Banana Bread - Make Your Own! 10 Easy Ways to Living Affordably Organic

We're nearing the end of Week 3 ("Grow and Make Your Own!") of a 10-Week series of 10 Easy Ways to Living Affordably Organic and I just couldn't resist ending with a recipe.  

I love quick breads.  Pumpkin bread, banana bread, zucchini bread, cranberry bread – you name it.   The ready-made versions can get expensive in your local store ($5./loaf or more!) and are often chock full of sugar and preservatives.  The in-the-box varieties are worse.  I can’t even pronounce half of the listed ingredients.

Luckily, quick breads are easy and inexpensive to make and (big bonus) universally loved by all family members.  It’s a versatile food too, good for snacks, brunch or even for dessert.  The challenge is finding a recipe that isn’t loaded with sugar.  Most quick breads are just too sweet for my taste plus the added sweeteners don’t do any favors for my waistline.  

I found the perfect recipe for banana bread and only had a make a few tweaks to make it work for our taste and lifestyle. (It's adapted from a Mark Bittman favorite.) This bread is low in sugar, incredibly flavorful, very light in texture and taste, and isn’t set-your-jaw-on-edge sweet. It keeps well in the fridge (about one week) and can be frozen up to 3 months.   You can find oat flour in the health food section of your local market.

Thanks to theDelicious for the image!

Banana Bread

1 ½ cup organic all-purpose flour

½ cup organic oat flour (you can also use whole wheat but you will get a slightly denser bread)

½ cup organic unsalted butter (1 stick) – melted

1 teaspoon salt

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder (aluminum free)

½ cup organic honey

2 organic eggs

3-4 very ripe organic bananas

Preheat oven to 350.  

Add melted butter, bananas, honey to blender and blend until smooth.  

Add eggs and blend again. (Set aside.)  

In large bowl combine all dry ingredients – flours, salt, baking powder - and stir well.  

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir gently, just until all ingredients are combined.  

Bake in a lightly greased loaf pan for one hour or until tester toothpick comes out clean.

(For a lower fat version instead of using ½ cup of butter use 4 TBSP. butter and ¼ cup of applesauce.  The loaf will be moister and more compact but still very tasty.)

See you next week for Week 4 - Be a Fan of the Meal Plan!

Organically yours,

Minde


Do you have a favorite go-to recipe for quick bread?  Share here!