Another Take on Banana Bread

This is a low sugar, vegan banana bread (Dairy-free, Egg-free)** and yes, it's actually still quite tasty. It's more in the realm of a bread than the traditional cake type banana "bread". I like both varieties but decided to try something new! Try it out, it's a wonderful way to use up some over ripe bananas. Here's my other banana bread recipe if you're interested.

Recipe: (yields 10-12 slices)
Ingredients:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup All-Purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup Orange Juice (or you may use plain soy milk, rice milk, etc)
2 Tablespoons ground Flaxseed (you can buy it already ground as "flaxmeal")
1/4 cup Canola or Vegetable oil (you could substitute this with 1/4 cup of applesauce too)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 Tablespoons light brown sugar
3-4 over ripe bananas, mashed (~ 2 cups)
1/2-3/4 cup walnuts (depends on how nutty you're feeling; could also add dried fruit)

Preheat oven to 350'F, Spray a 9x5-inch loaf pan* with cooking spray
(*or you may use a Stoneware loaf pan which requires no spray)

Directions:
1. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flours, nutmeg, baking soda, cinnamon and salt, whisk gently to combine.

2. In a second large mixing bowl combine the Orange Juice and flax meal. Stir the oil (or applesauce), vanilla, brown sugar (if using) and bananas until well mixed.

3. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet by hand just until combined, don't over mix, it will be lumpy. Add nuts (and/or dried fruit), fold in. Spread batter into loaf pan and bake for 30-35 minutes (if you add extra bananas it may take up to 40-45 minutes), bake until the top is browned and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. After a few minutes, remove loaf from pan and let cool on a wire rack.

Banana Tip: My boys and I love bananas but more often than I'd like there are one or two that ripen alittle too much before we can eat them.  Rather than toss these, I bag them up in a zipper top bag and freeze them.  When I'm ready to make banana bread, I pull the frozen bananas out and let them soften at room temperature about 1 hour or float the plastic bag in a bowl of warm water until the bananas are soft, then I add them to my recipe!

Mini-Loaf Option: This recipe will make four mini-loaves, bake in a 350'F oven for ~ 20-25 minutes or until golden and a toothpick comes out clean.