martha.  Click here for a printable version.  I added fresh cranberries to the recipe too - one cup to be exact, and I folded them in at the very end.

I purchased organic bananas on a shopping trip before Thanksgiving, in hopes they would turn overly ripe that week and I could bake the bread during my time off.  To my surprise, it took the organic bananas almost two full weeks to become overly ripe.  I would have thought that organic bananas would have ripened quicker than conventional bananas, but that was not the case.  I know we have purchased conventional bananas in the past that have turned ripe in mere days.  What is the meaning of this?

As for the nuts, my husband asked that I add walnuts to half the loaf.  I like nuts, but not when they are cooked in things.  I would rather eat a handful of almonds than bite into a walnut filled brownie.