Green Monster Banana Bread

Rawrr! Green Monster Banana Bread?!?! YES (but no)!

I am always down to make a sweet treat more nutritious. Making the batter for this is like the beginning of making a smoothie. I will confess that I did taste the batter after the egg was added.. It was yummy. I didn't have greek yogurt at hand, so I subbed with a similar texture ingredient- tofu with a little bit of lemon juice to bring back the acidity to react with the baking soda.

Sadly, the texture was still off. The batter was way too loose and liquid-y.  It baked for 60 minutes with toothpick still coming out with a few moist crumbs. The loaf collapsed as soon as the oven was off. It sunk in more as it cooled. Once sliced, the interior was dense and extremely moist.


Green Monster Banana Bread
recipe adapted from The First Year
makes 1 loaf

3 bananas
1 & 1/2 cups (45g) fresh spinach *50g organic baby kale, baby chard & baby spinach
6 tbsp (126g) honey *70g honey + 30g maple syrup
1/4 cup greek yogurt *subbed with 1/4 cup (63g) tofu + 1 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp (16g) creamy peanut butter *18g used
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup (120g) all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt *fine sea salt
*sunflower seeds, optional topping

Batter was lumpy so mixed some more in pan.

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. Line or lightly spray a loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray.
3. In blender, puree bananas, spinach, honey, greek yogurt, and peanut butter until smooth.
4. Pour blended mixture into a mixing bowl and stir in egg and vanilla extract.
5. Add flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Mix well.
6. Transfer batter to loaf pan.
7. Bake for 48-58 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Sunken :/

I like the idea of adding greens in my banana bread. I would try it with a trusty banana bread recipe next time!

Taste: 4 stars out of 5
Prominent banana flavor. Could be a little less sweet.

Texture: 2 stars out of 5
A chewy browned exterior layer with a souffle like texture inside when warm.