Happy Friday everyone!  I know this was a short week (due to Labor day), but it sure seemed like a regular work week.  Maybe it was all of the wildfires here keeping everyone on their toes.  I feel awful for all of families whose home were destroyed.  If you are in Central Texas please please find a way to donate to these families.  If you are not, the Red Cross of Central Texas is also taking monetary donations.  I never imagined over 1500 homes could be destroyed in less than a week.  I’m so glad our first responders here were able to save all but two lives.  That’s incredible!  Thank you to all of the first responders in Central Texas, I know many homes and lives were saved because of you.

I teased you all earlier this week by mentioning a clean date nut bread.  I don’t have one.  Sorry about that.  I decided to bake a delicious clean chunky chocolate banana bread.  I hope you’ll forgive me.  I think I buy bananas just so they’ll get too ripe and I have to use them for baking.  Either that or J has recently decided he’s protesting bananas.  I wish I could eat them, but I can’t.  The texture doesn’t work for me unless it’s in something baked/cooked.  Very strange, but what can I say?  We all have our food oddities.  So you may notice that I bought expensive dark chocolate for this recipe.  I don’t normally splurge for Scharffen Berger, but it was really calling to me at the store today.  It truly is divine and worth every penny.  I wanted to eat the whole bar instead of putting it in bread.  Oh wait, I bought two of them.  Guess I can have one.  How sneaky of me.  Clean or not, this bread is delicious.  I can only imagine it would make an amazing muffin recipe as well.  Time for quick recap.  Have a fabulous weekend!

Favorite Posts (of mine)

  1. Eating clean for breakfast
  2. Pesto your pizza

Favorite Posts (of others)

  1. A Beastly Legend – The Fitnessista
  2. Pumpkin Spice Latte Cupcakes – Annie’s Eats
  3. How To: Make Homemade Fruit Roll-ups – Our Best Bites

 

 

Clean Chunky Chocolate Banana Bread
adapted from: Clean Eating Magazine
  • 1 1/2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour
  • 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tbsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup ground flaxseed
  • Pinch of sea salt
  • 3 ripe bananas, mashed
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
  • 1/2 cup raw honey
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/4 cup and 1 tsp coconut oil, divided
  • 3 oz. dark chocolate, chopped
Cooking Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl whisk the mashed banana, applesauce, honey, vanilla, and coconut oil until combined. Large chunks of banana are okay, they add to the flavor and texture of the bread. In a large bowl sift (or whisk) together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and flaxseed. Combine the wet ingredients into the large bowl with the dry ingredients. Stir until just combined. Fold in the dark chocolate. Use the remaining coconut oil (1 tsp) to grease a 9"x5" loaf pan. Pour batter evenly into pan. Bake for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow bread to cool 5 minutes in pan, then turn out onto rack to cool completely. Enjoy!