Healthy Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

This banana bread is easy to prepare and is SO delicious even though it contains no butter, oil or sugar!

Banana bread was the one food I can specifically recall my grandpa making when we were growing up. It happened a lot. The thing is, I really never liked bananas...except in banana bread or in banana nut muffins. Maybe his bread had something to do with that? I'm not sure. I don't have his exact recipe because he moved suddenly one day to North Carolina and took most of his items.

Sadly, he passed away in 2009 --I'm not sure if anyone found or saved his recipes, which is a shame. November was his birth month, so to remember him as best as I could, I whipped up a banana bread. Lately, my favorite kind of baking has been nostalgic baking, and I've been making things that remind me of family, the holidays, and just overall good times.

All this year as my New Year's resolution I've been on a quest to eat a little less 'bad for you' foods, but since I can't help but bake at least once a week (probably more like at least twice per week), I try to lighten up a recipe here and there without damaging the integrity of the original recipe.

I found a banana bread recipe that seemed to have all the things I was looking for...moisture, a perfect taste of banana, and chocolate chips. No, grandpa's banana bread did not call for chocolate chips. But since this recipe doesn't use any butter, oil or sugar, I figured that meant wiggle room for chocolate. Chocolate makes everything better.

This banana bread was easy to prepare and totally delicious even though it contains no butter, oil or sugar. The final product is a deliciously healthy banana bread that imparts enough natural sweetness from the bananas and honey, which pair nicely with the semisweet chocolate chips scattered throughout the bread.

Although this was excellent freshly hot out of the oven, the flavors become more pronounced as the banana bread cools and settles. I like a light banana flavor, so by eating it immediately I got just enough of the banana flavor that I needed. With a few super secret (or not so secret) healthy ingredients, this banana bread would be perfect for breakfast or even as a snack. Don't worry, since you cut out a ton of calories by not using butter, oil or sugar, you can most certainly have that extra slice of banana bread!

What's your go to recipe that reminds you of good times? Why did our grandparents not keep their recipes neatly collected on Pinterest or on food blogs? Oh, right. Technology.