I made an awesome Banana Pumpkin Bread a few days ago, and we've been enjoying it ever since!
(Baking with a child CAN be fun!)
I took Dr. Weil's recipe for Banana Bread and of course made some changes. We made it gluten-free, lower calorie and fat, all while keeping the health benefits and even adding more!
Here is the recipe and link to it, with my comments and modifications in red:
Bananas have two stomach-protective mechanisms. First, they help the stomach lining to produce a thicker mucus barrier to protect against stomach acids. Second, compounds in bananas called protease inhibitors can help reduce bacteria in the stomach that have been shown to promote ulcers.Ingredients
- 3 very ripe bananas - They don't need to be very ripe (ripe = more sugar!).
- ½ cup honey - I used honey and blue agave, a combined total of about 1/4 cup.
- 3 tablespoons expeller-pressed canola oil, plus a little more for oiling the loaf pan - Spray the pan and use applesauce instead of oil for the bread. I used Berry Applesauce.
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract - Could be great, but I used almond extract to match the added slivered almonds.
- 1 ½ cups whole-wheat pastry flour - I used half teff flour and half gluten-free baking flour. For those of you not used to teff flour, use less teff and more gluten-free (or whole wheat if not making it gluten-free) since it has a distinct taste/texture.
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
¾ cup chopped walnuts or pecans - We used organic slivered almonds instead. - ¼ teaspoon salt - just a spinkle
We also added:
- a handful of dairy-free chocolate chips (to the bread and on top)
- a handful of goji berries
- a can of organic pumpkin (for added moisture and antioxidants)
Instructions
1. Heat the oven to 350° F. Lightly oil a loaf pan.
2. Mash the bananas and mix with the honey, canola oil and vanilla extract.
3. Stir together the whole-wheat pastry flour, baking soda and salt. Add the nuts.
2. Mash the bananas and mix with the honey, canola oil and vanilla extract.
4. Blend the two mixtures and spoon into a lightly oiled loaf pan. Bake for 40 minutes, or until center is set.
Serves 12
Nutrients Per Serving
Calories: 199.8
Protein: 3.0 grams
Fat: 8.4grams Saturated
Fat: 0.7grams
Monounsat Fat: 4.8 grams
Polyunsat Fat: 2.4grams
Carbohydrate: 31.6 grams
Fiber: 3.2 grams
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Vitamin A: 35.9 IU
Vitamin E: 1.0 mg/IU
This was good, but ours is even better! ENJOY!
3 comments:
I looooove banana bread. I made some tonight, as a matter of fact because my bananas were going south. As I was making them, I thought about what you said about very ripe bananas having more sugar. I thought because the sugar is naturally occurring, it is okay? I actually did not have enough regular sugar so I had to use some agave, then I figured the extreme ripeness of my bananas would add the extra sweetness.
Did you use 3 tbs of the apple sauce or a little more?
I apologize for he delay, Nancy, and thanks for posting! My thoughts on bananas involve a full conversation, but to try to answer your question in a post, yes, the sweetness of bananas would suffice. When you're adding bananas into a recipe, it's okay to lessen the amount of sugar. I hope you enjoyed!
Regarding the applesauce, I often just pour some in, but in this case, a small container is about 3 tablespoons, so that should be good.
Thanks for the great questions!
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