Well I confess I’m not a baker! Funny thing about that is…I bake all of the time! I bake all of the bread our family eats, birthday and class treats, breakfast muffins, the occasional dessert and of course it’s the ever simple vehicle to use up over ripening fruit and all of the extra zucchini I have from our summer garden…quick bread. The kids love to grab a zucchini muffin or have a slice of banana bread for a snack after school, so true to my belief in the snack vs. treat, I am always working to make treat-like snacks as healthy as can be without making the kids noses scrunch when they take their first bite!

This version of banana bread came to me in the morning when making breakfast for the family before work/school. Jack, who only likes green bananas and Liv who only likes yellowish bananas with spots, but “not too mushy” both turned up their noses at the bananas I had to offer… So what to do when presented with overripe bananas, make banana bread right? Right!

Ripe bananas are so sweet on their own without sugar I have never really understood banana bread recipes that included ½-2/3 of a cup of sugar! With this bread I wanted low sugar, whole grain and high fiber …but moist! The problem with so many low sugar, low fat, high fiber quick bread recipes is they are dense and dry! Now I will say this bread is substantial, not the light and airy banana bread you would get from All Purpose Flour and ½ cup of white sugar. This is cakey, naturally sweet and satisfying. Today Liv asked if she could have two pieces instead of one, like she had yesterday. When I said”no”, she said” one just isn’t enough-it’s too yummy!” No scrunched noses! Whew success!

Banana Bread

1/2 cup oat bran
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ cup organic blue agave nectar
2 flax eggs (2 tbsp ground flax mixed with 6 tbsp water, let sit until thick
or for the non-vegan version you can use 3 egg whites)
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3-4 bananas)

Step 1 is mash the bananas...one should always do this while sitting on top of the kitchen counter in your socks!

 Preheat oven to 375 degrees F, set rack at middle. Grease and flour one 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 3/4 - inch loaf pan. In a mixing bowl, combine both flours and oat bran, baking powder and soda, allspice and cinnamon and stir well to mix. In a separate bowl, whisk together the agave, flax egg or egg whites, applesauce, oil, vanilla and bananas. Pour the wet mixture over the dry and fold in.

Be careful not to over mix!

Waste-Not-Want-Not-Tip

Add some whipped butter or vegan Earth Balance if you want a little extra treat!

Whew....