Banana Bread: Healthified!

             This is one of my favourite recipes! I used it for our bake sale last year and it seemed to go over pretty well. It’s super easy to make and it’s relatively healthy, so I don’t feel AS guilty mowing down on delicious baked goods when they’re made like this. Like most of us, I love dessert. A healthy lifestyle isn’t about depriving yourself, it’s important to let yourself indulge once in a while. I try to modify recipes to make them as healthy as possible (healthier than the original anyway) and add certain ingredients for extra benefits.

For example, you can substitute regular flour for whole wheat or spelt flour. You can also add ground flaxseed to certain recipes for added fibre, and if I’m going to use chocolate I make sure to use dark to get those flavanols in! You can substitute ingredients with various other functional foods as well providing that they will work with the nature/texture of the particular recipe.

Ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp. salt.
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tbsp ground flaxseed
*Optional: 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips or frozen blueberries

Whisk together dry ingredients, set aside.

3 large very ripe bananas
2 eggs (I like to use omega-3 fortified eggs. yeah functional foods!)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup milk of choice (almond milk is good for this recipe)
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet and whisk together. You can use an electric mixer, but it's not difficult to do by hand either. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 45-50 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes to cool and enjoy!

From Caitlin!