Since summer has flown by for most, or gone way too slowly in our case, we find ourselves already getting ready for school to start. On school mornings, one of the trickiest things I find between running around looking for shoes and making sure the library book made it in the backpack is…is that we’ve gotta find a way to get a healthy breakfast in the belly. Banana bread is one of the easiest breakfasts for school mornings and a clean eating banana bread is even better for us! Just make the night before so you can slice and throw in the microwave on those busy mornings.
If you’re not into clean eating or you’re making for houseguests, there’s another recipe that we make around here that isn’t clean eating friendly, but is really really good. I make that sometimes just for the kids, but I don’t indulge on it as much. My recipe is adapted from that one and is the healthy version with no refined sugar or flour.
For clean eating banana bread, in place of the white sugar, I substitute coconut sugar and tapioca flour. This also makes it gluten free to boot!
Coconut sugar vs. white sugar
Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t sugar free. Coconut sugar is still a sweetener and just because it’s healthier for you doesn’t mean you can gorge on it guilt free like we did with Snackwells in the 90’s. But, it is a better option than white sugar. It has antioxidants, it’s lower in the glycemic index (which means it doesn’t make your blood sugar spike as badly) and contains inulin–a dietary fiber.
On with the recipe
If I notice our bananas are getting a bit brown, one of two things happen, they get peeled and thrown in the freezer for smoothies or I make banana bread.
Again, we make it often. Really my potato masher isn’t used as much for potatoes as it is for bananas.
So, with this banana bread no mixer is needed and it’s super simple. It’s easy to keep all the ingredients on hand.
Preheat the oven to 350°F and get out a large mixing bowl. I like the kind with a flat bottom so I can smash the bananas a little easier. Grease a 4×8 pan and set aside.
Peel your super ripe bananas and smash ’em up! If you don’t have a potato smasher, just use a fork. (My kids really like doing this part, so I let them have at it.) You can leave it a little chunky if you want so you get some good bites of banana or you can get after it until the bananas are completely smooth.
Mix in the melted butter and stir well. Now stir in the rest of your ingredients except the tapioca flour.
Fold in the tapioca flour until moistened. If you mix the final product too much, it will make your batter tough.
Immediately pour in your 4×8 pan and bake for 50-55 minutes. Your home will smell so good by the way.
After baking, let your bread sit and cool for a few minutes before removing from pan. You can eat immediately with a pat of butter or a drizzle of honey (my favorite).
Now pour yourself a cup of coffee with some lavender creamer and enjoy!
xo-Megan
| Prep Time | 10 minutes |
| Cook Time | 55 minutes |
| Servings |
loaf
|
- 3 bananas ripe and peeled
- 1/3 cup butter melted
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- pinch salt
- 1/2 cup coconut sugar
- 1 egg beaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1.5 cups tapioca flour
Ingredients
|
- Preheat oven to 350°F and grease a 4x8 inch loaf pan
- In a large mixing bowl, smash bananas with a fork or potato masher until smooth. Stir in melted butter
- Mix in the next 5 ingredients. Stir in the tapioca flour and mix until moistened.
- Pour batter into the greased loaf pan and bake for 50-55 minutes at 350°F.
- Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes. Remove from pan. Enjoy!
Hannah Flack
June 3, 2020I have no kids, but I surely do like cheese 🙂 I do think it’s important, though, to cook with your kids. It’s part of becoming a competent adult.