To follow-up on last week’s infographic on the health benefits of seeds, here is a banana bread that is made with flax and chia seeds and other healthy ingredients. It’s simply great for breakfast.

This bread is moist, nutty, seedy and delicious with fruit, coffee or tea. It is not overly sweet and it is a healthy and enjoyable alternative to other breakfast breads, cereals, or pastries.

There is no white sugar in this recipe – only pure maple syrup and sugar cane. This is how I like to start my day!

Here’s the recipe. Enjoy!

Prepare the following ingredients

• 1/3 cup pure maple syrup + water to make one full cup of fluid.
• 3 tablespoons flax seeds (linseeds)
• 3 medium-sized overripe bananas, mashed*
• 1 egg at room temperature
• 1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil
• 1/3 cup fine grain whole sugar cane (see picture below)
• 3/4 cup natural plain white yoghurt (e.g. bifidus, Greek)
• To the yoghurt, add ½ teaspoon baking soda (it will bubble a bit!)
• 1 cup white whole purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup oat bran
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground clove
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 ½ cups coarsely chopped walnuts
• 1/4 cup chia seeds

Directions

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Grease and flour one loaf pan (9 x 5 x 3-inch). Set aside.

Grind flax seeds in a small coffee or herb grinder until powdery and incorporate the powder in the maple syrup/water mixture. Let soak until slightly thick.

Mash the bananas in a medium-size bowl and add the flax seeds/maple syrup mixture to the bananas. Whisk until smooth and set aside.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg with the oil. Add the sugar cane and beat, then add the yogurt with the baking soda and beat until creamy.

In a third large bowl, sift together the flours, oat bran, baking powder, clove, cinnamon and salt. To this bowl, incorporate the banana and egg mixture. Gently beat until well blended. Add chopped walnuts and chia seeds and mix by hand.

Pour batter into loaf pan and spread evenly. Bake for 45 minutes. With aluminum foil, make a tent that loosely covers the loaf and bake for another 30 to 35 minutes or a little longer – when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry and clean.