Health(ier) Banana Bread!

It is on rare occasion, these days, that a banana survives long enough to become overripe in my house. We are banana addicts. This week I culled out two likely candidates and put them out of sight just so I could make banana bread today! Considering I've been on a bit of a health kick lately, I decided to spruce it up a little with...you guessed it!...Greek yogurt. It adds a great tanginess. I don't think I would go back to yogurt-less banana bread. Also, as part of my ever-present Use it Up! philosophy, I included roasted sunflower seed kernels isntead of the traditional walnuts. Leftovers from The New Backyard Barbeque broccoli salad!

Greek Yogurt Banana Bread

2 cups All Purpose Flour
1 cup Sugar
3/4 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 cup Vegetable Oil
2 large Eggs
2 overripe Bananas
3/4 cup Chobani 2% Greek Yogurt
1/2 cup roasted Sunflower Seed Kernels
1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together sugar, vegetable oil, eggs, bananas, yogurt and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine the remaining dry ingredients. Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet until well blended. Fold in the sunflower seeds and pour into a loaf pan. Bake for 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack (or if you are like me, burn your fingers slicing off a piece immediately after it came out of the oven!)

Next time I make this I plan to sub out half of the A/P flour for 1/2 cup Whole Wheat Flour and 1/2 cup Oat Flour. I want to play around with the sweetener as well...maybe turbinado sugar or agave nectar? The possibilities! Feel free to use different seeds or nuts, or none at all! Perhaps 1/2 cup of peanut butter chips or chocolate chips!