Aggie's Kitchen

Whole Wheat Greek Yogurt Banana Bread {and some Curious George Birthday Fun}

Whole Wheat Banana Bread with Greek Yogurt

A couple of weeks ago, my baby boy turned ONE! It’s incredibly hard to believe a year has gone by since he joined our family last October. He’s a fun little guy, full of personality. He’s also most definitely the baby of the family and I think he knows it. He certainly knows how to work his magic on us!

My daughter and I had a lot of fun planning his party. I wanted to keep it simple, but that didn’t happen and instead it turned into a Pinterest/Etsy/crafty mama wanne-be Curious George themed party planning experience for me. If you know me, then you know that this is not normally my strength, I love parties but I tend to focus on the food more than the theme and decorations. It was the total opposite this time and I have to admit – I had a lot of fun with it. I will say, most of it pulled together at the last minute (like 5 days before) thanks to my super creative niece Sarah who happened to have every thing I needed to add the finishing touches to our Curious Micah birthday bash.

Micah Birthday Collage1

Gosh, this little boy is so loved. Our house was filled with family and friends and it was wonderful.

Micah Block

My nephew Ryan is an awesome photographer and was there to capture all the moments I wasn’t able too with my own camera. I am SO grateful!! (He took all the party photos in this post.)

Huge 1st birthday (or any birthday) party tip: Find someone to take pictures using your camera (or theirs) because you get busy!! I was actually very upset after the party because I hardly took any photos. I am so so glad Ryan brought his camera with him and took it upon himself to snap some photos. My heart is so happy to have these memories.


Cake Table

By the way…my little monkey wanted NO PART of his birthday cake. He got some frosting on his hand and was not happy about it and made sure we all knew about it! I tried again later with a little cupcake but he spit it out. Too funny.

Let’s talk about these cute mini banana breads now. (And if you want to know more about the party planning details see the bottom of this post for inspiration links.)

Whole Wheat Greek Yogurt Banana Bread

During my birthday party planning research, I came across a lot of great ideas. Some of them I knew were out of reach, but this banana bread “goodie bag” idea was one I just had to execute (I can not for the life of me find the blog post that inspired me with this idea!!). I’m not going to lie, the non-baker in me was completely stressed out about baking 5 batches of banana bread recipes but I honestly think it was good for me…I felt like a more confident baker (sorta) by the end of my marathon baking session. I had the recipe memorized too.

Goodie Bags

My sister in law Jamie is one of my go-to people when I need a baking recipe. Baking is her thing so I know she has plenty of tried and true recipes to share. She shared this Better Homes and Garden Banana Bread recipe with me and I went with it. It all turned out great and the banana bread was delicious.

Whole Wheat Greek Yogurt Banana Bread

But of course, I had to find a way to change it. You know, turn it into a whole grain and add Greek yogurt to it. Because that’s just what I do.

I am happy to report it was a success! These Whole Wheat Greek Yogurt Banana Bread mini loaves turned out moist and flavorful. I shared them with a friend (who said she could not tell they were whole wheat!) and my kids polished off the rest. I can’t wait to bake them up again.

Print Recipe

Whole Wheat Greek Yogurt Banana Bread

Yield: makes 4 mini loaves or 1 large loaf

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups white whole wheat flour (I used King Arthur)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 4 ripe bananas, mashed
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/2 cup lowfat vanilla Greek yogurt
  • 1/2 cup oil

Directions:

  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease bread loaf pans (I used 4 mini loaf pans, but you can make one large loaf instead).
  2. In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
  3. In a medium bowl combine eggs, banana, brown sugar, vanilla, Greek yogurt and oil. Add wet mixture into dry mixture and gently mix until just combined.
  4. Pour batter evenly into mini loaf pans, filled about halfway each.
  5. Bake for 27-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Set on a cooling rack and let sit for at least 10 minutes before removing from pans.

Recipe adapted from Better Homes and Gardens

Follow AggiesKitchen on Instagram and show us what recipes you are making from the blog! Use the hashtag #aggieskitchen - I'd love to see what you are cooking up!

Curious George Birthday Party Inspiration:

Pin The Banana On George Game – found the idea and photo on this post and had it printed at Staples. I cut out my own bananas using yellow card stock and had each child’s name on banana. We also played a version of the game Hot Potato using a banana instead (Hot Banana!).

1st Birthday Memory Chalkboard SignΒ from Etsy – Curious George themed (but she has a huge selection of themes for girls/boys of all ages)

Baby Birthday BannerΒ – this was fun to make, we all got a kick out of it! Micah too πŸ™‚

Keep Calm And Have A BananaΒ – got these signs printed at Staples too and I had them on our front and side doors and around the house.

Curious George party goody bags – I was inspired by these bags, but went the homemade simple route.

 

If you are new to Etsy, (I was!) use this link to get $5 toward your first purchase. (Dislosure: this is a referral link and for every 2 people who purchase, I receive a credit as well)

Are you following me on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest? If you’d like to subscribe to Aggie’s Kitchen and have each post delivered straight to your e-mail box, then please add your email here. Happy cooking!

There are affiliate links in this post. I make small earnings through any purchases made through these links. Thank you for supporting Aggie’s Kitchen!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

31 comments on “Whole Wheat Greek Yogurt Banana Bread {and some Curious George Birthday Fun}”

  1. What a little cutie! And the bread looks great, too! πŸ™‚

  2. Aww a first birthday is so dang special. And how yummy does this bread sound?! Lovely post!

  3. Looks like a fabulous party…love the decor and food…and the bread! Yum.

  4. Can not even believe we are celebrating first birthdays!! Seems like just yesterday we were both pregnant together. Love the birthday theme!! Too funny about the cake, too. Happy Birthday Micah!

    • We thought the whole cake thing was pretty funny. I know it, it was just the other day…and now our boys are looking more and more like little boys. Sniff.

  5. Ah! What a party!! You did an amazing job. And that bread- yum! I used petite creme in a recipe instead of oil/butter yesterday and loved it. Will have to give this a go

  6. This is so adorable, Aggie. Love the banana and monkey theme. ‘Keep calm and have a banana’ ha! love that! The banana bread looks fantastic! Love seeing the pics of your sweet family!

  7. What fun! Love hearing about the party and… the bread!!!

  8. Such cute pictures and a fun party theme. Love this bread too! πŸ™‚

  9. How is this possible? One year sure went by fast πŸ™‚ Can’t wait to try this out – love banana bread and always looking for the balance of making it healthier but still having it taste, well, like banana bread!

    • It did go by fast. Crazy! I really think the added greek yogurt helped with the taste. And I’ve been loving using the white whole wheat flour too.

  10. What an amazing birthday party! I have always loved curious George πŸ™‚ These little banana breads aren’t too shabby either. Delicious!

  11. Such a fun birthday party and I’m loving this bread!!

  12. So, so cute, Aggie! Love this and your little guy is SO cute!!!

  13. It looks like it was a super fun party! The mini banana breads are adorable!

  14. Awww,what a cute party theme Aggie! Happy 1st Bday to Michah – can’t believe he is already 1!!!!

  15. I have made this with pastry whole wheat. It had the texture of regular banana bread. I’ve also made it with the regular bread whole wheat flour & it was crumbly.

  16. I have made this with pastry whole wheat. It had the texture of regular banana bread. I’ve also made it with the regular bread whole wheat flour & it was crumbly.