January 16th, 2012 
LeeAnn Living in Savannah, I get asked about Paula Deen when I travel.
I am not a fan of her food, but I have to respect her business acumen. She has done extremely well for herself and her family, and has also attracted people to Savannah.
My husband loves banana bread. When we were last in the mountains, I had some bananas starting to turn and searched the internet looking for a banana bread recipe. Paula Deen’s recipe popped up first and I decided to try it. The only change I made to the recipe was to use half whole wheat flour and half regular.
The result was a hit. We had friends up that weekend and everyone loved the treat. The whole wheat flour added some depth and chewiness to the bread.
Back in Savannah, I found myself, again, with overripe bananas. Buoyed by my recent success, I decided to try some more adventuresome changes to the recipe. Instead of eggs, I used ground flaxseeds. I also reduced the butter by half and substituted Greek yogurt.
The recipe:
1 cup butter, softened (I used 1/2 cup butter and 1/4 cup of Greek plain yogurt)
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 large eggs (I used 4 tablespoons ground flaxseed mixed with 12 tablespoons of water)
3 cups of flour (I used 1 1/2 cups of white flour and 1 1/2 cups of wheat)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups ripe, mashed bananas (I used 4 bananas)
1 cup chopped pecans
Start by preheating oven to 350 degrees and prepare two loaf pans (first time I buttered and floured the pans; second time I used Pam).
In a small bowl, combine ground flaxseed and water and mix. Let sit while you prepare everything else – it will thicken.
Mix butter, yogurt and sugar until creamy. Add flaxseed and water mix. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt, mixing well. The mixture will be very dry – I added two tablespoons of water. Finally, mix in bananas and pecans and stir jut until combined.
Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for one hour, or until a tester inserted into center comes out clean. In my oven, it took about 55 minutes.
Cool in pans on wire racks for ten minutes and then let loaves cool completely.
Or, if you are like us, cut a few slices while it is still warm and enjoy.
I made this bread a second time a few days later. This time, I reduced the sugar – to a cup – and added a little less than 1/2 cup of honey to the mix. It was delicious and perfectly sweet. I also used walnuts instead of pecans. There are lots of options – enjoy!!
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Thanks for sharing the recipe. I can’t wait to try the modified version!
you are so welcome! I think the girls would like it.
you don’t like paula’s food? 🙂 i ate at the Lady & Sons and it was ok. it was a reminder of some of the food i grew up on. and since i don’t eat that way too often it was a nice reminder. i like that you made a healthier version, though! paula does like her butter a little much. did you know her son, Bobby Deen, is working on lighter fare? it’s interesting.
Hey – nope, not many vegetarian options at the Lady & Sons. I did hear that about Bobby – I am skeptical, but will wait and see. : )
Looks fantastic. Surely all banana bread is healthy though?! 😀 Only joking, of course.
thanks FF – it actually tastes as good as it looks. Of course all banana bread is healthy – it has fruit in it!! : )
LeeAnn, first I love your new theme! It’s so cheery and when I got to the bottom with the sun rays, it brought a big, happy smile to my face. This theme really fits you and your blog. Great job! We love banana bread and I make it occasionally, especially to take to some elderly friends we have that enjoy it. These healthier options look ideal and I would love to try them. We always seem to have a spare banana or two that is getting too ripe, so I throw them in the freezer. They turn black (on the outside) but once thawed, they worked perfectly for banana bread. This past fall, I had the luxury of picking fresh cranberries very near our home so I added some of those and they were delicious. I have never been as adventurous as you to change the basis of the recipe, so this will be interesting to try. I do love walnuts more than pecans in this bread, but there’s nothing like a pecan pie … 🙂
LeeAnn,I’m definitely going to give this a go. Who knew about the flaxseeds as a substitute for eggs! (Though I guess eggs are just a binding agent). Did you make that particular substitute because of calories or because of the dairy? Did the flaxseeds add/subtract significant calories?
Also, do you think this would work as well with a sugar substitute (Splenda, for instance)?
I like the mix of flours as well.
I can’t wait to try this. I know a certain someone who absolutely LOVES banana bread. 🙂
Hey Jenn! I used the flax substitute for both reasons. It does not subtract significant calories – but does substract some.
A sugar substitute would work fine. I am going to try it once without any sugar – use all honey, or maybe maple syrup.
It is yummy – T will love it!!
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