peanut butter and banana rye loaf

My brother's girlfriend is also obsessed with her health and is more than handy in the kitchen. She sent me this recipe which I tweaked a bit by adding the peanut butter for extra protein. I remembered seeing banana bread served with mascarpone at Melissa's and this is my interpretation. I have used rye and whole-wheat flour, no sugar and fat free cottage cheese instead of the mascarpone.

Stuff you'll need to make a decent sized loaf:

• 1 and a half cups rye flour
• Half a cup whole-wheat flour
• Half a teaspoon of salt
• Half a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
• One teaspoon of baking powder
• Three bananas
• Two organic eggs
• Two tablespoons of sugar-free organic peanut butter
• Half a cup of honey
• Half a cup of skim milk
• A handful of crushed/roughly chopped almonds
• A teaspoon or two of vanilla paste (or vanilla essence if you can't find the paste)

What to do:

1. Set the oven to 220 degrees celsius.

2. In a bowl mix together the flour, salt, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder.

3. In another bowl mash the bananas and mix in the peanut butter, eggs, honey, milk and vanilla. I used a blender for this. If you do the same just be careful not to overmix the ingredients. You want a bit of texture.

4. Mix together wet and dry ingredients. The dough that you are left with will be wet and sticky. Pour into a bread tin (try and use the rubber ones - they don't need to be greased with butter). If you are using a metal tin make sure it is properly greased to stop the mixture from sticking.

5. Sprinkle the top of the mixture with the crushed almonds and whack it into the oven. After about 5 minutes reduce the temperature to 180 degrees and bake for about 50 minutes. Check if the bread is done by pushing a metal skewer/knife into the middle of the loaf. When it comes out easily with no dough stuck to it you're in the game.

Leave it to cool properly before slicing. Serve with the fat-free cottage cheese and a drizzle of organic honey. How easy was that? A simple, well-balanced breakfast that you can eat for a couple of days afterwards. Try it for tea with some fresh figs and cinnamon or grated apple and peanut butter.

Cheers,

Jamie Who