Box Bread

New recipes always creep up on me in the most unexpected places.  As I was emptying our cereal into the container last week,  I was browsing the box (many times the boxes have great snacking ideas or healthy tidbits printed on them) when I saw this Cinnamon Oat Crunch Plantain Bread recipe. 

The ingredients sounded yummy, nutritious and "not that horrible for you",  so I decided to give it a whirl. 






I substituted a few ingredients,

• bananas instead of plantains
• walnuts instead of pecans
• dried cherries instead of coconut

and I LOVED how the adjusted recipe came out. 

The bread was dense (beware, it doesn't rise very much) and had the consistency of a fruitcake, but tasted delicious, unlike the previously mentioned dessert bread...yuck.   

What's even better was that I had all of the ingredients on hand.  I love it when that happens!  This is great for a quick midday snack and would be perfect served in muffin form* as well.  Try it today!






Cinnamon Oat Crunch Banana Bread

Print this recipe!

• 3/4 C flour
• 1/3 C oats (uncooked)
• 1/4 C Cinnamon Oat Crunch Cereal (crushed)
• 1/4 C brown sugar
• 1 1/2 t baking powder
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/2 t cinnamon
• 1/2 C banana, diced
• 1/2 C walnuts
• 1/2 C plain Greek yogurt – (I used Vanilla since I had it on hand)
• 1/4 C skim milk
• 2 T melted butter (cooled)
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1/3 C dried cherries

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  In a large bowl, combine flour, oats, cereal, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, banana, walnuts and dried fruit.

In a separate bowl, whisk together yogurt, milk, butter, egg.  Stir the wet mixture into the flour mixture and blend until just combined.

Pour dough into greased loaf pan, and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.




Shortcut:  Frozen Bananas

I always keep bananas on hand in the freezer.  As they ripen start to get sugar spots, just peel off the skin and place in a freezer bag to keep in the freezer for later.   This way, you'll always have ripe bananas to add into quick breads, pancake batter or smoothies! 

*if making this recipe as muffins, decrease the cooking time by about 10 minutes and check periodically for doneness.