Ingredient Swapping to “Nutrify” Banana Bread

Hey there blog buds! How is your Tuesday treating ya?

Did any other suckers besides me watch the season finale of “The Bachelorette” last night? After the complete cheese that was the JAKE season, I swore I was NOT going to get drawn into ALI’S season. I made it all of TWO weeks.

(hmmm maybe this NOT having satellite TV experiment is bad for my brain – when I could be watching more educational programs like National Geographic channel I’m watching very bad scripted reality series.)

Who am I kidding? I’d be watching it even if we still had our dish. But Ali and Roberto make a cute couple. I hope they make it longer than Jake and Vienna!

So I wanted to tell you all thanks again for the feedback about the Red Cross instructor. I did decide it was worth mentioning to them, especially if I aimed to do it diplomatically and constructively. So far, I’ve been forwarded into the voicemail of the Health & Safety Director. Not sure if I’ll get a call back, but we’ll see!

I have some readers’ request topics to cover in the near future: one being the topic of craving sweets after meals and the other asking me to post my grocery list and/or receipts. They are on the to-do list and as soon as I have something written and edited I will post them! Thank you so much for the topic ideas. Keep ‘em coming, I love that!

Meanwhile here in the FitFeat household it’s been a busy day. But I did squeeze in some time to make a batch of banana bread for MSP. After he tried it at lunch (and really liked it) he asked me what veggie I had hidden in it, because I seemed awfully intent on watching his face as he tried it. Who, me?? Hide VEGGIES in your food??

Lo and behold I did NOT hide any veggies in his banana bread – at least not this time. I just wanted to play around with a standard recipe by switching out less nutritious ingredients for some others I would prefer. You can do the same to boost the nutrient levels of your recipes as well. Here’s how I played with the ingredients, using a very basic banana bread recipe that called for things like all-purpose flour, butter, eggs and brown sugar.

In lieu of standard refined white all-purpose flour, I used 100% whole grain flour (which gives it a hearty, kind of rustic texture).
Rather than the 1/2 a cup of butter I used 1/4 cup applesauce and 1/4 coconut butter/coconut oil mixture (you could use ALL applesauce if you’d prefer).
Where it called for 2 whole eggs I chose one whole egg + one XL egg white (organic and free range of course!)
And in lieu of 3/4 cup brown sugar, I filled a 3/4 measuring cup part-way with raw organic blue agave nectar and then topped the rest of the measuring cup off with blackstrap molasses. (I wanted them to be mixed because ALL blackstrap molasses would be overkill and probably not taste much like banana bread.)
For fun I threw in a few chocolate chips. (If I’d felt like spending more money, I would have purchased some cacao nibs, but ONE I wasn’t at Whole Foods this time and TWO sometimes I have to stick to my food budget.)

The bread batter was pretty liquidy, so I was a little worried that it wouldn’t work well. But it turned out great. I baked it at 375 degrees for about 45-48 minutes (I increased the temp because I’m cooking at high altitude). It came out GREAT. Wonderfully moist and no coconut flavor at all (which is good because MSP does not like coconut!)

While this certainly isn’t a food that I’d tell clients to eat all the time when trying to lose weight, I would definitely say it’s better than a premade store-bought baked good and it’s one I can feel good about. As long as I don’t overdo it! I definitely will have to freeze half of this loaf to keep that from happening!

I can’t wait to toast a piece for breakfast, and then add a little raw almond butter or coconut butter with my coffee. Mmmmmm.

Somehow the chocolate chips melted in a way that look a little like a smiley face – I didn’t plan it, but it makes me smile just the same!

What are your favorite ways to “nutrify” recipes?

Have a great day friends!

– Shari B. =)

7 Responses to "Ingredient Swapping to “Nutrify” Banana Bread"

Millie says:

September 24, 2011 at 10:27 am

After our annual visit to the doctor, my family realized we had to change our eating patterns. I have also been trying to substitute ingredients in various recipes. These are great ideas for banana bread! I never tried blue agave nectar, I will have to look into it. I think it was so cute how the chocolate chips turned into a smiley face

Reply
1. Shari B. says:
  
  September 26, 2011 at 12:43 pm
  
  Hi Millie! My apologies for the delayed reply – I just got back from vacation! I’m happy to hear that you are actively improving your food choices, that’s great! If you don’t have agave, you can use pure Grade B (Dark) maple syrup or some raw unfiltered honey.
  
  Thanks so much for reading FitFeat and for leaving a comment! Have a great day!
  
  Reply
Wendy says:

August 25, 2011 at 11:06 am

Hey,
Great article! I love your ideas. I do have one question, though. I live in the middle of nowhere. Do you know of any online stores which sell blue agave nectar? Or do you have any other suggestions for this ingredient.

Anyway, can’t wait to try this!
Wendy

Reply
1. Shari B. says:
  
  August 25, 2011 at 2:19 pm
  
  Hi Wendy! Thanks so much for your comment – thanks for stopping by the blog!
  
  If you wanted to buy online, Amazon.com carries it in a 2-pack. However, you could use a quality maple syrup or even a raw honey. The intent is to just use a sweetener that’s less refined than white sugar. Enjoy!
  
  Reply
Cindy says:

August 4, 2010 at 9:11 am

yummy and how hysterical that MSP asked you what you snuck in. hehehe.

I TWEAK stuff all the time. I don’t htink I can remember the last time I made a recipe as it was written. it’s gotten out of control. I am always either out of something or I chose to, like you said, nutrify it.

I read a lot of scuttle recently about agave not being rawactually even when it said and it makes me nervous now. I still have some and use it, but I use a lot more honey and other sweeteners (like pure maple syrup too)

Thanks for a great recipe! banana bread sounds good!
xxoxoxxo
.-= Cindy´s last blog ..Close but no cigar =-.

Reply
Joan says:

August 3, 2010 at 10:35 pm

Hi Shari, this sounds wonderful and thanks for adding in the tweaks so I can reconstruct my recipe.
Since I bake in glass, I’ll have to lower the temp and increase the time…hope I have success too. Your subs sounds great.

I have 2 friends who recently discovered they are gluten allergic, so I decided as a personal challenge I’m going to buy more GF foods and learn to bake/cook more GF things. I got a couple of books from the library and plan to learn to tweak some breads etc or what ever calls for flour and try tweaking with GF flours and xanthan or guar gums. Maybe next time I make banana bread it’ll be GF. I think it’ll be an eye opener but I hope to reduce wheat in our diets for a better variety.
Tweakers unite!!
.-= Joan´s last blog ..Rasperry Ice =-.

Reply
christina says:

August 3, 2010 at 2:32 pm

hey shari! thanks for the sweet blog comment! i bought my fig balsamic at a place called “oil & vinegar.” i think they only have a few locations but i have seen fig balsamic at marshalls and tjmaxx recently! random! if not there, i’m sure whole foods would have some. it’s SO GOOD! not sure if they all differ in taste like regular balsamic vinegars but mine is really sweet.

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