Best Banana Bread

My breakfast this morning consisted of Pumpkin Spice coffee and banana bread topped with peanut butter... heavenly, I tell ya!  The banana bread my mom always makes- I call it Mom's Banana Bread!  The recipe (my FAVORITE ever) comes from The Omega Diet book/cookbook written by Artemis P. Simopoulos, M.D. and Jo Robinson.  It's full of great info and recipes based on the diet of the Island of Crete.  We don't strictly just follow this way of eating, I'll admit, but have LOVED all the recipes- you just might need to get it!  And now for the BEST banana bread you'll EVER taste...

Mom's Banana Bread

Makes 1 loaf, 10 slices

Time: 20 minutes prep, 45 minutes (or more) to bake

1/3 cup canola oil

2 large eggs or 1 egg and 2 whites

1/4 cup low-fat sour cream or yogurt (I always use yogurt- what ever I have in the fridge: banana, vanilla, blueberry, strawberry... always turns out delicious!)

1 cup mashed ripe bananas

1 t. vanilla

1 1/2 cups white flour or whole-wheat pastry flour

2/3 cup sugar

1 1/2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. baking soda

1/4 t. salt

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I skip this and it's still good!)

4 T. flaxmeal (ground flaxseed)

Preheat over to 325 degrees.  Lightly oil a standard bread pan.  Beat the oil, eggs, sour cream or yogurt, banana, and vanilla in a mixer or by hand until creamy.  Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl.  Add dry ingredients to liquid ingredients and stir until combined.  Add walnuts and flaxmeal and stir a couple of strokes just to combine.  Spoon into bread pan and bake for 45 minutes or until done.

Remove from pan and cool.

** The cookbook is sure to tell you that banana bread is high in calories just FYI. :)  BUT DELISH!

Warm out of the oven, you've never tasted anything better!  Add peanut butter on top and it's wonderful!  My girls LOVE this as much as I do (minus the peanut butter!). :)  Hope you have a great day- it's a cool, rainy, cozy day here... kind of relaxing!