Monday, May 6, 2013

Healthy Banana Bread: No Butter, No Sugar, Whole Wheat

Holy cow! It's Monday again?  This weekend was a whirlwind for me.  My bestie Caryn came in town from DC and we had so much fun! It was so great to see her and we had an amazing time enjoying the beautiful weather and catching up!

In terms of my half marathon training, I ran 12 miles on Saturday! I finished in a little under 2 hours and felt great.  I ran the route that is posted for the actual half marathon except for the beginning and end and it was fun to see what I will be doing in 20 days! At this point, I get to start tapering off a bit for the next few weeks before the big fun.  This is great since in the next few weeks, I have interviews, graduation, and family coming in town! I am going to be so busy, but running really helps me to stay focused and feel good!

Going along with the theme of being healthy and feeling good, this Healthy Banana Bread was a delicious way to have a little treat while staying healthy.  This recipe uses whole wheat flour, no sugar, and natural sweeteners.  Also, you need super ripe bananas because that will help the bread to be tasty and moist!  This was some great banana bread!

Healthy Banana Bread


Ingredients:
4 ripe bananas
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp lemon juice
2 eggs
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 and lightly grease a 9 by 5 inch loaf pan.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder and cinnamon.
3. In a large bowl, mash the bananas and beat in honey, canola oil, vanilla, lemon juice, and eggs.  Beat until well combined.  Beat in the dry ingredients until just combined.  Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Enjoy :)

4 comments:

  1. Wonderful recipe! I don't use butter, white flour, or sugar. It isn't always easy, so when I find a recipe I like, I hang on to it.

    Thanks!

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  2. I found your recipe tonight because I was looking for a whole wheat butter-free banana bread. I baked this tonight, so I thought I'd come back here and give the feedback. Turned out perfectly, but the caveat is that I made a couple subs to get it vegan: I used ener-g egg replacer in place of real eggs and brown sugar instead of honey but if I wanted it sugar-free, I would have used date puree. I skipped the cinnamon this time but only because I've been using it so heavily this fall and wanted a break from the good old spice. I used olive oil instead of canola. I'll only take a pause here to be a Debbie Downer but here's why I don't use canola oil: http://vanessaruns.com/2011/02/08/gmos-and-why-you-should-never-use-canola-oil/

    But apart from veganizing it and swapping oils/omitting spice, I followed measurements and all other ingredients to the letter. The result was a well-baked, nicely risen and moist bread full of flavor. Made the house smell divine! We enjoyed it practically straight out of the oven just as soon as we could manage to hold a piping hot piece and nibble on it. This is an excellent recipe that is ideal for kid participation: prepare all ingredients and lay out on the table. Have them mash mash mash bananas and add ingredients and stir stir stir!
    Thanks so much for the recipe. Just what I was looking for. = )

    P.S. I should mention that bananas make bread rise, so even eggs aren't needed to get a full-bodied result. I was just playing around with the egg replacer since I have some in the pantry, but bananas can always replace egg in recipes where banana makes a good fit. Perfect for stuff like fresh toast and oatmeal cookies! 1/2 banana = 1 egg.

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  3. well i made this recipe yesterday and added some different seeds and blue berries only added half the honey and oh my god what a beautiful cake oh i did use olive oil instead of canola but will definitely have to make it again tomorrow as not much is left cant recommend it enough just really yummy

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  4. I have altered your recipe slightly, but it turned out perfectly. I have used 5 small bananas, only half the honey required, added a cup of walnuts and almost a cup of no fat plain yogurt. As some other here used olive oil. Turned out very yummy!

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