Healthful Banana Bread

 

While this has never been a recipe/foodie blog, I do love recipes (and food!) and have shared some of my favorites with you throughout my blogging career. Last year, I had a few people ask if I ever planned to share recipes again, and the answer is...yes! 

We'll start today with this one: Healthful Banana Bread!

In truth, I've spent the last several months really evaluating how I view food and how to have a healthy relationship with it. That is, I'm sure, a separate conversation for a separate time. But the short version is that I'm learning to strike a balance between rules and freedom with what I eat and how much I consume. It's a classroom I'll be in for the rest of my life, I know, but I recognize that I'm becoming a better student, and I celebrate that.

One of the lessons I'm learning is how to diminish my dependence on desserts, but I also recognize that both Ryan and I enjoy and appreciate sweet treats. Toward the end of last year, as I tried to wean myself off overindulging, Ryan survived on packages of off-brand sandwich cookies. Understandably, he grew bored with processed cookies, and I missed baking for us.

A word that has helped me in this portion of my journey is the word healthful. A million recipes bear the title "healthy," but not all of them are truthful about that. (Also a separate conversation for a separate time.) So I'm working to find recipes that are healthful. The word means "conducive to good health." That is what I hope to find in the things I make and serve in our home.

I want to worry less about low-fat, low-calorie, low-carb, etc. Instead, I want to fill our kitchen with foods that fuel good health and not unhealthy addictions. I want them to be enjoyable to make and eat, but also worth it for us in our long-term daily eating.

These cold winter days (which have been plentiful here in Indiana in the last few weeks, although we seem to have a reprieve this week!) make me want to bake simply to add warmth to the house. In recent weeks, I've been searching for healthful quick bread recipes. I don't want them laden with oils and sugar, though I dearly love both. I want recipes filled with ingredients that fuel our bodies and our days, while simultaneously providing goodness and joy with their flavor. 

Fun fact: I am not a huge fan of bananas. I can't eat them on their own, because I can't handle the texture or the strong flavor. As I've gotten older, I can handle them in things like smoothies and baked goods, because the flavor and texture are masked.

We had a couple of bananas that had moved beyond the prime of life, but I hated to waste them. So I hunted for a healthful recipe that would allow me to use them while filling the house with warmth and delicious aromas and our kitchen with treats that weren't filled with processed everything. I found a winner right here!  (The photo at the beginning shows the version of the recipe I chose to use, but there are some variations in the link, so if you're interested, check it out!)

This recipe uses oat flour, which you can purchase at the store, but you can also make your own at home by blending old-fashioned oats until they have reached a very fine consistency. I use our Ninja to make oat flour (and have for several years) but I still can't get it flour-fine in there. It doesn't bother me, because everything still tastes the same. It's just a little grittier in texture than true, fine flour. Making it myself saves a good chunk of money, though, so it's worth it for me.

The addition of pumpkin pie spice in this recipe is helpful for people like me who don't love a strong banana flavor. The pumpkin pie spice goes a notch beyond mere cinnamon and gives this bread an extra pump of flavor! 

The bananas and maple syrup made the bread sweet enough to be classified as a treat without being over-the-top sweet and full of processed sugar. 

The oat flour, maple syrup, almond milk, and coconut oil used in this recipe elevate it into healthful status in my book. I've learned that people have strong opinions on ingredients, and not long ago, I read a fiercely worded post by a weight-loss advocate who feels all the ingredients I just mentioned are unnecessary, and you might as well eat the real thing, rather than mess with ingredient swaps. I don't agree with her at all, but she is as entitled to her opinion as I am to mine. I say this simply to encourage you to choose what seems important to you. For our family, trying to pick a more healthful ingredient when possible is what matters, and these things are a step in the right direction for us and the things we want for our daily diet and overall health.

I demanded much from one little loaf of bread, and it fully delivered. I thoroughly enjoyed the process of making it to share with Ryan, and the delicious aroma did not disappoint. (Ryan was gone when I made it and commented on how wonderful the house smelled when he came home.) It is full of healthful things that fuel us without sacrificing flavor or consistency. 

I also personally recommend consuming it warm with some hot coffee on the side...