Banana Bread

adapted from Flour Bakery's recipe

• 1 C all-purpose flour
• 3/4 C white whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 C sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 C oil
• 3-4 bananas, roughly mashed
• 1/4 C buttermilk (or 2 TBSP sour cream)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2/3 C chocolate chips (or walnuts)

Preheat oven to 335°F.
Sift together first four ingredients.
Beat sugar and eggs with a whisk until light and fluffy. At least 3 min, if not more.
Drizzle in oil.
Add bananas (make sure they're not pureed- some good chunks of banana are part of what make this bread so good), buttermilk, and vanilla.
Fold in flour mixture and chocolate chips/nuts.
Pour batter into a greased 9" x 4" loaf pan and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Or in 4 mini loaf pans for 35-40 min

Homemade Power Bars

I like to make these as a snack for that late afternoon slump when I'm tempted to eat chocolate or ice cream but should really have some protein.

Mix:
1 C peanut butter
1 C honey
1 C protein powder (I use soy)

Add 4 C of other stuff like:
quick oats
chocolate chips
flax seed
pumpkin seeds
sunflower seeds
craisins
raisins
golden raisins
dried fruit
chopped nuts

(My favorite sweet/tart mix is at least 3/4 C oats, chocolate chips, craisins, flax seed, sunflower seeds, and chopped almonds)

Stir until combined. Add more honey if you need things to stick together better. You can then roll this out and cut it into bars and wrap it in saran wrap. Or, roll it into balls and place in cupcake liners. Keep them in the fridge if you want them to last longer than a couple days.