This is a last minute post, but I came home tonight and witnessed a scene that put me in utter shock: my bananas were over ripened, as if blackened from a big ole ass whoopin'. Sigh, I am embarrassed to admit that I let my organic bananas get that bad. I can hear Gwen Stafani yelling at me already (Ander, this shit is bananas, b-a-n-a-n-a-s...) I'm sorry Gwen, I don't know what I was thinking especially when there are starving gorillas in Africa. So, as the mantra goes, when life gives you lemons make lemonade; or, in this case, when you have squishy bananas make banana bread. Plus, I get to bake which always makes for a fun night and happy parents.
I got a great recipe from my good friend, Betty Crocker. I love her recipes because you can almost always find a healthier recipe for what you want to make. Here's a link to the recipe = Light Banana Bread. The recipe is basically identical to a regular banana bread recipe with a few healthy modifications. I like that it's not as heavy and only 60 calories per serving!--which means I don't feel as bad when I inhale half the loaf, win/win!
Ingredients
| 1 1/4 | cups sugar |
| 1/4 | cup unsweetened applesauce |
| 1/4 | cup margarine, softened |
| 1/2 | cup fat-free cholesterol-free egg product |
| 1 1/2 | cups mashed very ripe bananas (3 to 4 medium) |
| 1/2 | cup buttermilk |
| 1 | teaspoon vanilla |
| 2 1/2 | cups flour |
| 1 | teaspoon baking soda |
| 1 | teaspoon salt |
I used egg whites for the egg product and substituted almond milk for the buttermilk. I sometimes get crafty with my ingredient substitutions (trying to "healthify" it), but only a final taste test will determine if my bread will earn Betty's approval. The batter on the spoon tasted yummy, so I'm feeling good about this one. I also made mini banana muffin poppers with the extra batter. Oven's at 350, let the games begin.
Success! The poppers have already popped into my parent's anxious mouths (still hot, ow)! The applesauce made the bread really moist and enhanced the fresh banana taste. The recipe didn't take long at all to mix up and only took about 45 minutes to bake (20-ish for the poppers). Usually when I take my baked goods out of the oven, I place them in the freezer for about 15 minutes to lock in moisture and amp up the yum factor.
Fun Tip: to take your banana creation to the next level of deliciousness, make a scrumptious icing by mixing 1/2 cup powdered sugar with 2 teaspoons of skim milk and drizzle on while hot! Channel your inner chimp and go bananas.
1 comments:
Those look delicious! Thanks for the tip at the end. I used to make banana bread myself (not the healthy kind of course) and added chocolated chips. I don't have that recipe on me but incase you're ever in the mood for trying something different here's a good site of baking recipies I think made by many-
http://www.joyofbaking.com/
http://www.supercook.com/
With the second one you just type in what you have in your kitchen on the left bar and it will list recipies. You add something else and it will list more. Have fun with it :)
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