Quinoa Banana Bread

By the time I got around to writing down the recipe, this

was all that remained of the loaf.
Well, I guess that is not entirely true... by the time I got to taking the picture, that was all that was left. Currently, the loaf is gone. Poof, gone. And I barely shared!

This recipe was inspired by my friend Megan who creatively added millet to a loaf of banana bread she brought camping with us a few weeks back.

(In case you are wondering, yes, I did burn my shoes...)

The millet provided a nice nutty texture and made for a bit denser bread. Since I love quinoa, I decided to go out on a limb and add some to my next loaf of bread. The end result was a nutty bread, without the nuts, that was not too dense or dry and still tasted like ripe bananas :)

This recipe is similar to one I found online, with a number of my own additions and modifications of course. This made one regular sized banana bread plus 5 muffins.

- 1/2 cup of butter
- 2 eggs
- ~2 1/4 cups mashed rip banana
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/4 cup turbinado sugar, plus ~ 3 tablespoons to sprinkle on top
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 cup cooked red quinoa
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon, plus some to sprinkle on top
- 1/8 teaspoon salt

- Preheat oven to 350 and grease and flour 9 x 5 pan.
- Cook quinoa (follow directions on box)
- Cream butter and sugars together. Add in honey and eggs. Mix well.
- Add in the mashed banana and make sure well mixed.
- Mix all dry ingredients together, including cooked quinoa, and separate bowl and add to wet ingredients.
- Once well mixed, pour into pan and muffin tins and sprinkle with turbinado sugar and cinnamon.
- Bake for ~ 1 hr or until toothpick comes out clean.