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Friday, June 19, 2009

Who Wants Some Banana Bread?

Seeing as how I'm trying to prevent myself from checking accuweather for the 5 billionth time today (high of 77 on race day?! Yikes!), I figured I should make good on my promise to Heather at Trials of Training . . . and post my infamous "healthy" banana bread recipe!

Now in the interest of full disclosure, it does taste a teensy bit "healthy". If you're used to buttery, sugary banana bread, it's not going to taste THAT good to you. But still, it tastes REALLY freaking good . . . especially for something that's not all that bad for you! I personally think that it tastes delicious enough that I never need to make "real" banana bread ever again! And the great thing is that it is very moist, which is the biggest complaint I've heard about "healthy" breads like this. If you happen to have any over-ripe bananas laying around, don't throw them out! Make this bread! :)

INGREDIENTS:

1/3 cup applesauce
1/2 cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
4 mashed bananas
1/2 cup flaxseed
1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup hot water
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).

2. In a large bowl, beat applesauce and honey together. Add eggs, and mix well. Stir in bananas, vanilla and flax seed.

3. In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients (flour, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon). When well-mixed, fold dry ingredient mixture into the wet ingredients.

4. Add baking soda to hot water, stir to mix, and then add to batter. Blend in chopped nuts if using.

5. Spread batter into a greased 9x5 inch loaf pan. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes (but check as soon as 40 minutes--baking times can vary). Cool on wire rack for 1/2 hour before slicing.

Enjoy!

9 comments:

Lindsay said...

mmm i love banana bread. healthy never hurts :) thanks for sharing - will have to try it out!

Heather C said...

YESSS! :) thanks for posting this!!! I haven't made banana bread in forever, this might be my experiment over the weekend. which means I need to go grocery shopping (whew, has Not happened in way too long)!

so your race is this weekend?? GOOD LUCK!!! can't wait to hear about it :) xoxo

mouse said...

I made bread similar to this a few years ago for my dad and he said something about how it "didn't taste like [my mom's]." It was mostly because whole wheat flour makes a denser bread. The bottom line was that I said, "if you don't like it, I'll eat it all," and he quickly grabbed it away from me. ha!

Good luck this weekend! Hope the weather cooperates!

X-Country2 said...

This sounds delicious! Is it just as healthy when I substitute chocolate chips for walnuts? No? Damn.

Good luck this weekend!

Running and living said...

Yummy AND healthy...thanks for sharing:) Ana-Maria

Anonymous said...

I think I just found a new fave bread recipe. Thank you!

You will totally rock the race, never mind the temperatures.

Have a great weekend

Being Robinson said...

mmmm i have a ton of bananas in my freezer screaming to be made into some delicious bread. i wonder how banana bread would taste with some beef in it? ummm answer. DELICIOUS.

EmLit said...

YAY I love getting healthy recipes for baked goods and I LOVE banana bread (although not so much the buttery sugary kind, so I think this one will be great for me). Thanks for sharing :)

sRod said...

SOunds delicious! Wifey and I discovered a banana cupcake with cream cheese frosting receipe that we've made now four times in five weeks. Sooooo good! I'll have to bring some over whenever I'm in Brooklyn.