High Protein – Whole Grain Date and Walnut Bread… and when dinner becomes breakfast
I ALMOST ran into a major problem last week. You see, after my brain went totally berzerk on me and craved nothing but fat and sugar for an entire week-end, come Monday, it decided to completely shut down on me.
It did not have any interest in food. At all. The problem was, I had an entire week of meals to plan! Kinda hard to do that when, to every suggestion that you make, your brain just goes nay…
I opened my planning spreadsheet anyway, clicked in the “Monday night” cell and placed my fingers on the keyboard: my mind went totally blank.
Looks like it had decided that I wasn’t going to force this on it.
At that very moment, right in my inbox came the post that would save my life… well, ok, maybe not my life, but my entire week, for sure! Seeing Nora’s delicious apple bake instantly made me want food. I wanted to eat THAT particular cake right then and there! I was SOOO going to have that for dinner that night!
That’s when the solution came to me! Since breakfast inspired me so much, I decided that I would simply switch things around for a while and have breakfast for dinner until my appetite came back to normal…
I started looking through my “Must Try List” for recipes that would inspire me and soon became over inspired!
I did so many recipes this week… that sure kept my mind busy, and my tummy happy!
Here’s a sneak peak at what’s been going on in my kitchen this week. Of course, the recipes will follow!
- Inspired by the post that started it all, by Nora at Natural Noshing, this warm and moist Instant Apple Cinnamon Buckwheat Bake.
- Inspired by Leanne at Healthful Pursuit and Nora at Natural Noshing, this gorgeous, gorgeous Vanilla Almond Hazelnut Butter.
- Inspired by Lauren at Healthy Food For Living, this crunchy, healthy, light Cranberry Pecan Granola, which I chose to serve with my usual, super quick, super healthy yet super yummy High Protein Vanilla Custard.
- Inspired by Nora at Natural Noshing (what, again? Think I should get a membership or something?) a super delicious, fresh, sweet Chilled Cantaloupe Soup.
- And, last but not least, inspired by Cathy at What Would Cathy Eat, this super yummy, dense, chewy and filling High Protein, Whole Grain Date and Walnut Bread.
Can you guess which recipe you are getting today? ;)
The thing is, I did A LOT of mixing and matching… so I’m a bit confused as to how to go about presenting all this to you… I’m so excited about them all that I could easily do a 5 mile long post that would contain ALL the recipes, but I don’t think doing this would come in very handy for future reference… Plus, I think you guys would fall asleep before the end of the post and miss out on many a great recipe. 😉
So I guess I’ll start with this one, why not?
Let me tell you, if you have to bake only one fruity bread for the rest of your life, let it be this one. It’s just perfect in every single way. It’s dense and heavy but tender and moist, it’s sweet but not overly so and it’s got a great crunch from the walnuts. The addition of whey powder makes it a very good source of protein, too. If you cut this loaf into 16 slices, you’re looking at about 10g of protein per slice, for about 150 calories and 4g of fat.
This makes it an ideal breakfast, or snack, or, if your brain is acting funny like mine, this also makes for a great dinner, on its own or topped with some all natural nut butter and a few slices of banana, maybe…
Oh, and if you slice it extra thin and toast it, you get the most delicious sweet crackers ever!
Bet they would be fantastic with goat cheese!
High Protein Whole Grain Date and Walnut Bread
Ingredients
Dry
- 1½ cups whole wheat pastry flour
- ½ cup oat flour, or old-fashioned oats, ground in a food processor
- 3 scoops vanilla flavoured whey protein powder
- 2 tablespoons ground flax
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
Wet
- 1 cup chopped dates
- 1 cup boiling water
- 1 cup egg whites
- ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Add-ons
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Combine the dates and boiling water in a small bowl and let stand for 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, combine the dry ingredients in a separate mixing bowl.
- Add remaining wet ingredients to the date mixture and add that to dry ingredients.
- Stir just to combine and fold in the walnuts.
- Pour into a non-stick 9 x 5-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray (or lined with parchment paper) and bake for 40-45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Let cool completely on a cooling rack before slicing.
Notes
If you’ve tried this recipe, please take a minute to rate the recipe and let me know how things went for you in the comments below. It’s always such a pleasure to hear from you!
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19 Comments on “High Protein – Whole Grain Date and Walnut Bread… and when dinner becomes breakfast”
I feel like I have to say it juuust one more time. YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY IS SO AMAZING! Okay, I promise that’ll be the last time 🙂
I’m glad you think so, Leanne… I get so much inspiration from you, you know!!! 😉
This looks like a fabulous recipe! I bookmarked it. 🙂
I completely agree with Leanne, your photos are brilliant and gorgeous! I can’t wait to see what you’ve come up with, I’ll be on the look out for the recipes in my inbox!!! BTW, you totally made my day, I was grinning ear-to-ear when I read this post 🙂 I always love what you come up with and you inspire me too – I had a bowlful of “vanilla protein custard” with chia, shredded coconut and a cut up plum after my run this morning — soooo good!
Plus, this bread looks fantastic! I bet I could easily make it gluten free by subbing the wheat flour for teff flour! Bet they would make nice muffins too!!
I have yet to try teff flour… I have a bag full of teff in my cupboard, but don’t quite know how to use it yet. One thing’s for sure, I’ll be using it real soon! I keep eyeing it everytime I open the cupboard… 😉
Oh, and thanks for all the love! 😀
Oooh, bookmarked this one, it looks great! And I love your idea of slicing it really thin to make crackers. That is such an awesome idea, I can’t wait to try that. I seem to remember trying something like that before but I’ve never done it myself.
Oh my gosh. All those photos look stunning. I am always perplexed about how to photograph bread so it looks appealing. You really have done it! This is gorgeous! And those other photos are mouthwatering too. I can’t wait to see your recipes!
Thank you Paula! You are too kind! 🙂
I can smell the aromatic fragrance from the wonderful photo’s you’ve got here.
Hi
This bread looks awesome… I would really like to try this but being Vegetrian I don’t eat egg, can u plz help me what can I use instead of 1 cup of Egg whites.
One more silly question, I have never used protein whey, being Vegetrian it is hard to get enough protein so I m planning to use Protein whey n I see a lot in ur recipe .. Can u suggest me from where shuold I buy apart from Costco, which brand? Is it ok if kids eat protein whey?
Thanks in advance
Hey Dee! Glad to hear you like this bread and are considering making it. I’ve read that eggs can be replaced with ground flaxseed and water, but I’ve never tried it myself and quite frankly, I don’t know if it would work great with such a large quantity. At any rate, you need 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed to 3 tablespoons of water per egg. For one cup of egg whites, you are looking at replacing the equivalent of 4 eggs.
As for whey protein, of course, kids can eat it. It’s actually very good for them! However, if you don’t eat eggs, I assume you don’t consume dairy either, and whey would be protein from dairy. There are many other types of protein powder out there that are from non animal source. Unfortunately, I’ve only ever used whey protein, so I wouldn’t be able to advise you as to what product would be best for you. I strongly suggest you google protein supplements and you will find tons of information!
Good luck to you, Dee, and let me know how that bread turns out if you give it a try! 🙂
This is an amazing recipe. The science of bringing an artisan quick bread together with wholesome ingredients is dead-on. Nobody – I mean nobody – would taste this and think it was a modified recipe. It simply tastes like old-style quick bread.
Thank you so much for such incredible feedback, Angelique. I sincerely appreciate your kind words! 🙂
Do I
Drain the dates or add the whole thing to the mix??
Add everything, Lori!
I used packaged dates, so after they soaked I put them all through the food processor until it was smooth. I have bad luck using high protein recipes baked in loaf pans, so I made it in an 8×8 pan and baked it for 25 minutes – it was PERFECT. Even my protein-baked-goods skeptic of a husband said it was a perfect (and he hates dates, for that matter). Definitely a keeper!
Awesome! So very happy to hear that the recipe was a complete success for you, Vanessa! Thanks a bunch for the great feedback, too. I greatly appreciate it! 🙂
Absolutely delicious! I used rice protein powder, four eggs instead of egg whites, and toasted the walnuts first. This is the best quick bread I’ve made in a long time.
Made it and its sooo delicious 😋
Definitely making it again