Izzie's Banana Bread

I love banana bread.  Izzie loves banana bread too.  It's one of the few things she'll eat.  So I've been playing around with ingredients trying to fit everything healthy I can into her banana bread.
This is the first recipe I've posted.  Please be kind.  I don't have a great camera so I do what I can,  It might not always be in this format, but I love using pictures of Izzie helping me.  Izzie loves to help me bake.  We don't have a lot of space so she sits on the counter.  She helps me with every step from measuring to pouring to stirring to watching her creation bake in the oven.

 

Ingredients you'll need.  
The only thing missing here is the vanilla yogurt.  Izzie was holding it hostage.

 Closer picture of the honey I used.  I love this honey.  It's delicious.  It's raw.  It's unfiltered.  It's made in Michigan.  When I visit my parents in West Michigan I always make a stop at this great place called Anne's Health Food Store.  I feel like a kid in a candy store.  I love everything they carry.  Anne's organic spices/herbs are amazing and I always leave with some of her dried fruit (She uses cane sugar, Yum!)  

Izzie used her new whisk from GiGi.

Whisking, whisking, whisking...This is after about 10 minutes of whisking.

I love Avocado.  It's so versatile. 

If everyone ate an Avocado the world would be a better place.  

Bananas 

Yogurt

Vanilla

(Usually I throw the bananas, yogurt and vanilla all in together, but Izzie was in charge and she wanted to add each one by itself:)

These strawberries look beautiful.  Did I mention I also love strawberries?

Dry ingredients

Izzie said, "It's almost ready."

 "That looks good."

Time to bake

It smells amazing.

I let it cool in the pan for about 30 minutes before flipping it out.

The addition of strawberries made this bread oh-so-delic!

Here's the recipe...Enjoy! 

Izzie's Banana Bread

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup ground flax seed

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup of organic honey

2 eggs

1/2 cup mashed avocado

3 1/2 bananas, very ripe, mashed

2 tablespoons vanilla yogurt or sour cream

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Set oven to 325 degrees F.  Line the bottom of two loaf pans with parchment paper or spray with non stick cooking spray

In a medium bowl sift together the flour, ground flax seed, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.  Set aside.

Beat honey and eggs with a hand mixer for five minutes.  If using a whisk, beat for about 10 minutes.  Since we're using honey instead of sugar it's not going to get too fluffy but it will turn light in color and texture. 

Stir in mashed avocados.  Add mashed bananas, yogurt, and vanilla.  Fold in dry ingredients.  Pour into loaf pans and bake for about 50-60 minutes. 

*Honey will cause the top to brown more quickly so after about 30 minutes you will probably have to put foil around the edges to prevent the top from getting to brown. 

A few notes:

• Reducing the oven temp to 325 degrees prevents the top from browning too fast.
• You can use whole wheat flour or a combination of whole wheat/all-purpose
• I like using organic honey.  Feel free to try different flavors and strengths.
• Other things you can add to compliment the banana flavor are mashed strawberries or grated zucchini.   Be sure to reduce the amount of bananas if adding one of these.  I have used 3 bananas and 3/4 cup diced/mashed strawberries, but you can make your own adjustments.