Healthy Treats – Sugar Free, Dairy Free Banana Bread

Victoria Norton is a vivacious and energetic lover of life and has been a supporter and fan of Jaggad from the beginning! We love her influence for health and fitness through her blog ‘Training for Chocolate’. Vicky finds new ways to bring exercise into a daily routine, and find healthy food alternatives to support herself and her family.

To change small aspects of your lifestyle to benefit your health and wellbeing initially can be tricky, switching sweats for active wear, fast food for no-nasties chocolate, Vicky is an inspiration to many and an example of hard-work paying off. Once in a routine, looking after your health is second nature, it’s easy.

Vicky now trains up to six times a week and practically lives in her gym gear!

All you need is a starting point and the motivation to change and Vicky sure shows this. She is a true example of our brand essence, to live a Life Athletic, working out and training to then sometimes spoil yourself - It’s called balance.

By tweaking and switching a classic, household recipe, Vicky has looked for and found healthier alternatives for ingredients to perfect banana bread that not only tastes delicious, but is good for your body as well!

“The beauty of this recipe is that it just works. Perfectly. Every time.

Sometimes I use spelt flour, sometimes gluten free flour. Sometimes I use rice malt syrup instead of honey. Other times I use less honey. Melted butter instead of coconut oil… Whatever substitutions I make, it’s just one of those fool-proof recipes, totally delicious and just as good as the ‘real’ thing, which is laden with sugar. Stock up on bananas and enjoy.”

Sugar Free, Dairy Free Banana Bread

 

Ingredients:

• 4 small/medium very ripe bananas
• ½ cup coconut oil, melted and set aside
• ¼ cup honey
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon natural vanilla extract
• 1 ¼ cups whole meal plain flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• ½ teaspoon salt (I like to use pink Himalayan but any salt will do)

Method:

• Set your oven to 170 degrees C and grease and line your loaf tin (I used one that’s about 12cm x 20cm).
• Mash your bananas in a small bowl.
• Mix the honey with the melted coconut oil then add in the eggs one at a time, beating after each egg. I used my stand mixer but you could do this my hand and get an extra upper-body work out ;)
• Add the mashed banana and vanilla and mix again.
• Then sift the flour, baking powder, bi-carbonate of soda and salt into the bowl and mix again.
• Pour the mixture into the loaf tin and bake for around an hour, until a skewer comes out clean.
• Let it cool in the tin for a while, then on a rack before slicing.
• Slices can be stored in the freezer too. If there’s any left!

This is an excerpt from Vicky Norton’s blog ‘Training for Chocolate’, who loves to discover new and healthier treats for chocoholic lovers to fulfil your body and mind for something sweet! Find more of her discoveries and have a read about her wellness adventures at www.trainingforchocolate.com