I’ve been cooking so much since this Pandemic started. Does that sound familiar? I’ve heard that from other people too. I haven’t baked this much in ages either. I decided though, after the first month, that I needed to focus on healthy treats and sweets.

The internet is a great source of recipes. And after having over-ripe bananas several times, I decided to bake banana bread. I’ve heard from other people that they’ve been baking a lot of banana bread too.  I wanted something gluten-free, though, because gluten can cause an inflammatory response. I know it does with me if I eat very much.

In my search for a good gluten free recipe, I came across one using coconut flour. I tried it and thought it was delicious. However, when I counted up the fat grams in the loaf, I thought WOW! That’s a lot of fat no matter how healthy the fat. So I tweaked the recipe and substituted 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce for 1/2 cup of the fat. It worked fine!

I kept tweaking the recipe. I wanted to increase the protein in it so it would be a complete breakfast in one large slice of banana bread. It already had three eggs but I upped it to four large eggs which made 24 grams of protein. I also added a scoop of organic whey protein powder, which added 20 grams of protein, plus a tablespoon of almond milk to add more moisture. The almond butter added protein as well.

So here’s my recipe. It’s gluten-free, high protein, lower fat, no added sugar if you don’t count the chocolate chips (ha ha), and has a good amount of fiber which makes it filling. You mix it up in one pan which is awesome for easy clean up. You don’t need a mixer. This is SO easy!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. I line my loaf pan with parchment paper or you can grease the pan if you prefer. Put the bananas in a large bowl and mash them with a fork. Add the wet ingredients and mix together. It’s okay if there are a few small lumps. Add the dry ingredients and mix well but do not overmix. Then last, add the chocolate chips. (You can tell I almost forgot the chocolate chips. I just placed them on top.)

Bake for 40-45 minutes. Enjoy!

WET INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup minimum of mashed ripe bananas (or two small-medium bananas)
• 4 large eggs (I use organic, pasture raised)
• 1/4 – 1/3 cup almond butter
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce (I keep the single serving, lunchbox sizes on hand. One of those is 1/2 cup applesauce. Perfect!  Again, I use organic.)
• 1 tablespoon Coconut Oil (I use organic. You can use butter if you don’t have coconut oil. The original recipe called for 1/2 cup of coconut oil and no applesauce.)
• 1 tablespoon Almond Milk (Leave this out if you don’t add whey protein powder to this recipe.  I use unsweetened vanilla almond milk)
• 1 tablespoon vanilla (Make sure you buy 100% vanilla. It’s so worth it! I don’t wash the measuring spoon until later that day because I keep smelling the vanilla scent left on the spoon. So relaxing!)

DRY INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 Coconut Flour (I use organic)
• 1 scoop of Whey Protein Powder (Optional. I use organic – mine has a very light vanilla flavor)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

Store in an airtight container. It will last four days on the counter (unless eaten sooner than that).

Enjoy! ~ Charla