Banana Bread

This is our favorite banana bread recipe. My husband never liked banana bread till this one. I went through a faze where I made a different banana bread every week determined to find the best one possible...this was our winner...and you can find it here at Cooking Light. Cooking Light is a site I visit often because it never hurts to eat healthy especially when it tastes as good as the recipes I have tried of theirs. My husband, family, and friends love this banana bread. To this day I haven't told anyone that its a healthier lighter version of the traditional banana bread....However don't think that just because its healthier its different. It is so moist and so tasty you won't miss the extra fat and calories that other recipes for the same bread kind of bread pack. Tonight I made it in two smaller loaves. In one of those loaves I sprinkled in chocolate chips....not many just a 1/4 cup or so...I also tend to typically use a vanilla yogurt instead of plain...because I don't have plain yogurt in my house all that much I always have vanilla though. My son who is 1 loves it so much that he stands outside of the stove and says bite bite the whole time it is baking (every time I make it)...So far this is the only thing he does that for. Its a miracle if I get it cooled completely before I have to give him a slice...Try it and see if you don't love it as much as we do!



Classic Banana Bread

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)
1/3 cup plain low-fat yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350°.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.

Place sugar and butter in a large bowl, and beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 1 minute). Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add banana, yogurt, and vanilla; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist. Spoon batter into an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.



Yield: 1 loaf, 14 servings (serving size: 1 slice)

CALORIES 187 (21% from fat); FAT 4.3g (sat 2.4g,mono 1.2g,poly 0.3g); IRON 1mg; CHOLESTEROL 40mg; CALCIUM 20mg; CARBOHYDRATE 34.4g; SODIUM 198mg; PROTEIN 3.3g; FIBER 1.1g

Cooking Light