Banana Carrot Bread (or muffins)

I’m not a big banana eater. I will buy them a few times a year for my husband to eat but he usually forgets about them and they turn brown and mushy on the counter. So I toss them in the freezer for their inevitable fate of banana bread.

This past weekend my brother and his family came from Pittsburgh to see our new house and meet our new baby. I assume all young children eat bananas so I purchased a bunch for my 2 year old niece and 11 month old nephew to eat. Turns out they are not banana eaters… so banana bread it is! I went searching among the food blogs for a banana bread recipe. I came across this recipe from The Sisters Café for Banana Carrot Bread and thought I’d give it a try.

As originally posted, this recipe provides:

Per serving (18 servings per recipe)

200 calories

9.8 g fat

30.5 g carbohydrate

0.9 g fiber

2.3 g protein

This recipe has a lot of good qualities. The bananas provide a good source of potassium which helps your heart and muscles. The carrots are a good source of vitamin A which has many benefits, including vision health.

I only made two small changes in this recipe. I substituted unsweetened applesauce for the canola oil to decrease the fat.

I also substituted whole wheat flour for the all purpose flour to provide added fiber and a source of whole grains.

The result was a batch of delicious, flavorful, and tender muffins.

Banana Carrot Bread – BETTER

1 cup mashed bananas (~3 very ripe bananas)

1 cup brown sugar

¾ c. unsweetened applesauce

2 eggs

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

½ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp nutmeg

1 cup finely grated carrots

Combine bananas, brown sugar, applesauce and eggs in mixer. Sift flour, soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg together in a large bowl. Stir in banana mixture. Fold in carrots. Spoon into greased and floured large loaf pan. I baked in lined muffin tins for 20 minutes. Bake at 350 degree F for 45-50 minutes or until done. Do not over bake.

118 calories

0.9 g fat

30.9 g carbohydrate

2.3 g fiber

3.3 g protein