Strawberry Coconut Chia Seed Banana Bread

I had last night off from work, so I went running, washed my scrubs & got out the KitchenAid for some baking fun. I had some ripe bananas and a bunch of strawberries, so I decided to make some yummy bread inspired by the Ambitious Kitchen. I replaced some of the all purpose flour in the original recipe with whole wheat and eliminated the processed sugar. It turned out delicious! Great for breakfast or a snack. Of course, I think it's even better with some peanut or almond butter…mmm...

Strawberry Coconut Chia Seed Banana Bread

Ingredients:

1 cup AP flour

3/4 cup WW flour

1 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

3 ripe bananas, mashed

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt

1 TBSP coconut oil, melted and cooled

1 TBSP sorghum 

2 TBSP unsweetened almond or coconut milk

1 cup strawberries, chopped

1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

2 TBSP chia seeds

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 350*F and prepare a 9-inch bread pan.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda, baking powder & salt.
• In a large bowl, mix together the bananas, egg, vanilla, yogurt, oil, sorghum & milk.
• Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and mix until just combined. 
• Gently fold the strawberries, coconut & chia seeds into the batter.
• Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan. Top with some extra coconut flakes & sliced strawberries.
• Bake for about 50 minutes or until done.
• Let cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Enjoy! 

Peanut Butter Pumpkin Bread with Chocolate Chips

And on my days off, I get on Pinterest and bake... It's kind of great how many things you can get done when Monday is your day off. Everyone else is working, so the day is yours. I slept in. Watched "Once Upon a Time" while I had my coffee and breakfast. I vacuumed and mopped. Did P90X-2. Showered. Made lunch. Ran errands (got my watch fixed, got part of my Halloween costume, went to Sprouts). Baked. Got some paperwork done. Pinned a million things. And I'm going to make kickboxing. Exciting stuff. 

So...Peanut butter. Pumpkin. Dark Chocolate. Score. The original recipe is from Crazy For Crust via Pinterest. I really hadn't intended to change anything...but it turned out that I only had 1 cup of AP flour on hand. Thus, I ended up doing 1 cup AP flour and 1 cup WW flour. Not bad. Generally, you can go half-and-half and not change things too much. Using all WW flour will change the texture. Of course, you can use whatever kind of chocolate chips you like...but I'm a dark chocolate kind of girl.

Peanut Butter Pumpkin Bread with Chocolate Chips

Ingredients: 

1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt

3/4 cup pumpkin puree 

2 eggs

1/2 cup natural peanut butter

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 1/2 TBSP pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup AP flour

1 cup WW flour

1 cup chocolate chips, divided

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 350*F and prepare a loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray.
• In a large bowl (or your KitchenAid), mix together the yogurt, pumpkin, eggs, and peanut butter until smooth. Add sugars, pumpkin pie spice, and soda and mix. Mix in the flours. Stir in 3/4 cup of the chocolate chips. 
• Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. It's thick so you'll need to even it out. Sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips on top.
• Bake for about 30-35 minutes, depending on if you want it a little gooey in the center or baked through. 
• Let it cool in the pan for a few minutes before transferring to your cutting board.

Enjoy!