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Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Banana Bread

Banana Bread


I was looking for a healthier version of banana bread, which I was randomly craving this past week. I came across this WW version on my favorite Weight Watchers recipe blog (I'm not on WW...just like the healthy recipes.) However, it did NOT look healthy to me with all that oil and sugar!!! I decided to substitute the oil with applesauce. Unfortunately, when I went to add the applesauce, I discovered that my jar was full of mold. EEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!
So, I had to scratch that idea, and go ahead with the oil and sugar. Oh well. As you know, I LOVE vanilla beans, so I used a vanilla bean instead of the vanilla extract, and replaced the walnuts with pecans. (My coworker is allergic to walnuts, I am not a huge fan of them, AND I didn't have any on hand - pecans were a perfect substitute!)

This bread turned out SOOOOOO yummy. It smelled awesome while baking, and tastes awesome. The top is so crusty and sweet and good! It looks a little dark in color to me, but it didn't turn out dry or overcooked or anything. Maybe the vanilla bean seeds made it a bit darker? Anyway, I took about half the loaf to work, and I swear it was gone within minutes. It was mysteriously disappearing off the table! I will definitely make this again when the craving strikes!

Here is the recipe I used, along with my changes:

Weight Watchers Moist Banana Bread recipe
Makes 12 servings

Ingredients
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1 3/4 cups flour
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla (I used a vanilla bean)
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used olive oil)
1/4-1/2 cup walnuts (optional) (I used pecans)

Preparation
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
2. In a bowl, combine the mashed bananas, eggs, oil, milk, sugar and vanilla.
3. Add the flour and baking soda.
4. Mix well to combine for about 2-3 minutes.
5. Pour the mixture into a greased loaf pan and bake in the oven for about 1 hour and 20 minutes.

WW POINTS per serving: 6
Nutritional information per serving: 286 calories, 10.4g fat, 1.3g fiber

9 comments:

ShellyH said...

oh, I love Banana bread! I can smell it right now just reading your blog post. Your substitutions sound a lot better than the original version so I will have to try it out.

Welcome to the foodie blog roll.

Alanna said...

Thank you, and thanks for stopping by! :) I actually just found another banana bread recipe that looks like a must-try, so I'll be posting about that one soon!

Sarah said...

mmm Banana bread! I may have to make some since I have some bananas about to go bad.

Fitness Foodie said...

Hi my blog as a similar name than yours and weird thing is i am posting about banana muffins tomorrow.

Lori said...

Looks delicious!

Sara said...

This looks delicious, I bet the vanilla bean added a lot of flavor!

Meg said...

Looks delicious!

CookiePie said...

LOVE banana bread - I bet the vanilla bean made yours extra-delicious!

Alanna said...

Parker, how funny! I guess it's just a banana and vanilla bean season lately. And one of my friends just posted these banana cupcakes with vanilla bean icing!

http://bbsfantabulouslife.blogspot.com/2009/02/banana-cupcakes-with-vanilla-bean.html