Weight Loss Wednesday & Healthy Banana Bread

Believe it or not sometimes being a food blogger is not fun.  It is not fun on your waistline.  You become torn between two options.  1) Baking something to post for your followers which inevitably leads to testing and eating (possibly more than once), boom hit to the waistline.  2) Don't bake, don't post and then no one is happy.  Being a baking blogger is almost worse since 90% of what you bake involves the worst culprites in contributing to weight gain - butter, sugar, white flour.  UGH!  I  manage to try and find a decent balance with this, although I wish I did post more often.











A food blogger friend - Karyn from Pint Size Baker put a call out to see if we wanted to join her and her efforts to get healthy and work on healthier desserts/posts. I definitely wanted to join. Before I became a food blogger I was already a pretty active and healthy person.  Although still pretty close I would like to get a bit more back on track.  After a couple years of blogging has added on 10 lbs I don't want. Also almost 10 months post baby, although I am below my pre-baby weight, it just doesn't seem to sit the same. I still get in lots of exercise, working out 6 days a week, which I will discuss later.  Proper eating is my main problem, along with what I feel is a terribly slow metabolism.    

Each Wednesday we will post recipes, tips, insights and more that are helping us and will hopefully help you. Today I start with a recipe from a book I love and have recently just mentioned - Power of Food.  
If you are at all looking for healthy recipes, I highly suggest you check out Adam's website and buy this book. The recipes are so interesting, manageable and honestly make me get excited about healthy food.

P.S I have no affiliation to Adam or this book, I just love it.

Take this banana bread recipe for example.  I mean who has not made or eaten banana bread.   This recipe though has no butter/oil or processed sugar, a recipe you will feel okay about making.

Healthy Banana Bread
(Adapted from Adam Hart's Power of Food)

INGREDIENTS:

• 3/4 cup pitted dates
• 3 ripe bananas
• 1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 2 1/2 cups flour ( I used a combo of GF all purpose and 12 grain)
• 1/4 cup hemp seeds
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup sesame seeds

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. In a medium measuring cup combine 1/2 cup water and dates.    Let them soak for a minimum of 20 minutes. 

2) Preheat the oven to 350F.  In a mini food processor, combine bananas, date and their water and process until smooth.  Add these ingredients to a large bowl. 

3) Add applesauce, flour, eggs, hemp seeds,  cinnamon and baking soda/powder and salt to the banana/dates.  Mix together.   Spray a medium loaf pan with non stick spray.  Pour the mixture into the pan

4)  Top with the sesame seeds.  Bake for 40-50 minutes.  A wooden skewer should come out clean.  Let cool on a wire rack.

Note: This recipe is in the book because of the benefits of brown rice flour, which I happen to run out of when I decided to make this.

Check out the other Weight Loss Wednesday Posts :

• Pint Size Baker
• Haas Machine
• Call Me PMC
• It's Yummi
• Wonky Wonderful
• Clarks Condensed 
• Heather's French Press
• Sarah SaturDIY
• The Foodette