Healthier Banana Bread

I’ve been making the same banana bread for well over a year now. It’s a solid recipe, but sometimes I feel guilty for the high amount of sugar (especially after adding chocolate chips.)

I’ve also been making these lactation cookies regularly. I wanted to combine the idea of oats and extra nutrition from flax seeds and nutritional yeast with my normal banana bread recipe.

I was really worried these loaves would be too soft to hold together, but they are tender and delicious. I ate at least three slices with zero guilt last night and couldn’t get over how delicious it was.

I hope you try it too!

Ingredients:
• 4 very ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup plant milk (almond or soy)
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup neutral oil like canola, safflower, grapeseed, etc
• 1/2 cup oats, ground finely
• 2 tbsp whole flax seeds, ground finely
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda

Directions:
1. Add vinegar to soy milk and allow to curdle for about 5 minutes. Mash banana in a big bowl until no large chunks remain. Stir in sugar and blend together. Add oil, curdled milk, and vanilla. Stir to combine.

2. Grind flax and oats in blender until fine. Mix together with whole wheat flour, nutritional yeast, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda. Add to wet ingredients and stir together until no dry spots remain.

3. Preheat oven to 350°F. Pour into two greased mini loaf pans or one regular loaf pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes for mini loaves or 1 hour to an hour and 10 minutes for the larger loaf.

Tags: banana bread, breakfast, breastfeeding, dairy free, dessert, egg free, lactation, recipe, soy-free, vegan, vegetarian