I Heart Food

I know. Shocking right? But who doesn't love to bake? I used to want to put a bakery in the field in front of my house when I was a kid. Good thing THAT dream was never realized. I'd be at least 400 pounds right now.

One of my most favorite things to bake? Banana Bread. Yum. So the other day, I decided to bake up a couple loaves and ended up with a little experiment.

The one on the right is a normal loaf of banana bread, baked off of this recipie.

Banana Bread Recipe

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 ripe bananas, smashed
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1 cup sugar 
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

METHOD

No need for a mixer for this recipe. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

Yield: Makes one loaf.

Turned out great, but I ended up having extra bananas, so I wanted to make another loaf. As I started though I realized two rather unfortunate things. 

#1. I didn't have enough white flour

#2. I didn't have enough butter

So I decided to try and make it a bit more healthy, and altered the recipe slightly and made the loaf on the left. 

Slightly Healthier Banana Bread Recipe

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 ripe bananas, smashed
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 1/2 Container of Yoplait Vanilla Yogurt
• 3/4 Cup Sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 Cup ground flax meal

METHOD

No need for a mixer for this recipe. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). With a wooden spoon, mix butter and yogurt into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda, salt, and flax meal over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

Yield: Makes one loaf.

This actually turned out really good. You couldn't tell the difference between the two. The "healthy" version actually was a bit more moist (I'm guessing because of the yogurt) the best part? I just worked out the nutrition facts.

Normal Version

Healthy Version

Do you see that? 123 calories A SERVING! And 24 grams of FAT?! OMG. I really didn't think it would be that big of a difference but...wowee. I will now be baking everything a bit more healthy. 

I wonder how many calories that butter adds...

Well anyway, I had to make up for all those lost calories some how, so...

Last night I found Pink Lemonade Cupcake mix at Target. 

(Side note, have you seen all the fantastically cute outdoor stuff at Target? I should probably get an award for not buying any of it last night.)

They turned out delicious, like a lemon poppy seed muffin...at least that's what I told my self when Lucy and I ate one for breakfast. 

I think I might try and make a homemade version of these, with lemon cake base, and fresh strawberries or rasberries in it. YUMMO! I'll let you know how it goes.