Banana Bread

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 Cup Butter, Melted (can use applesauce instead)
• 1 Cup Brown Sugar (sub for white sugar)
• 2 Eggs
• 1 tsp. Vanilla
• 1 1/2 Cups Whole Wheat Flour (sub for white flour)
• 1 tsp. Baking Soda
• 1/2 tsp. Salt
• 1/2 Cup Sour Cream (try fat free)
• 1/2 Cup Chopped Walnuts (or raisins / choc chips)
• 2 Medium Bananas, Mashed (extremely ripe or frozen and thawed bananas)

Preaheat oven to 350 F and grease a 9x5 in loaf pan.

In a large bowl, stir together the melted butter and brown sugar.  Add the eggs and vanilla, mix well.  In another bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt.  Stir into the butter mixture until smooth.  Finally, fold in the sour cream, walnuts, and bananas.  Spread evenly into the loaf pan.

Bake for 60 min or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool the loaf in the pan for 10 min before removing loaf.  Put on a wire rack and cool completely.

Please note that in this recipe I have substituted brown sugar for white sugar, and whole wheat flour for white flour.  Also, for another possible substitution you can use applesauce in place of either the butter or sour cream or both, but please note I have not tested it out using applesauce in place of butter yet, only the sour cream as I did not have any on hand.  You can use fat free sour cream and applesauce instead of butter for a low-fat banana bread.

Also, if you to try any substitutions please let me know how it works out for you.  I am always trying in any small way to make my recipes healthier...although sometimes there are just no substitutions ;) 

One tip for banana bread is to plan ahead and let you bananas get really ripe and then freeze them.  Thaw just before using.  They will basically be like mush once you peel them and will require little to no mashing.  They will have a fantastic flavour and will spread around your mixture really well.

For the health benefits of bananas see http://thehealthbenefitsof.com/health-benefits-of-bananas/