Light Banana Bread

I love my mom's banana bread. I really, really do BUT it's not the most healthy recipe out there, even though I try to convince myself that if it has fruit, it's healthy. I had some bananas that were too overripe to put in my cereal so I googled "Light Banana Bread Recipes" and I came across this one at Cheap Healthy Good.  She found the recipe at cooking light and she made some adjustments.  I followed her changes but did add about 1/2 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips and I used a bundt pan instead.  Not sure how that works with the suggested portion sizes and all but I am okay with that.  Anway, let me get to the taste.  I tasted this when it was warm and I thought it was a little weird tasting but when I tasted it the next day it was fine.  The flavor is good, it's just the consistency that is different which I'm guessing is from using egg whites.  Bottom line, for a low fat recipe, it's great, I'll make it again.  When I fall of the healthy eating bandwagon....I'm going back to Mom's.

Light Banana Bread
Adapted from Cooking Light by Cheap Healthy Good

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
2/3 cup sugar
2-1/2 T butter, softened
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 4 bananas)
3 T skim milk
3 T fat-free sour cream or vanilla yogurt
2 large egg whites
½ t vanilla extract
Cooking spray


Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat loaf pan with cooking spray.

2) In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside.

3) In a different large mixing bowl OR stand mixer bowl, combine sugar and butter. "Beat at medium speed of a mixer until well-blended." Stop beater. Add banana, milk, sour cream, and egg whites. Resume beating until well combined.

4) Pour flour mixture into banana mixture and beat until everything is well-blended.

5) Pour batter into loaf pan. Bake 60 or 70 minutes, or until loaf passes the toothpick test. (Insert a toothpick in the middle of the bread. If it comes out clean, you're golden.) Remove from oven. (SEE NOTE BELOW) Let sit for 10 minutes on a wire rack. Pry bread from pan and let it cool totally on that same wire rack. For best flavor, wrap in tin foil and let sit overnight.

Note: If using a bundt pan - bake for approx 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool and invert. 

Click here for a printable recipe for Light Banana Bread.

Light Banana Bread

I love my mom's banana bread. I really, really do BUT it's not the most healthy recipe out there, even though I try to convince myself that if it has fruit, it's healthy. I had some bananas that were too overripe to put in my cereal so I googled "Light Banana Bread Recipes" and I came across this one at Cheap Healthy Good.  She found the recipe at cooking light and she made some adjustments.  I followed her changes but did add about 1/2 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips and I used a bundt pan instead.  Not sure how that works with the suggested portion sizes and all but I am okay with that.  Anway, let me get to the taste.  I tasted this when it was warm and I thought it was a little weird tasting but when I tasted it the next day it was fine.  The flavor is good, it's just the consistency that is different which I'm guessing is from using egg whites.  Bottom line, for a low fat recipe, it's great, I'll make it again.  When I fall of the healthy eating bandwagon....I'm going back to Mom's.

Light Banana Bread
Adapted from Cooking Light by Cheap Healthy Good

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
2/3 cup sugar
2-1/2 T butter, softened
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 4 bananas)
3 T skim milk
3 T fat-free sour cream or vanilla yogurt
2 large egg whites
½ t vanilla extract
Cooking spray


Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat loaf pan with cooking spray.

2) In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside.

3) In a different large mixing bowl OR stand mixer bowl, combine sugar and butter. "Beat at medium speed of a mixer until well-blended." Stop beater. Add banana, milk, sour cream, and egg whites. Resume beating until well combined.

4) Pour flour mixture into banana mixture and beat until everything is well-blended.

5) Pour batter into loaf pan. Bake 60 or 70 minutes, or until loaf passes the toothpick test. (Insert a toothpick in the middle of the bread. If it comes out clean, you're golden.) Remove from oven. (SEE NOTE BELOW) Let sit for 10 minutes on a wire rack. Pry bread from pan and let it cool totally on that same wire rack. For best flavor, wrap in tin foil and let sit overnight.

Note: If using a bundt pan - bake for approx 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool and invert. 

Click here for a printable recipe for Light Banana Bread.

Flatbread Pizza

Hi! It's been a couple of weeks and I have a good reason for not posting. I've really been trying to cook healthier this month and nothing I made seemed to be blog worthy. Grilled chicken, brown rice, whole wheat blend pasta, pretty boring right? However, I think that this recipe for Flatbread Pizza is one worth sharing. In addition to all the wonderful cookbooks I got for Christmas, I won a cookbook from Bakespace. I didn't even realize that I entered a contest (it was that easy) and actually felt guilty about it since I won those tickets to see Julie and Julia along with Julia Child's cookbook, over the summer. Babette insisted that I won the book fair and square and sent it to me. ((By the way, Bakespace is having a cookbook a day giveaway this month on facebook.  You should become a fan and check it out.) The cookbook is called "The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight and Eating Great" by Pam Anderson. It was a perfect time for me to receive this "perfect" book so I started using it right away.

I've never made bread before since I have this fear of yeast, so I was really excited when I saw how easy it was to make flatbread which has only four ingredients, none of which are yeast. They came together very quickly and easily. I am not very experienced at rolling out dough so mine weren't exactly the 12 by 4 inch rectangle Ms. Anderson suggests but it was perfectly fine. We topped some with pizza sauce and part skim mozzarella, some with caramelized onions and prosciutto and added some sliced kalamata olives to both. I made this recipe twice (since it was so quick to make I could do that and when I realized that they were pretty small) so we were able to have different topping combos. My favorite was the caramelized onion and olives which were sweet and salty. These heated up very well in the oven the next day for lunch.

Quick Flatbread Dough

by Pam Anderson

Yield: 4 flatbreads

Ingredients:

1 cup bread flour, plus extra for dusting
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup warm water, plus extra if necessary
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

1. Mix flour and salt in a food processor. Mix water and oil and pour over flour mixture; process to form a soft dough ball. If dough is too stiff (hard-clay texture), process in another tablespoon of warm water. Continue to process until dough is well kneaded, about 15 seconds.

2. With floured hands, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and cut into quarters. Working with one quarter at a time, roll dough out to about a 12-by-4-inch rectangle, dusting with flour and turning as necesary to keep it from sticking.

3. Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Top with whatever toppings you like (Pam's cookbook gives a lot of great suggestions)and bake for 10-12 minutes or until crust is crisp and golden.

Click here for a printable recipe of Flatbread Pizza.

Flatbread Pizza

Hi! It's been a couple of weeks and I have a good reason for not posting. I've really been trying to cook healthier this month and nothing I made seemed to be blog worthy. Grilled chicken, brown rice, whole wheat blend pasta, pretty boring right? However, I think that this recipe for Flatbread Pizza is one worth sharing. In addition to all the wonderful cookbooks I got for Christmas, I won a cookbook from Bakespace. I didn't even realize that I entered a contest (it was that easy) and actually felt guilty about it since I won those tickets to see Julie and Julia along with Julia Child's cookbook, over the summer. Babette insisted that I won the book fair and square and sent it to me. ((By the way, Bakespace is having a cookbook a day giveaway this month on facebook.  You should become a fan and check it out.) The cookbook is called "The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight and Eating Great" by Pam Anderson. It was a perfect time for me to receive this "perfect" book so I started using it right away.

I've never made bread before since I have this fear of yeast, so I was really excited when I saw how easy it was to make flatbread which has only four ingredients, none of which are yeast. They came together very quickly and easily. I am not very experienced at rolling out dough so mine weren't exactly the 12 by 4 inch rectangle Ms. Anderson suggests but it was perfectly fine. We topped some with pizza sauce and part skim mozzarella, some with caramelized onions and prosciutto and added some sliced kalamata olives to both. I made this recipe twice (since it was so quick to make I could do that and when I realized that they were pretty small) so we were able to have different topping combos. My favorite was the caramelized onion and olives which were sweet and salty. These heated up very well in the oven the next day for lunch.

Quick Flatbread Dough

by Pam Anderson

Yield: 4 flatbreads

Ingredients:

1 cup bread flour, plus extra for dusting
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup warm water, plus extra if necessary
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

1. Mix flour and salt in a food processor. Mix water and oil and pour over flour mixture; process to form a soft dough ball. If dough is too stiff (hard-clay texture), process in another tablespoon of warm water. Continue to process until dough is well kneaded, about 15 seconds.

2. With floured hands, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and cut into quarters. Working with one quarter at a time, roll dough out to about a 12-by-4-inch rectangle, dusting with flour and turning as necesary to keep it from sticking.

3. Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Top with whatever toppings you like (Pam's cookbook gives a lot of great suggestions)and bake for 10-12 minutes or until crust is crisp and golden.

Click here for a printable recipe of Flatbread Pizza.