July 18, 2011

Almost Vegan Banana Bread


I've decided to open myself up to some new cooking/baking roads.  I just purchased a couple of Vegan and Vegetarian cookbooks!  We have been trying to cut red meat out of our diet as much as possible but we still eat chicken and fish.  But I have always been intrigued by the Vegetarian diet.  I have tried it a few times when I was much younger.  My friend Jennifer and I used to go through the Burger King drive thru and order a Whopper and have them replace the meat with onion rings.  Yeah, I completely think we invented that whole trend!  She stuck with it for about 10 years.  Not me....  I can really dig into a medium rare piece of steak like nobodies business.  But, then I feel like I have a big piece of meat in my belly and I don't like that feeling.  The hubby and I also don't react well to dairy.  I guess that's a sign of our getting old.  So, I'm going to be on a vegan/vegetarian kick for a while.  But first I have to use up all of my meat in my freezers.  Waste not want not!


The other day I made a banana bread and it was almost vegan.  My dear friend, Wendy over at Give Love Create Happiness checked out my recipe for me and gave me a little education on veganism.  This recipe calls for honey and honey is not vegan so you can substitute regular sugar or maple syrup for this recipe.

Banana Bread - Almost Vegan

by Deelicious Sweets
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Keywords: bake breakfast snack bread
Ingredients (serves 12)
  • 3 very ripe bananas
  • ½ cup honey - May be substituted with maple syrup or regular sugar for a true vegan
  • 3 tablespoons expeller-pressed canola oil, plus a little more for oiling the loaf pan
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 ½ cups whole-wheat pastry flour - I used organic
  • 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ¾ cup chopped walnuts or pecans - I used walnuts but you don't have to use either.
Instructions
Heat oven to 350. Lightly oil a loaf pan.
Mash the bananas and mix with the honey, canola oil and vanilla extract.
Stir together the whole-wheat pastry flour, baking soda and salt. Add the nuts.
Blend the two mixtures and spoon into a lightly oiled loaf pan. Bake for 40 minutes, or until center is set.
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Servings: 1 slice
Calories:  200
Total Fat:  8.7 g
Cholesterol:  0 mg.
Sodium:  208.2 mg.
Protein:  2.5g.

Adapted by Dr. Weil


~ Enjoy!




29 comments:

  1. Big fan of banana bread. Looks like a great recipe.

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  2. delicious banana bread

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  3. I almost forgotten that honey isn't vegan. I was a vegetarian for 2 years (half of which I allowed myself only fish). I think vegan is way too far for me. Either way or other, I still love banana bread no matter what! Yum!

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  4. Wow. That looks really, really tasty! Love banana walnut bread :) Great loaf!

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  5. I made the honey/vegan mistake too. I just never think of honey as being an animal biproduct, because it's not, its an inset biproduct...then my kids went on a "Bee Movie" kick and after watching it for the umpteenth time, I finally understand, that Bee's are people too. ;)

    I have a jar of rice syrup unopened in my pantry so that I can use it to substitute honey but right now, since I'm so new to vegan/vegetarian cooking I don't dare swap out all of the ingredients I'm familiar with. Once I get a handle on it, I'll start playing with my refined sugar ratios little more.

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  6. Good luck with your new cooking adventure! Wish I had the will to do it! Good for you. Bread looks wonderful!

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  7. I just made my first Vegan recipe over the weekend. good luck with it...it is fun to try new things, but i just can't give up butter! this bread looks perfect! I love your Whopper story!

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  8. It looks great! I've never made banana bread without eggs.

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  9. I love the title of this post! My boyfriend and I have been trying clean up our act lately too. I've been cutting way back on refined sugars and flours. Makes you a little more inventive in the kitchen, don't you think? Beautiful photo! Thanks for sharing!

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  10. This bread looks delicious, I would like one of those slices! Converting to vegan would be a new kitchen adventure, so I hope it goes well.

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  11. Yum!!! I love that it's healthy and almost vegan!

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  12. @PFx
    I'm gonna have to agree with you! It's a little extreme!

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  13. @Apron Appeal
    Lol! Love your bee comment! I just bought a jar of brown rice syrup that I plan to use in a breakfast cookie. This is a very educational experience.

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  14. @Erin
    I don't think I will have the will to do it! Just being honest :) It's fun to experiment with it though.

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  15. @Alex
    I didn't even think about butter not being vegan! Duh!

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  16. @Susan
    I totally agree, a lot more inventive! Thanks for stopping by :)

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  17. I am so excited to make this Dee! I have some frozen bananas in my freezer waiting to be used. This is the first recipe I have seen for banana bread since starting a Vegan diet a few months ago that I can make. Thank you! I was a cheese addict and when I gave up dairy as an experiment I felt really good which has motivated me to stick with it for now. I hope you have a wonderful day :)

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  18. Thanks everyone for your comments :)

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  19. I really like the whole food ingredients you've chosen for this banana bread - it looks delicious, hearty and rustic. Love walnuts in banana bread too - yeah!

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  20. dee, this looks FABULOUS!!! i love the vegan banana bread idea!!! and i love that it's "clean" :D

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  21. Ooo great job on this (almost) vegan banana bread! Looks delicious!! :)

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  22. Such a beautiful loaf! I never knew honey wasn't vegan...but I guess it does come from an animal. So much I don't know :) I bet this was delicious~

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  23. This looks wonderful! I just happen to have 3 very ripe bananas in the fridge. Great timing. :D

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  24. mmmm so yummy! this bread looks wonderfull, and delicious!

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  25. Wow, it's amazing that you are challenging something new in cooking/food. How's your experience so far? I'm not happy about my weight...but it's been so hard to change my eating habit. I'm sure you will motivate me. Can't wait to hear your updates in the future!

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  26. It's rather funny to me that honey is not vegan. Never would have occurred to me to think that honey was off limits! But great bread regardless!

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  27. Dee! That bread is beautiful! I can imagine it warm, right out of the oven! And I, too, am surprised that honey is not vegan! Good for you for challenging yourself with different things! : )

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  28. This is vegan in my book! And oh so delicious looking!

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  29. Based on my own experience, I think that those almost vegan banana bread seemed to be a very healthy snack. I really like its ingredients and its procedure. I think that it would be great to make it on my own.

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