planetdanika

I rarely make banana bread (it’s probably been YEARS since I made a loaf). I am rather partial to chocolate in it, though. Recently I’ve had a bit of a hankering and whipped up a batch this morning after our weekly Besalu trip. It is not a greasy banana bread and would probably be easy to overcook. Fortunately, mine cooked in the exact amount of time prescribed. It will make a yummy breakfast tomorrow morning and will probably not last much longer than that.

Marbled-Chocolate Banana Bread
Source: Cooking Light, SEPTEMBER 2003

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)
1/2 cup egg substitute
1/3 cup plain low-fat yogurt
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Cooking spray

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.

Place sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 1 minute). Add banana, egg substitute, and yogurt; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist.

Place chocolate chips in a medium microwave-safe bowl, and microwave at HIGH 1 minute or until almost melted, stirring until smooth. Cool slightly. Add 1 cup batter to chocolate, stirring until well combined. Spoon chocolate batter alternately with plain batter into an 8 1/2×4 1/2-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Swirl batters together using a knife. Bake at 350 for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

Yield
1 loaf, 16 slices (serving size: 1 slice)

Nutritional Information
CALORIES 183(23% from fat); FAT 4.7g (sat 2.8g,mono 1.4g,poly 0.2g); PROTEIN 3.1g; CHOLESTEROL 8mg; CALCIUM 18mg; SODIUM 180mg; FIBER 1.3g; IRON 1.1mg; CARBOHYDRATE 33.4g

There’s a very interesting debate going on over at one of the food blogs I follow. Basic gist: food snob or local food advocate? You kind of have to go back and forth between the 2 blogs and read all the comments to get the full picture. But I’ll let you do that if you’re really interested.

OK, I have some real data to share from my new GPS gadget. It’s the run I did with my training group this morning at Squak Mountain. If you click the play button, you can “watch” me run. Here’s another view of the same run. Check out that elevation gain! I knew it was steep but 7,700 feet? Wow! My quads are gonna be sore tomorrow.