{"id":18858,"date":"2011-06-14T12:15:42","date_gmt":"2011-06-14T19:15:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/?p=18858"},"modified":"2011-06-14T12:15:42","modified_gmt":"2011-06-14T19:15:42","slug":"spiced-banana-bread","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/?p=18858","title":{"rendered":"Spiced Banana Bread"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A few days ago when I borrowed Michael&#8217;s car to commute to work (his car has a bike rack)\u00a0 I sent him this text: <em><strong>&#8220;Why does your car smell like bananas?&#8221;<\/strong><\/em> He had no idea and it was a very strong smell. Neither of us could figure it out. Then on the drive home I discovered a bag of bananas. Ooops&#8230;they were the ones I&#8217;d bought the week before and forgot about. They were clearly not going to be eaten by me so I decided to make some banana bread with them. I consulted Twitter for the best banana bread recipe and Brittany from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.eatingbirdfood.com\/2010\/10\/the-best-banana-bread\/\">Eating Bird Food sent me her recipe<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Spiced Banana Bread<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Makes 1 loaf<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>Ingredients<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080;\">1 1\/2\u00a0\u00a0cups all-purpose flour<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080;\">1\/2 cup whole wheat flour<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080;\">3\/4 teaspoon baking soda<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080;\">1\/2 teaspoon salt<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080;\">1 cup sugar<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080;\">1\/4 cup butter, softened<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080;\">2 large eggs<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080;\">3 ripe bananas, mashed<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080;\">1\/3 cup 2% plain greek yogurt<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080;\">1 t vanilla extract<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080;\">1\/2 t cinnamon<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Cooking spray<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>Directions:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Preheat oven to 350\u00b0.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Combine the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon, stir.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">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.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Bake  at 350\u00b0 for 1 hour or until a wooden tooth pick inserted in center  comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan.  Cool completely on wire rack.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/IMG_7534.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-18975\" title=\"IMG_7534\" src=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/IMG_7534-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/IMG_7534-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/IMG_7534-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nThankfully I&#8217;d just bought some Greek yogurt at the grocery store. I&#8217;m not sure what I could have substituted for the yogurt had I not had it on hand. I decided to use the Splenda Blend that I have instead of sugar. I bought the bag specifically for baking in an attempt to make recipes a little lower in sugar\/calories&#8230;then I stopped baking for a long time. I recently re-found the Splenda in my cupboard and have been using it instead of straight sugar for various things. I decided to give it a try with this recipe.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/IMG_7535.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-18977\" title=\"IMG_7535\" src=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/IMG_7535-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/IMG_7535-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/IMG_7535-768x1024.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nThe recipe called for 1 cup of sugar, so I used 1\/2 a cup of the Splenda Blend.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/IMG_7532.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-18972\" title=\"IMG_7532\" src=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/IMG_7532-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/IMG_7532-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/IMG_7532.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nThis was the first time I&#8217;ve ever used our Mixer on my own. I had lots of plans with experimenting with the mixer and just never got around to it. Michael wasn&#8217;t home either, so I had to figure it out myself. And boy, is a Mixer an AWESOME thing?? The process of baking was suddenly a million times easier.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/IMG_7536.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-18978\" title=\"IMG_7536\" src=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/IMG_7536-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/IMG_7536-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/IMG_7536-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nI used a blend of Whole Wheat flour and Bob&#8217;s Red Mill white flour. I also added a tiny bit of nutmeg to the mix.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/IMG_7537.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-18979\" title=\"IMG_7537\" src=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/IMG_7537-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/IMG_7537-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/IMG_7537-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nThe Mixer made things so easy that there really wasn&#8217;t a whole lot for me to do once I added all the ingredients. Next were the very mushy bananas.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/IMG_7538.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-18980\" title=\"IMG_7538\" src=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/IMG_7538-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/IMG_7538-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/IMG_7538-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nOnce everything was mixed well, I added a handful of chocolate chips. It wasn&#8217;t part of the recipe but I <em>love<\/em> chocolate chip banana bread. I figured that substituting the Splenda Blend meant I could add a few chocolate morsels&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/IMG_7540.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-18982\" title=\"IMG_7540\" src=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/IMG_7540-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/IMG_7540-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/IMG_7540-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nBut just a few. I baked the loaf for a little longer than the recipe called for because the center was just not cooking as much as the sides of the loaf. After about 50 minutes or so I added foil to the sides of the loaf and left the center open to bake more. Another 15 minutes and it was done.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/IMG_7542.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-18985\" title=\"IMG_7542\" src=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/IMG_7542-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/IMG_7542-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/IMG_7542-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nThe whole house smelled so good! Michael got home and said something smelled wonderful. I wondered if he&#8217;d even want any of it because he&#8217;s not a fan of bananas. But he said that since it smelled so good he&#8217;d have to have a piece. And he LOVED it!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/IMG_7543.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-18986\" title=\"IMG_7543\" src=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/IMG_7543-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/IMG_7543-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/IMG_7543-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nAfter it cooled for a few minutes I sliced off two pieces for us to &#8220;sample&#8221;&#8211;just to make sure it was edible. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/IMG_7545.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-18988\" title=\"IMG_7545\" src=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/IMG_7545-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/IMG_7545-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/IMG_7545-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nThe banana bread was delicious, and even better warm with a little bit of butter on it. I normally don&#8217;t like nuts in my baked goods but I think adding a layer of chopped walnuts to the top of the dough before baking would be really yummy. And more chocolate chips!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/Screen-shot-2011-06-12-at-5.49.53-PM.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-18992\" title=\"Screen shot 2011-06-12 at 5.49.53 PM\" src=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/Screen-shot-2011-06-12-at-5.49.53-PM-228x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"228\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/Screen-shot-2011-06-12-at-5.49.53-PM-228x300.png 228w, https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/Screen-shot-2011-06-12-at-5.49.53-PM.png 263w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 228px) 100vw, 228px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nIt&#8217;s a little higher in calories than I&#8217;d prefer but the recipe was delicious. Next time if I have bananas I need to use up I&#8217;ll look for a Weight Watcher&#8217;s recipe that&#8217;s less than this was in calories. I&#8217;d also love to find a recipe that I can add some sort of protein too&#8230;any ideas?<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>QUESTION: What&#8217;s your favorite &#8220;loaf&#8221; dessert?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A few days ago when I borrowed Michael&#8217;s car to commute to work (his car has a bike rack)\u00a0 I sent him this text: &#8220;Why does your car smell like bananas?&#8221; He had no idea and it was a very strong smell. Neither of us could figure it out. Then on the drive home I [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18987,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[311,31,48,55,68,2124,2721,314,1193,104,3205,193,194,212,2598,309],"tags":[376,3568,3566,2175,3569,3570,8840,934,3567],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/IMG_7544.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18858"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18858"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19043,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18858\/revisions\/19043"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}