Clean Eating Strawberry Bread

Makes 16 servings, 1 slice each
My boys LOVE strawberries and, at certain times of the year, I can buy them for next to nothing. When these sales roll around I get bushels of them, wash them, slice them, and freeze them to use the rest of the year. Strawberries are a great source of vitamin C and we love eating them plain but they make for a great natural sweetener in baked goods as well. Plus I can just throw all the ingredients in my breadmaker.

This is ridiculously good!

Ingredients:

• 1 ¼ cups finely chopped strawberries
• ¼ cup water
• ¼ cup olive oil
• ¼ cup applesauce
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• ¾ cup sucanat
• 1 ½ cups whole wheat flour (I use King Arthur White Whole Wheat)
• ½ cup chopped pecans (optional)

BREADMAKER: Dump the strawberries, water, olive oil, apple sauce and eggs into the breadmaker. Sprinkle in the baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and sucanat. Add the flour on top. Run the breadmaker on the quickbread setting. Sprinkle the pecans in (if using) during the last few minutes of mixing before the bread starts baking. See cooling and slicing instructions below.

Once you know how to use a chef's knife correctly it's the fastest way to dice ingredients.

I didn't have applesauce so I used pureed banana instead

As soon as my boys hear the breadmaker start, they sprint into the kitchen and
beg to watch it running. Apparently the breadmaker obsession is genetic, LOL.

Okay, I'll admit it... I actually just wanted to show off the beautiful flowers
my hubby got me :) But the bread looks good too, right?!

NON-BREADMAKER (OVEN) INSTRUCTIONS: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9x5 inch loaf pan. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the oil, apple sauce, eggs, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, sucanat, and flour. Fold in the pecans, strawberries, and ¼ cup of water. Pour into prepared pan and bake 45 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let cool 10 minutes. Loosen the sides of the loaf from the pan. Remove the loaf and place it top side up on a wire rack. Cool completely (2 hours) before slicing. (I find it works best to slice the whole loaf in half the long way and then cut it into 16 fat narrow slices instead of cutting thin wide slices like sandwich bread. It crumbles less that way.)

Refrigerate up to 10 days or freeze using the flash freeze method. Reheat in the microwave or toaster or thaw in the fridge overnight.

NUTRITION INFO:

Per serving - 133 Calories (58 Calories from Fat), 7g Fat, 1g Saturated Fat, 26mg Cholesterol, 101mg Sodium, 17g Total Carbohydrates, 2g Dietary Fiber, 1g Sugars, 3g Protein, 2% DV Vitamin A, 14% DV Vitamin C, 3% DV Calcium, 6% DV Iron