Low Fat Oatmeal Banana Nut Bread

Every once in awhile I get a taste for a banana. They are not my favorite fruit, but I like them. I like my bananas almost a little green and they turn so quickly that many times I can't eat them all before they get too ripe, so I only buy a few at a time. Translation: I am that person at the grocery store who pulls 2 or 3 bananas off of a bunch and leaves the rest behind. Sorry.

I recently learned a trick from my Aunt Kathy to help bananas keep a little longer. The trick is to break the bananas apart when you get them home and then use a sharp knife to cut off the very tip of the stem. This did seem to work and kept them fresher a little longer. But, this last time around I still got stuck with 2 very brown bananas (I got a little overzealous at the grocery store and bought 4 at once?!) that were about to be sentenced to the trash can. Lucky for them I had the idea to bake up a banana bread instead. On the day I decided to do this it was unusually cool outside and it was a dreary rainy day. In other words, it was a perfect day to be snuggled inside in my comfies baking. Between the weather and the smell of freshly baking banana bread I could almost close my eyes and pretend it was fall. It was fabulous!

As I thought about baking my bread I decided that I wanted to change things up by adding oatmeal to my recipe. I searched the internet for different oatmeal banana bread recipes and I found one for Low Fat Oatmeal Banana Bread from Joy the Baker that looked pretty tasty. I made a few changes and additions of my own to come up with my recipe.

Before you read on I will warn you that this bread is not like your traditional sugary fluffy banana bread. This is like power banana bread. It is dense, like seriously dense. It makes a delicious and really filling breakfast, especially if you toast it and put some peanut or almond butter on top. While it is still not the healthiest option, the protein from the oats and nuts along with the low fat content make this bread a pretty decent choice, especially compared to traditional recipes. You could clean it up even more by using a whole wheat flour and a natural sugar substitute such as Truvia or Agave Nectar (taking away the brown sugar will change the flavor).  

Low Fat Oatmeal Banana Nut Bread

1 1/4 c. flour
1 c. uncooked old fashioned oats
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 tsp canola oil
1 whole egg
2 egg whites
2 very ripe bananas, peeled
1/2 c. toasted walnuts
1tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350. Heat a small skillet over medium low heat and toast walnut halves until lightly browned, set aside to cool. Butter and flour a loaf pan and set aside.

In a large bowl stir together all of the dry ingredients.

In another bowl mash the bananas with a fork, add the oil and whole egg and stir to combine.

Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix well. Take the cooled nuts and use a knife to give them a rough chop (I kept mine pretty chunky but its up to you). Incorporate the chopped nuts into the batter. It will be very thick and it won't look like a lot of batter.

Set the batter aside and in a separate bowl use an electric hand mixer to beat egg whites into medium stiff peaks. Fold the egg whites into the batter in three additions.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake at 350 for 35 minutes or until golden brown and firm on top. *I used the convection setting on my oven which I find often cooks things more quickly. You may need to bake your bread up to 45 minutes. Keep a close eye on it and test for doneness by inserting a toothpick  super cool cake tester.

Isn't it the cutest thing?! I registered for it from Crate & Barrel when we got married. I remember getting teased about it at my bridal shower when I unwrapped it along with some other goodies, but what can I say? It doesn't take much to amuse me and I seriously loved this cute little guy.

Speaking of cute kitchen gadgets I also have a brown sugar bear. I got him randomly from Plow & Hearth. I went in to the store with a friend and there he was. The purpose of the brown sugar bear is to keep your brown sugar from crystalizing into a hard rock. I wasn't too sure about it, but let me tell you, it works great!! It seems to be made from some kind of clay? To use it you soak it in a glass of water for about 10 minutes. Then I pat the excess water off and stick him down into my bag of brown sugar. The bear keeps the sugar for months before you need to remoisten it. I looked for the bear on the Plow & Hearth website and couldn't find it. :( I am not sure if they no longer carry it, or if it is a store by store kind of thing. Anyone know where else you can find a brown sugar bear? It has become one of my kitchen must haves!

Happy Baking!