Fit Cooking: Hawaiian Island Banana Bread: No Sugar Added

What is a health and fitness minded gal to do when you have a huge bowl of over-ripe bananas?



Make Hawaiian Island Banana Bread, of course! Being the sugar conscious person I am, I replaced sugar with stevia, a plant based extract that tastes like sugar without the highs/lows...and without the guilt!

Hope you enjoy this! I am loving my warm slice of banana bread as I blog this with a hot cup of coffee. Yum!

Hawaiian  Island Banana Bread : No Sugar Added




Preheat oven to: 350

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/4 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 cup shortening

1 cup sugar OR 1/2 cup stevia that is 2 to 1 to sugar (use half as much)

1 cup ripe mashed bananas

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1/2 cup chopped walnuts or almonds or even trail mix! I just love to add nuts: more protein and more texture!

DIRECTIONS:

Spray non stick spray on bread loaf pan.  Stir dry ingredients in 1 bowl. In another larger bowl, mix shortening, stevia (or sugar you naughty girl), mashed bananas, eggs and nuts. Add combined dry ingredients and mix until batter is blended. Pour in bread/loaf pan and bake 55 minutes until brown and slightly crunchy on top. (I cook mine a few minutes more since I love crunchy crust.) Let cool 10 minutes before slicing and serving. TIP: Serve with FAGE yogurt for protein or alongside scrambled egg whites. Reheat in toaster so it's warm and crunchy.