If you are like me, you are a little tired of baking and eating pumpkin……..let’s switch things up a bit and bake a beautiful Banana Blueberry Bread! Don’t get me wrong, I adore pumpkin; even have a couple of bread and cookie recipes to share with all of you soon! The first sign of Fall and I am all over the pumpkin recipes! But sometimes a person has to step back and admit that they are Pumpkined out (I don’t think this is even a word). After Thanksgiving I am Pumpkined out!
BTW- I hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving weekend. We were running solo, as our extended families were off visiting other family members. That is what happens when you are all spread out over the countryside. Makes for great opportunities to visit awesome places (San Diego, Clemson, South Bend and Atlanta), but difficult to get to during the Holiday Season). I was very thankful that B was able to come home for a day and a half before disappearing for Michigan, and another hockey tournament. It was comforting having my immediate family under one roof again! Your mind tends to wander when you don’t have your children sleeping in your house, and you are never fully at ease. Do you know what I mean? I am looking forward to exams being over, and having him home for an extended period of time for Christmas!
Doesn’t the top look amazing? I sprinkled the top with coarse granular sugar before popping it in the oven. This is where I get myself in trouble and start pulling the top off and eating it, the combination of crunchy and moist is ‘dabomb’ as the kids used to say!
Let’s get back to the task at hand……blueberries.…..bananas…….and a dash of citrus, swirling together to make a wonderful bread. You will love this Banana Blueberry Bread! After eating all of the yummy Thanksgiving food (stuffing is my personal favorite), loosening up a belt notch or two, you will be thanking me for this ‘lighter’ recipe! Bake it in smaller loaf pans or muffin tins, wrap it with pretty ribbon and it will also be the perfect small gift for neighbors and co-workers.
This recipe has been in my arsenal for many moons, made too many times to count, and even though I try to shake things up a bit each time, this particular blend of ingredients is my favorite. I have tried to lighten it up even more with various ingredients…………. with total failure! I guess I am to the point that I am done messing with a good thing! It stands as is, and is AWESOME!
I know blueberries may be hard to come by this time of year, or very expensive, but I would bite the bullet for this recipe! I tend to have plenty on hand, as I stock up on the quart size over the summer when they go on sale. I didn’t get a chance to do it this past summer, as we were down a refrigerator ……. long story involving A LOT of food being thrown out when our garage refrigerator went belly up…….{sigh}, so I am pretty low on my supply. I put each quart in a freezer Ziploc bag, and then nestle them back in the plastic container and stack them in the freezer. When I am ready to use them, either for smoothie recipes, granola, cafe bars or muffins, all I have to do is pull them out, rinse them and throw them into the appropriate recipe. Another OMG tip…..frozen blueberries taste like candy!
Need another reason to bake this bread? Blueberries are packed with health benefits! Just a few include: Antioxidant loaded (the highest level of any fresh fruit), encourages Brain, Urinary and Heart Health, neutralizes Free Radicals and researchers even claim that they can help prevent some Cancers! I just know that they taste wonderful eaten fresh or frozen………any health benefits are just icing on the cake for me!
What are your favorite ways to eat blueberries???
Shaunna
Banana Blueberry Bread
Serves: 12-14 Printable Recipe
Ingredients:
- 2 ½ cups flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 1 ½ cups mashed bananas, about 3-4 bananas depending on size
- ¼ cup fat free buttermilk, or 4 oz plain greek yogurt
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 Tbsp canola oil
- 2 large egg whites
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp grated lemon zest
- 1 tsp grate orange zest
Directions:
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9×5 loaf pan with vegetable spray and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and sea salt. Make a well in the center and set aside.
- In another bowl, combine the remaining ingredients until thoroughly combined. Add the wet ingredients into the ‘well’ that you made, stirring until combined. Gently fold in the blueberries.
- Pour batter into the prepared pan and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake for 60 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool on wire rack for 15 minutes; remove from pan and cool an additional 10 minutes. Store in a covered container.
Notes:
Lemon Glaze- In bowl combine ½ cup powdered sugar, 2 tsp lemon juice and ½ tsp grated lemon peel. Spread over top of warm loaf and cool completely.
