=BANANA BREAD=

Super Bowl Sunday is a holiday in our house.  In the past, we've designated it as "Junk Food Sunday".  Literally, we would buy loads of junk food and when it was time for the game, we'd dive in!  While I'm still not convinced that's a terrible thing to do, I think it's only acceptable if you're eating healthy at least 300 days out of the year.  We were most definitely not! 

This year, we decided we would cheat a little - as we do every Sunday.  Sunday morning breakfast and evening meals are clean, but after church we grab something we're craving.  Most Sundays it's a veggie pizza from a local take and bake place (there's less grease that way and we can limit the cheese).

Our church also has a fellowship meal for lunch on Super Bowl Sunday, so we knew there would be yummy desserts there.  Thankfully it's a "Soup-er Bowl" fellowship, so we stuck with vegetable soup or chili.  I wanted to make something we could eat in place of dessert to help us feel like we weren't missing out too much, though, so I opted for banana bread.

I searched the internet high and low for a clean version and was pleased to find several that were clean.  I actually only chose this one because I had all of the ingredients on hand.  I apologize.  I don't remember where I found this so I can't give proper credit, but just know that this is not an original recipe.  Here it is:

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 slightly beaten egg whites (I used one whole egg instead)
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (3 medium or 2 large)
1/2 cup agave nectar
1/4 cup olive oil + more for oiling pan
pinch of sea salt

Coat an 8x4x2 inch loaf pan with olive oil and set aside. Mash bananas and set aside. In a medium bowl combine whole wheat pastry flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and sea salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl combine egg whites, banana, agave nectar, and oil. Once mixed well, add flour mixture all at one time to banana mixture. Stir until moistened. The batter should be lumpy. Spoon mixture into pan.

Bake at 350' F for 45-50 minutes. Test doneness by inserting a wooden toothpick into the center of the bread. The toothpick should come out clean.

Cool in pan on a wire rack for approximately 10 minutes. Remove bread from pan and cool completely on the wire rack.

Eat up!