Beneficial Bananas And Whole Wheat Too Baked Into A Delicious Bread

This post is just one big excuse to share with you the moistest and most delicious whole wheat banana nut bread recipe I recently found at feasts and fotos. I served it to my family and some friends the other day and got rave reviews – quite frankly, I don’t even think I remembered to share with my friends that I was sneaking in whole wheat flour and given there was a request for leftovers I don’t think they noticed any difference.

While the 100% whole wheat should be enough of a nutritional coup, I thought I would also throw out some of the great nutritional benefits of bananas – and anyway, what kid doesn’t love a banana?

Energy Booster – You’ve probably read somewhere along your trails that eating a banana before exercise is a good thing to do. The reason for this is because a banana has a combination of carbohydrates and vitamin B6 that will provide your body with an energy boost. Giving your child a banana for breakfast is a great way to kick start their day, not to mention it is a great pre-game snack. Many feel a banana after a period of long exercise is also a great way to replace important vitamins and nutrients that were lost during exercise as well as to re-energize the body.

Potassium Rules - Probably one of the best known components of a banana. This beneficial mineral has been linked to regulating and reducing blood pressure and helps to rid fluid retention. Furthermore, Potassium enables our muscles to contract and expand fluidly during exercise, reducing cramping.

Power To Bring A Smile To The Face - Some research suggests that the tryptophan (converted to serotonin) found in a banana may naturally help overcome depression and improve mood.

Portable Nutrition - Instead of ripping open a bag of some processed snack, given bananas come in their very own wrappers they make an extremely portable and healthy snack.

This is just the “tip of the banana” – sorry, I had to. Click on this link for more health benefits of bananas.

Other great ways to incorporate bananas into your kids' diets include:

1. Banana Smoothie
   
2. Peanut Butter & Banana Sandwich
   
3. Layer banana slices into pancake batter while its cooking
   
4. Place a banana on a popsicle stick then dip it into melted chocolate and freeze
   
5. Mash a banana into cooked oatmeal

For more fun and interesting banana recipes as well as for everything and anything you could ever possibly learn about bananas can be found at the bananasweb. Yes, there is a website for EVERYTHING!

Now quickly back to that banana bread. Since I was serving this to company I wanted to super-charge this recipe a little. Just before baking, I mixed up some cinnamon crumble topping I had seen in another recipe featured in bon appétit. It’s really easy and adds a nice crunch to this already yummy bread.

Feasts and Fotos' Banana Nut Bread Recipe with Cinnamon Crumb Topping

Cinnamon Crumb Topping
2 T sugar
1 t cinnamon
2 ½ T brown sugar

Combine all ingredients and sprinkle on top of unbaked banana bread, place in oven and cook according to recipe.

Last note, I used 100% whole wheat pastry flour instead of regular whole wheat flour. I find it improves the texture of baked goods, although it is not completely necessary.