And you know what?
It was!
Ryan has been in Rochester, New York for work since Wednesday (I didn’t mention it on the blog for safety reasons), and he isn’t due back in town tonight until 9:30 p.m.
I know that when I get home from a long day of traveling, there’s nothing better than walking into my house and sleeping in my bed… unless my house smells like baked goods!
That is extra awesome.
My three star ingredients included:
- 1 can garbanzo beans (chickpeas)
- 1 cup canned pumpkin
- 1 on-the-verge-of-death banana
I knew I wanted to play around in the kitchen, but I figured having some kind of loose guidelines to follow would be a good idea, so I used Cooking Light’s recipe for classic banana bread as a reference point. (My recipe ended up being very different from that version, but I used that recipe for measurement ideas.)
When I got the idea to include chickpeas in the loaf, I knew I had to pulse them in the food processor to make them have a smoother consistency. Some texture in banana bread is a good thing, but I’m pretty sure little balls of beans wouldn’t be a hit.
In the end, the chickpeas were completely undetectable and the loaf itself was simply bursting with the flavors of pumpkin, banana and cinnamon.
Pumpkin Banana Loaf
PrintPumpkin Banana Loaf (Shhh… with Chickpeas)
- Cook Time: 65-76 minutes
- Total Time: 0 hours
- Yield: 1 loaf 1x
- Category: breakfast, recipes
Description
I love baking so much that no plans on a Friday night other than baking a loaf of banana bread from scratch in my pajamas actually sounded like a rockin’ good time.
Ingredients
- 1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 cup white flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup (1 1/2) butter, softened
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup canned pumpkin
- 1 large banana, mashed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Place chickpeas and honey in a food processor and pulse until relatively smooth. Set aside.
- Combine whole wheat flour through cinnamon in a bowl and set aside.
- Mix sugar and butter with a mixer until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, and vanilla extract.
- Add chickpea mixture, pumpkin and banana to sugar mixture.
- Slowly add flour mixture to sugar mixture until batter is combined.
- Slowly pour batter into a loaf pan sprayed with cooking spray and bake for approximately 65 – 75 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.
- Cool, slice and enjoy!
I would love to try to make this loaf into muffins and smear them with almond butter for a delicious on-the-go breakfast option or a delicious mid-morning snack.
I have a feeling this loaf will be gone before the weekend is over!
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