Protein Pumpkin Banana Bread

Pumpkin banana bread… or, banana pumpkin bread. YES! This stuff is amazing. It started as a concoction. I wondered, is this a thing? Have other people already thought of this? The answer was yes! I had already started making banana bread since I had some overripe bananas to use up, and I had leftover pumpkin from yesterday’s pumpkin toast and thought… why not? And in went the pumpkin. This stuff is sooooo good. So good. I should probably make more, seeing as how it only lasted a few hours around here.

Many of the recipes I saw for pumpkin-infused banana bread had started when the person cooking couldn’t decide whether they wanted banana bread or pumpkin bread, which makes a ton of sense, since both are delicious. But many of those that I came across were loaded with the typical unhealthy ingredients that make banana bread so fattening and unhealthy, some even had chocolate chips. My version is much healthier, still tastes great (read: GREAT!) and you don’t have to feel guilty about eating it or have to unbutton your pants if you go for a 2nd slice! Replacing 1/3 of the flour in the recipe with vanilla protein powder, I was able to add a ton of protein, as well as healthy vitamins, to this bread. I love a bread with a good crunch, but unfortunately didn’t have any walnuts on hand so I threw in a few tablespoons of flaxseeds instead. But feel free to add whatever “mix-ins” you prefer! Raisins, walnuts, dried blueberries or cranberries, mini chocolate chips, the options are endless!