Healthier Banana Bread

In our house, we eat our bananas on the slightly under-ripe side, which means brown, speckly bananas sometimes get tossed. This, of course, is a great waste. Instead of tossing them, I try and put them to good use by making banana bread. The riper the bananas the better! This version replaces the saturated fat of butter or shortening with the unsaturated fat of canola oil, some of the flour with whole wheat flour, and cuts the sugar content in half. The end result is still a wonderfully tempting banana bread treat.

• 1 cup whole wheat four
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup firmly-packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 medium-sized ripe bananas, mashed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat an 8 1/2 inch x 4 1/2 inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray.

Whisk flour, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl. Stir in brown sugar.

In a medium bowl, combine oil, egg, buttermilk and vanilla extract. Add these ingredients to the dry ingredients. Stir in mashed bananas.

Pour batter into the loaf pan and bake in the oven for 50-60 minutes, until a toothpick placed in the center comes out clean.

Yield 12 slices

Per slice: Calories 190, Calories from Fat 50, Total Fat 5.3g (sat 0.5g), Cholesterol 17mg, Sodium 148mg, Carbohydrate 31.8g, Fiber 2.2.g, Protein 3.6g

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