A simple and delicious banana bread baked right in your bread machine.

1 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup (minus 1 tbsp) milk
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter or margarine
2 medium ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tbsp flaxseed meal
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Combine lemon juice and milk in a measuring cup to 1/4 cup mark, set aside for 5 minutes. In a large bowl, beat together sugar, butter, and bananas. Add dry ingredients and milk mixture and beat again until fully combined.  Pour batter into your bread machine baking pan. Insert baking pan into the bread machine and close lid. Select BAKE setting, then enter 300F for the temperature and 1 hour for the time. When the bread is finished baking, remove pan from the unit and let cool in the pan for 30 minutes. The carefully turn the loaf out of the pan and let cool before slicing.

Cole’s favourite thing to do on a weekend morning is go to Starbucks and have a slice of their banana loaf, while Mommy enjoys a good cup of coffee. He absolutely loves banana loaf and asks me to make it all the time. I’ve been in search of a good banana loaf recipe that is a bit healthier than the Starbucks version, but still tastes as good. I think this one is the best one I’ve found so far! I love the idea of baking it in the bread machine, because the loaf bakes so evenly. There’s no tough overcooked crust with an undercooked centre, which is a problem I frequently encounter with banana loaves baked in a conventional oven. This version is also a little lower in sugar and butter than some other recipes I’ve found, and it’s part whole wheat with flax seed, so I don’t feel too bad about giving this to the kids as a snack. It won’t stop us from going to Starbucks for their banana loaf on the weekends (mommy needs her coffee!), but it does provide a healthier alternative during the week.

-Recipe adapted from Black & Decker All-in-One Deluxe Horizontal Breadmaker Operating Instructions and Cookbook (phew, there’s a mouthful!).