Baking Blues

Even though I have never had a strong sweet tooth, I enjoy baking.  My favorite things to bake are ultra decadent sweets like frosted cakes and candies.  When I began my new diet, I found myself at a crossroad: to bake or not to bake?  These days, I rarely have processed sugar and now find myself missing it in a way that I never had before.  The smell of freshly baked cupcakes sends me over the edge.  This is odd because I don't have a sweet tooth; the smell of sugar, however, is one of the best smells ever.  

I bake weekly, mainly for my students' fundraiser.  I've learned to deal with making and frosting cupcakes, without eating any.  However, these past fews days I have been plagued with atypical sugar cravings.  After downing a container of blackberries in hopes that the natural sugars would help, my craving was still not satisfied.  There had to be a way to satisfy this the good ol' fashioned way.  

Armed with a bunch of uber-ripe bananas, I consulted Dr. Andrew Weil's website for help.  Dr. Weil is my anti-inflammatory guru and I take my eating cues largely from him.  His approach is welcoming and quite varied, so I was pleased to find a Banana Nut Bread recipe that conformed to his anti-inflammatory approach.  Instead of butter and sugar, this recipe relied upon canola oil and honey.  The result: A+.  My loaf turned out moist, sweet, banana-y, and quite similar to traditional banana bread.  I look forward to eating it as a snack or dessert in the coming days.