For nearly a decade, I have owned and enjoyed the "Great Good Food" cookbook by Julee Rosso (Crown Publishers, 1993). It is chock-full of delicious recipes that focus on flavor and healthy ingredients. But the Banana Bread recipe has become my absolute favorite.

I've always loved banana bread - it's fast, sweet and carbo-licious. But it's also typically loaded with fat and cholesterol. This recipe is much healthier than most I've seen, and is very forgiving. I have used a combination of flours (half whole wheat and half all-purpose works nicely), and added chopped pecans or walnuts on occasion. The recipe was originally written to fill 12 muffin cups, but it works just fine in a standard bread loaf pan.

Banana Bread
Yield: one loaf or 12 muffins

3 ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup applesauce
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
3 tablespoons low-fat buttermilk (or combine 1 tablespoon vinegar with 2 tablespoons milk)
2 tablespoons vanilla extract (no that's not a misprint!)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (300 for muffins).
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine bananas, sugar, egg, oil and applesauce. Add flour and baking soda, mixing just until blended; add the buttermilk and vanilla and mix just until combined (don't overmix: it will get tough).
3. Lightly spray the pan with nonstick spray. Pour the batter into the pan (or fill muffin tins about two-thirds full).
4. Bake for 45-60 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean (25 to 30 minutes for muffins).

Per serving: 218 calories, 41g carbs, 3g protein, 15mg cholesterol, 5g fat