I woke up late today. As in, I woke up at 5:40 and ended up being stuck in traffic for an hour and not getting to work until 7. I abhor getting into work at 7 because then I’m scrambling to scrounge up last minute copies, refining my schedule for the day, and looking over lesson plans before I have to do yard duty and then teach some awesome kids.
So yeah, I scrambled around today like a headless chicken, drank some coffee, taught the kids, realized that I needed a Spanish translator for my conference (thank goodness for Spanish speaking co-workers and Google translate for getting me through it), and totally forgot to eat my lunch somewhere in the process.
Basically, my day felt like it was totally disarrayed even though things seemed to pan out well. I can’t explain it, but it just felt off and I am currently exhausted, but there was definitely one bright spot in my day. Can you guess what it was?
It was some delicious, sweet whole wheat banana bread. My sunny, ready to go breakfast for this morning. It kept me awake during my morning commute, because if you happen to not know me, I have a tendency of dozing off during my drives. Eek, I know that’s bad, I’m working on it.
Fingers crossed I get into bed early tonight?
Anyways, my grandma is in love with this banana bread that came hot out of the oven on Saturday night. Which is, may I add, quite amazing considering how she never likes much of what I concoct. She pretty much never likes to eat anything that’s healthy period. I think it might have to do something with the fact that it’s bread. My family loves bread, and ever since Michael Pollan advocated for this whole bread thing. I’m all in.
I adapted this banana bread recipe from Climb Eat Cycle Repeat. There aren’t many blogs I follow, but guys, this blog spoke volumes to me when I first stumbled across it. This couple from Vancouver (where my mom used to live!) are just so relatable, especially to me and Mark. They ride bikes, rock climb, travel, and cook and eat delicious food. They’re also working on this sprinter conversion van (camper van?), which sounds just like something I’d be interested in living out of one day. I’ll see how it works out for them first, though. Seriously, they’re so inspiring and admirable, and if you have time, check them out. Whether they know it or not, their blog is kind of my ‘mentor’.
This banana bread requires only one large bowl and one small bowl, so fewer dishes for everyone. Yay! It has the perfect density for banana bread and is not overly sweet or buttery as some banana breads tend to be. I adapted it to make it refined sugar free and vegan, but then I used honey and realized that honey is not vegan. Bang head against wall. I’m a genius, I know. Basically, if you want it vegan, go ahead and try using some agave or brown sugar.
- 3 very ripe bananas
- 2 Tbsp chia seeds and 6 Tbsp water (mix and set aside for about 2-3 minutes)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 2 Tbsp coconut oil (melted)
- ½ cup honey (or agave or brown sugar - you might get away with using only ⅓ cup honey)
- 1½ cups whole wheat flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- Pinch of salt
- ¼ cup walnuts (optional)
- ¼ cup chocolate chips (optional)
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
- In a large bowl (mixer), combine the ripe bananas, honey, vanilla extract, and chia seeds.
- Add in the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt until everything has been evenly mixed.
- Add the walnuts and chocolate chips.
- Grease the loaf pans with oil and pour the batter into them. You can use 1 large 8X4 inch pan or 3 small 2x5 inch pans (which was what I did).
- Bake them for about 50 minutes, but rotate them about halfway through. Insert a toothpick into the loaves to check if their centers are cooked.
- Remove the loaves of banana bread and let them cool on the rack before serving.
- Note: Having an electric mixer or Kitchen Aid will make your life a lot easier when mixing.
The lighting for all of my photos were a tad bit different due to the varying angles. All in all, photos and food were a success! My lesson from all of this banana bread baking is that it’s always good to have overly ripe and ugly spotted bananas lying around. I ended up making a second batch of these last night. Mmh, mmh, mmh!
Hump day is tomorrow, whoo hoo! Guess who has their breakfast all ready for tomorrow? This girl!
Stay happy and healthy, y’all 🙂
Oh Hayley, your words have absolutely made my day (my week, my month!) Too much kindness 🙂 I’m drawn to our fellow climbing-cycling-food-lovers, too. Once we get this darned van converted into an awesome road warrior, perhaps our paths will cross one day! Thank you SO much for this post!
Hi Moira, I’m so glad you stopped by and were able to see this post. I’m excited for you and your upcoming road trips (hopefully soonish), and it would be so cool if our paths do cross one day 🙂