Better-For-You Banana Bread

Looking for something that won't make your cupcake top burst outta your jeans? Me too, esp come around the holidays...when I already will be eating up a storm. So when I saw a recipe for Healthy Banana Bread in the latest Oxygen mag, I thought why not. I used to bake healthy a lot, now I am way more 'original recipe' than modification...but this was tempting. Esp since I had 2 ripe bananas ready to go.

I made adaptations that I think are wonderful and add to the flavor without really making this any more 'bad' for you. This would be a great pick-me-up as a snack before a long cardio workout! I topped with pecans for a little extra visual fun.

Better-For-You Banana Bread
Makes 2 mini loaves

2 ripe medium bananas, mashed
3 tsp sugar (or brown sugar)
1 egg white
1/4c unsweetened applesauce
1/4c nonfat greek yogurt (I used Fage 0%)
1/4c soy milk (or almond milk or nonfat milk but the latter has more sugars)
1 1/3c white whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice or however you'd like to flavor

6 servings (cut each mini loaf into 3 pieces)
Per serving: 145 calories; 0.6g fat; 223mg sodium, 204mg potassium; 32g carbs; 2.3g fiber; 4g sugar; 4g protein
High in: Viamin B6 (12%); Folate (11%); Iron (9%), Magnanese (19%), Riboflavin (9%); Thiamin (13.7%)

The texture on this is great, but it def could use a little more 'sweet'... I know that's not the point of a HEALTHY banana bread, and I can eat it as is, but you could easily add some honey or brown sugar to the above and only up the sugar count slightly but make it taste better. Or slather some jam on it, does the same thing. But overall I was pretty happy with how these loaves came out. BTW the portions are pretty darn big!

Kitchen Aid UPDATE!!
Sorry, I did not mean to leave you lovely contributors hanging but you must be wondering what I decided on the KA mixer post. Well, I was all set to buy the 5qt prof on Amazon last week...secure in the knowledge that I don't need no fancy colors in my kitchen to make it fun..who puts out like 30 colors of mixers anyway?!?!

Then I made the mistake of moseying onto the William Sonoma website and caught sight of their fabulous Grass Green 5qt Artisan. Suddenly all my 'I don't want a fancy color' notions went out the window and I was placing an order for an AMEX rewards card redemption to purchase that puppy.

So now I am just waiting for my $300 gift card to come so I can head into the store and nab one. Funny thing is that it's my fave color of green, and would look fab in our kitchen now which is maples and brown granites...but we MAY be considering moving; we saw a wonderful house this wkd and the kitchen is done in dark greens and whites which makes me think, will my beautiful new KA be a too-bright eyesore in the new place?? Guess we'll find out when I head into the store this week! The house may end up being a 'no' for us anyway..we are still contemplating.

So...THANK YOU for all the input...my bottom line from all the wonderful posts was that both the Artisan and Prof 5qt would work fine for what I typically try to accomplish...and knowing also that one of my best baking buddies uses an Artisan 3-4x a week with no hassles at all kind of clinched it for me when I saw that purty green calling my name. For those considering a KA, def check out the 5qt prof models that Amazon has right now, refurb'd for $179, what a steal!