...cause I can tell that we're going to be friends...

Everyone has posted such delicious meals these last few days! I have been trying to find something new for breakfast. Usually I have my cup of coffee and a box of Multi-Grain Os (that's right, I am too cheap to buy the name brand) that I keep in my car. As I drive to work in the morning I throw handfuls of MGOs into my mouth this ritual results in my car appearing as if I drive a toddler carpool. Anyhoo, I love me a banana bread but my Betty Crocker recipe has a LOT of sugar in it. Seeing as I just downed 3 peeps, you might assume that sugar reduction is not a concern for me but, as Elle and I have recently discussed, we will be shortly announcing the first LOTC (Lord of the Chard) challenge to reduce sugar in our diet (details to follow).

So I tried making a healthy version of the nanner classic. (Elle could you provide the citation?) (This recipe is from The King Arthur Flour Cookbook which I wholly recommend - E)

Banana Crunch Bread

1 c. oat flour

1 c. whole wheat flour

1 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1/2 c. butter

1/2 c. brown sugar

2 eggs

3 medium mashed nanners

6 oz. cup plain yogurt (I used greek for extra protein)

1 t. vanilla

1 t. pumpkin pie spice (I used Penzey's Apple Pie spice)

Topping:

1/2 c. oats

1/3 c. brown sugar (I used less)

1/2 t. cinnamon

2 T. butter

1/4 c. nuts

Preheat oven to 350 and grease an 8x8 pan. Whisk the first three ingredients together in a bowl. In a separate large bowl cream butter and brown sugar and then beat in the eggs one at a time. Mix in dry mixture and bananas, alternating until both are integrated. Add yogurt, vanilla and spices. Pour into pan. Mix all of the topping ingredients together and spread over the top of prepared pan. Bake for 40-45 minutes (our oven in on the fritz so it took 50ish minutes).

A shout out to my guinea pigs, and friends of the blog: Tammy and Eric (Daniel's parents) who have very discerning palette. Here are their comments!

Tammy-"I love it, full of banana flavor and really moist cake. I like the topping and don't think it is too dry. Filling breakfast."

Eric-"Somewhat dry...but good flavor. Recommend eating it over the sink. Like raspberry chocolate torte better."

These comments pretty much sum up how I felt: I too felt that the topping was a bit too dry (in the above recipe I cut down the oats by 1/4 c. I think this will do the trick next time). But it did have a really good flavor and, of course, I felt good about eating it (unlike the chocolate torte)!

Coffee is a perfect friend to this bread!