Fat Chick Fed Up

Yesterday, in my Menu Plan Monday post, I linked to a recipe that we used for breakfast yesterday morning, Coconut Banana Bread. However, I made enough modifications to it, that I thought I would repost those changes here for you if you are looking for a healthier, but still yummy, alternative.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup applesauce (I use my home-canned applesauce which is sweetened with brown sugar and cinnamon. Applesauce can usually be used as a substitution for oil or butter in a recipe and makes a great, healthy, low-cal alternative)

1/4 cup sugar (Original recipe calls for 1 cup. Yikes! I felt comfortable cutting it by 75% because I knew the applesauce, bananas and coconut would more than make up for the sweetness.)

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract (original recipe calls for 1 tsp vanilla and 1 tsp of almond extract, but I’m not a fan of almond extract)

1/4 cup coconut oil, melted (original recipe calls for 1/2 cup of vegetable oil-I use Nutiva organic coconut oil)

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (Original recipe calls for self-rising flour-you know me, I have to use fresh ground.)

4 tsp baking powder (original recipe calls for 1 1/2 tsp, but I increased this since I did not use self-rising flour)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3 medium overripe bananas, mashed

1 cup coconut milk (original recipe calls for light but I only had regular on hand)

1 cup flaked coconut (original recipe calls for sweetened, but I used unsweetened because it was what I had on hand, plus we are trying hard to limit our sugar intake as much as possible)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a loaf pan (or 4 mini loaf pans).
2. Mix applesauce and sugar together. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Mix in vanilla extract. Mix and pour melted coconut oil simultaneously. This is the easiest way I have learned to use coconut oil in a recipe. Because it is a solid at room temperature, when mixed with cold ingredients like eggs it can get clumpy and chunky. So, to avoid that, I melt it first and then while I am slowly pouring it in to my other wet ingredients, I mix it in with a spoon or a whisk.
3. In a separate bowl mix together the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt).
4. In another bowl mix together the coconut milk and bananas.
5. Add the dry ingredients and the banana mixture alternately to your wet ingredients. Start and end with your dry ingredients.
6. Fold in shredded coconut.
7. Pour into prepared loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour. If you are doing mini-loaves your baking time will be less.
8. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, slice and serve warm. Or cold. Whatever.

I took the liberty of calculating the nutrition information for the changes I made. If you do 12 thick slices (you could easily halve those and make 24 servings) there are 220 calories, 29 grams of carbs, 10 grams of fat and 6 grams of protein per slice. You’re welcome.

The verdict?

Ummm, yes, please.

"How much can I shove into my mouth at one time?"

"Yum!"

"I like it Mommy!"

"I'm one happy boy!"

Random cuteness that has nothing to do with banana bread and everything to do with the fact that I think my kids are the cutest kids on earth. And, no, I am not in the least bit biased!

What?!? No leftovers???