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

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.

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

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.

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.)

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.

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.

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

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 Sign from Etsy – Curious George themed (but she has a huge selection of themes for girls/boys of all ages)

Baby Birthday Banner – this was fun to make, we all got a kick out of it! Micah too 🙂

Keep Calm And Have A Banana – 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)