Happy hump day guys! There’s been a lot of meal talk around here lately so let’s focus on snacks for a second. What have you been snacking on? A few of my current favourites include fruit & yogurt, nuts, crispbread with peanut butter, chocolate & the occasional protein bar. As protein/energy bars make great-on-the-go snacks, yet aren’t freely available in Mumbai, I tend to stock up when I go abroad. If you peek into my pantry, you’ll find a decent selection of KIND bars, Luna bars, Bounce Balls, 9bars & Nak’d bars. I raided my stash last week with a Nutz Over Chocolate Luna Bar.
Verdict: How can you go wrong with the chocolate and peanut butter combination?! It tasted liked something straight out of the Reese’s family, with the buzzword “organic” slapped on. However with its looong ingredient list, it’s not something I want to eat daily.
I took matters in my own hands this weekend to make a healthy snack that was as portable, convenient, delicious yet containing everyday ingredients. Enter in a loaf of Banana Bread.
Along with tasting fantastic straight out of the oven, it freezes well too. Just slice it up into individual portions and wrap each slice in cling film. All you have to do is grab & defrost for 10-12 minutes prior to eating. Taking a page out of Luna Bar’s use of buzzwords, I should probably add that this loaf turned out to also be unintentionally both “vegan” & “fat-free”. I tend to be skeptical about baked goods made without butter & oil but this turned out amazingly moist- I’m attributing that to the use of applesauce & mashed bananas.
Vegan & Fat-Free Banana Bread (makes 10-12 slices)
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups whole-wheat flour
- 1 cup oat bran
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¾ cup milk (I used soy)
- ½ cup applesauce (I used homemade – click here for the recipe)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
- 2 very ripe bananas, mashed
Method
- Preheat oven to 180°C
- Combine dry ingredients in large bowl
- Whisk milk, applesauce & vanilla in a separate bowl.
- Add milk mixture to dry ingredients, stirring just until combined. Mix in bananas and combine well.
- Pour batter into a greased loaf tin & bake until toothpick inserted in the centre of loaf comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes
- Transfer to a cooling rack. Once cooled, slice & serve.
Notes:
i) If you find the batter stiff, mix in another ¼ cup of milk
ii) Adding a layer of nut butter prior to eating is the icing on the cake…literally ;)!
What have you been snacking on lately?
What’s your favorite fruit to bake with?
Girrrrl-I love your healthy banana bread! I see you like to sneak in some extra fiber in the form of oat bran!
Have you tried Larabars? The ingredient list is very small and simple – I think their cashew bars contain : cashews and dates.
This week I have been snacking on dates and peanut butter – spoonful of peanut butter and a date to top it – repeat as needed 😉
I do like using applesauce and bananas to bake with, but I love baking with avocados! They make whatever so moist and oohlala!
Ah I love Larabars, especially their cashew cookie bars! Nak’d bars are the British equivalent- love how high in (good) fats they are!
Mmm, Khushboo that looks so good! I actually don’t mind baking fat free/low fat baked goods purely because it means I can lather on the butter…. and I love the butter! Favourite fruit to bake with is without a doubt a banana. I don’t think any other fruit comes close to the texture it lends!
Oooh I like the way you think- I’m always game for an excuse to add more PB 😉
Banana bread will always and forever be one of my favourite things to bake. Not only does it taste amazing and make my kitchen smell heavenly, but bananas make it so easy to make a recipe healthy AND delicious because of their natural sweetness. Ohh love those suckers. And can you believe that lately I’ve been snacking on… veggies?! 😯 Well, sometimes anyways… I’ve just been roasting up corn, kabocha, and broccoli, and munching on it throughout the day when the craving hits. That way I can get my veggies in without eating too many at once and getting a veggie belly 😉 But other than that, snacks have been the usual offenders – cereal, fruit, yogurt, aaaand chocolate 😀
Haha snacking on veggies does sound weird…but I guess I am as weird as you are because I love ’em!
I LOVE banana bread!! Seriously, it takes so much effort that I don’t eat the whole loaf in one sitting. And the nutbutter spread on top is a MUST!
I love to bring little containers with greek yogurt and berries with me to work, or a self made muffin or just a simple hardboiled egg!
Greek yogurt with fruit will forever be top of my snacks list 🙂
Banana bread has to be at the top for favourite baked good. I think because of all the moistness and sweetness that the bananas create, its pretty easy to make it healthy while still having it taste really, really good. Usual snacks for me right now are baby carrots and hummus, Greek yogurt or cottage cheese with toppings, mug cakes, and the occasional protein bar.
Breads like this make me wonder WHY some banana bread recipe call for butter–> it’s already so moist!
Looks great! I love a good banana bread recipe.. especially when it is vegan! I’m with you on the Luna bars. Love them, but their ingredient list is a bit long. I loove Larabars 1) because they are delicious and 2) because their ingredient list is so simple!
Larabars are awesome! Love how huge their flavor selection is, especially the PB Choc Chip Cookie dough variety 🙂
Banana bread is the best snack, any time of day!
My new favorite snack is yogurt, PB, honey, and berries. SO YUM!
Love that combo! Next time try replacing the berries with applesauce- SO good 🙂
Love this recipe, girl! You’re so right about that luna bar–it may grab people’s attention with “organic,” but it’s just like a Reese’s in disguise! I’m thinking this bread would be phenomenal with chocolate chips….totally making this week!
Err way to think this bread to the next level- adding chocolate chips is genius! Lemme know how you like it 🙂
Ohhh goodie. You got me all too excited with this post considering I can’t have eggs or dairy and since paleo is the rage there’s so many recipes these days with eggs, which makes me sad 😉
And I LOVE banana bread! Probably my favorite out of all of them.
Ohh I’m so glad this makes the cut- hope you enjoy it, Lisa 🙂
My friend just sent me a text a few mins ago asking for a healthy banana bread recipe!!! It’s like you knew?!!? This looks fantastic! I’m going to slather PB all over this…
Definitely a case of “great minds” 😉
absolutely love having banana bread in individual slices and so easy to go. I am thinking to adapt your version with pumpkin puree – hello Fall.
I just tried a bite of the pumpkin muffin at Starbucks! I wanted to like it so badly but pumpkin just isn’t my thing 🙁
I love how simple and healthy this is! Thanks for sharing. Fall is the season of quick breads, in my opinion!
I agree with you about the Luna bars. They are tasty but I only have them every once and awhile as a treat. However I LOVE Larabars and Rise Bars. Much better ingredients!
Have you tried KIND bars? They are yum and have a short, but sweet ingredient list :)!
Holy cannoli that banana bread. I’m in your hood this weekend. Just saying.
Girrrrrrl I got yo’ back 😉
ooohh this healthy banana bread looks amazing! just looking at it is making me so hungry! i love your use of applesauce & cinnamon in the recipe- i bet i would have a hard time not eating the whole loaf 🙂
It takes a looot of restraint to just stop at one slice 😉
Ahhh! This reminds me of when I lived with this guy who was OBSESSSSSED with banana bread. He made 10 loaves in a day once – NOT SURE WHY (not he didn’t have the munchies)… And then these loaves were just all around the house for a good 3 months, LOL! I would even give loaves tot he TV guy or the repair man when they came to fix something because I wanted the loaves OUT! lol
Hahah this story is amazing- that guy sounds like the best roommate EVER!
I’ve recently fallen in LOVE with KIND bars cause of the minimal ingredients, but i also prefer not to have prepackaged snacks so usually I do fruit cups or yogurt on the go 🙂 The healthy dessert sounds AMAZING – so many vegan places around NYC as well, which I have yet to try the food/dessert but I definitely want to! I recently did a smoothie from one of them which had blueberries, banana, cashew milk, vanilla essence and cinnamon – no sweetener 🙂 an amazing breakfast!
Yum that smoothie sounds great- I don’t think I’ve tried cashew milk!
i love to bake with bananas, i feel the end result is moist and sweet without adding too much sugar.
still in greece so snacking on souvlaki and tzitziki sauce nonstop. 🙂
hope you’re doing well!
Pshh I wanna be eating souvlaki & tzatziki in Greece…hope you’re having a blast 🙂
I’m always skeptical of fat free recipes too, but this one looks delicious. Plus I trust your judgement on this stuff. Bookmarking this now.
Wahoo I’m glad I get your dessert seal of approval 😉
Just made this for my son. Smells divne.
How did he like it?
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