NEWS for North Dakotans
Agriculture Communication, North Dakota State
University
7 Morrill Hall, Fargo, ND 58105-5665
May 21, 1998
The next time you stare into a cupboard or twirl a lazy Susan and eye all those partially used baking ingredients, you may want to recall the debate about whether the glass is half full or half empty. I now side with those who argue that the glass is half full.
As this story goes, my wife, Nicki, was setting about on a Sunday night to make a batch of quick bread for our weekday breakfasts. But what had started out as a Betty Crocker-inspired banana bread soon blossomed into something more fruitful. And grainy. You see, Nicki discovered that we had exactly 2 cups of currents and exactly 2 cups of oatmeal on hand. Coincidentally, there was just slightly less than 3 cups of buttermilk remaining in a carton with a present-day expiration date.
By the time Nicki was done adding some of this and deleting or altering some of that, about the only thing Betty could call her own was the cooking temperature and the baking time. I've told you more than once that experimenting with recipes certainly is more fun and can be more rewarding than following the rules. Such was the case with Nicki's creation, a quick bread sporting a texture similar to yeast bread and boasting a natural sweetness.
Nicki's banana bread now tops my list of favorites: for a reason within a reason. Not only is it the perfect companion to peanut butter, but its nutritional makeup, I believe, is allowing me to have my peanut butter and eat it too.
My love affair with peanut butter dates back decades, but in recent years I'd been forced to partake with caution. The reason? My propensity to overindulge.
It was the same story every time. The first time back at the jar after a self-imposed abstention, I'd serve up only a tablespoon at a time and thereby assure myself, for a time, that I was in control. But within a few days I'd be spreading this caramel-colored purity on a little thicker. Then before I knew it I'd be eating three slices of bread instead of two. And then, peanut butter would become a regular item on our weekly shopping list, at about the same time my pants began feeling less roomy.
But Nicki's banana bread has changed all that. I've gone through four loaves of bread and two jars of peanut butter with no ill effects. Is it convoluted logic which allows me to think that a higher-fiber, lower-fat banana bread recipe is responsible for my newly discovered ability to eat peanut butter in the style to which I'm accustomed and not gain weight? Maybe so, but I'm going to keep it up until my pants tell me otherwise.
Oatmeal Banana Bread
Yield: 2 loaves, 12 slices each
Ingredients:
5 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
2 cups old-fashioned oatmeal (uncooked)
4 bananas, mashed
3 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 cups currants or raisins, soaked in warm water for 15 minutes
and drained
Procedure:
Mix together first four ingredients and set aside. In a large bowl, combine remaining ingredients and then stir in flour mixture. Divide between two 9x5 loaf pans that have been greased with vegetable shortening. Bake at 350 F for 65 minutes.
What's Your Take on This, Julie?
Hats off to Nicki for this tasty creation. Before you eat too many jars of peanut butter and loaves of banana bread and grow out of your wardrobe, keep in mind that one serving (a 3/4-inch-thick slice) contains about 250 calories, but is low in fat at 4.7 grams per serving. It also provides B vitamins, iron, calcium and soluble fiber.
Bananas are the stars of this recipe and have been popular fruits for thousands of years. When people think of the nutritional properties of bananas, potassium comes to mind. Potassium plays important roles in fluid balance, nerve transmission and muscle contraction. Bananas also are a good source of carbohydrates and B vitamins, with just a trace of fat.
There's some evidence bananas were the first plants cultivated by humans. Bananas were so esteemed in early times that they became known as "fruit of the wise man" and the "fruit of paradise." They're a portable snack that makes our quest for five servings of fruits and vegetables, or 5 a day, a little easier.
As shoppers know, bananas arrive from their tropical origins looking very green. Actually their green hue is a benefit to consumers, because flavor decreases as bananas ripen on the tree. Of the 300 or more varieties of bananas, the yellow smooth-skinned type is most familiar to us. The red banana, which is uncommon in this area, actually has a similar flavor and texture. Another cousin, the plantain, is eaten as a cooked vegetable.
In season, bananas are very economical. Technically, one banana is known as a finger; a group of bananas is known as a hand. A pound of bananas yields two cups sliced bananas or 1½ cups mashed. Although banana skins darken in the refrigerator, the cool temperature actually helps preserve the flavor and texture of the fruit.
Incidentally, one tablespoon of peanut butter, which makes a tasty topping for banana bread, adds about 100 calories and 8 grams of fat. Eating an extra 3,500 calories—without extra activity—can pack on an extra pound of body fat. So if you're eating spoon after spoon, Dean, better keep up your running.
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Sources: Dean Hulse (701) 231-6136 & Julie Garden-Robinson (701) 231-7187
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