Quick breads can be a delicious part of your healthy lifestyle way of eating.  Traditional recipes typically include a cup of oil and a cup or more of sugar. GEEZ!  That’s a lot of oil and sugar.  What is a person to do?  Make a few tweaks that don’t jeopardize the taste or texture.  An easy tweak that you can make is to substitute plain Greek Yogurt instead of the oil in any quick bread recipe.  The Greek yogurt provides needed moisture to the recipe plus you get some extra protein. I have found that using Greek yogurt doesn’t change the texture of the quick bread.  Another tweak is to half the amount of sugar called for in the recipe.  BOOM.  That’s it.   The recipe I’m going to share with you originally called for 1 cup of sugar, I use 1/3 cup; it called for 1 1/2 sticks of butter, I use 1 TB and 1 small container of Greek yogurt.

10 SLICES.  190 calories per slice.   8 grams protein.

• 2 cups all-purpose flour 
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 overripe bananas
• 1/3 cup sugar *
• 1 TB melted butter
• Small container (5 oz) Plain or Vanilla Greek Yogurt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup chopped nuts (optional)
• Sliced banana on top before baking (optional)

Place bananas and sugar in a large mixing bowl; mash the bananas and stir well with the sugar. (* Real sugar lends moistness & tenderness to baked goods; granulated sugar, honey, maple syrup or Agave work well).  Let sit for a few minutes then stir again.  Mix in the melted butter and Greek yogurt then beat in the eggs.  Add the flour, baking soda, salt and vanilla.  Mix well. Let sit for 15 minutes in your mixing bowl.  Pour into a well greased loaf pan. Optional:  sprinkle with crushed walnuts or pecans.  Bake at 425 F  for 7 minutes then turn down the temp to 350 F and bake 45-ish minutes until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Ovens vary, you may need to bake your bread a few minutes more/less. Be careful not to overbake.   Let cool in the pan for a couple of minutes then remove the bread from the pan to a cooling rack.  Once the bread has cooled, slice it into 10 pieces.

You can also create 12 muffins with this recipe.  Baking tine for muffins will be 7 minutes at 425 F, turn oven down to 350 F and bake for another 6 minutes-ish.

ENJOY!

STAY Healthy.  Be STRONG.  Get AFTER IT.