Fruit and Nut Loaf

On Monday, I began training for my first half-ironman competition.  It is an 18 week progression that will end on June 6th.  My goodness!  I thought training for a marathon was time-consuming.  At a minimum, my training will take about 2.5 hours each day.  Needless to say, I'm going to be needing something to fuel these workouts.

This loaf is incredible and extremely filling.  Accordingly, it will provide the necessary carbs to fuel those longer work-outs.  I cut it back, significantly, from the original recipe.  I added some wheat bran, reduced the nuts/dried fruit and used organic dried fruit.  Despite how active I will be these next few months, I couldn't bare the thought of eating a "slice" of bread that was in the 350 calorie range.  I baked it for about 60 minutes so it is pretty crispy.  It actually tastes like an energy bar, but much better and more nutritious. 

I'm very impressed with this bread.  It was incredibly easy to make and very yummy.  If you're looking for the original recipe, click the link below.

Fruit and Nut Loaf
adapted from Anja's Food for Thought
Yield:  One loaf.
Ingredients

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup wheat bran
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3 eggs (or 3/4 cup eggbeaters)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup SF maple syrup (or agave nectar or honey)
• 1 cup chopped nuts (1/2 pecan, 1/2 walnut)
• 1 1/2 cup chopped dried fruit (I used 1 cup dried cherries and 1/2 cup dried apples/apricots - dates and cranberries will also work well)
• Cinnamon to sprinkle on top.

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2. Grease a 9x5 loaf tin and lay parchment paper at the bottom.
3. In one larger bowl, combine dry ingredients through baking powder and mix well.  Set aside.
4. In another bowl, beat the eggs and stir in vanilla and syrup.
5. Add the chopped dried fruit and nuts into the flour mixture.  Stir until nuts and fruit are well coated with flour.
6. Stir in the egg mixture to the flour nut mixture until well combined.
7. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf tin, pressing the batter down with the back of a spoon.
8. Bake in the preheated oven for about 60 minutes.
9. Cool completely.
10. Wrap in silver foil and store in fridge!