I love quick breads. Cranberry orange loaves, zucchini bread, and ohhh… that pumpkin bread that my great-grandmother up in Camden used to make… it tasted like cake. So delicious.
But… there’s a lot of sugar, fat and refined flour in many of these recipes. After reading Dr. Greger’s amazing new release, How Not to Die, I wanted to come up with a recipe for quick bread that I’d feel better about eating. One where the fat came from seeds, and the sweetness came from fruit, and the flour still boasted a high fiber content.
I’m not saying I won’t continue to eat light and fluffy cranberry orange loaves in the future even though nutritionally they’re dessert. I just want to move those breads into the “occasional” category, and make my every-day choices better.
What if I could make a healthier quick bread that’d still taste great, and be a “green light” breakfast for me, and snack for the kids? (Dr. Greger uses a traffic light system for foods, with unprocessed plant foods being the green light category.)
That’d be worth doing. So I did. Three loaves of banana bread later, here’s my recipe!
GREEN LIGHT BANANA BREAD
With no oils or refined sugars, this banana bread gets all its sweetness from medjool dates, molasses, applesauce, and (of course) bananas. Flax seeds contribute healthy fat and lignans, which are a powerful antioxidant. It’s packed with fiber from the chia seeds and whole wheat flour, and tastes especially delicious smeared with peanut butter (and MAYBE dotted with chocolate chips…). Preschooler approved.
INGREDIENTS
- Ground flax seed, 4 tablespoons
- Unsweetened soy milk, ½ cup
- Whole wheat flour, 1 ½ cups
- Baking powder, 1 tablespoon
- Baking soda, 1 teaspoon
- Bananas, 3 medium sized ripe
- Medjool dates, pitted, ½ cup (about 6 fruits)
- Unsweetened applesauce, 1/2 cup
- Blackstrap Molasses, 1 tablespoon
- Chia seeds, 1/3 cup
OPTIONAL
- Peanut Butter for Serving
- Cacao nibs for serving
DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix the ground flax seeds and soy milk together with a fork and set aside. In a mixing bowl, stir together the whole wheat flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Using a blender, puree the bananas, medjool dates, applesauce, and molasses until smooth. Gently mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until thoroughly moistened. Fold in the chia seeds.
Transfer batter to a parchment lined or lightly greased bread pan and bake at 350 degrees for 50-55 minutes until bread is nicely browned and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan for 5 minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely on a wire rack.
Serve plain, or top with peanut butter and/or cacao nibs for a high energy snacking!