Chocolate Chip Banana Oat Bread

A light banana oat bread with the added sweetness of chocolate chips!

This is my favorite banana bread recipe, adapted from Cooking Light.  My wonderful friend, Kelly (follow her amazing recipes on her blog, The Wooden Spoon Diaries!) recently dropped by some of her delicious banana bread and I felt bad because I ate it ALL before my husband even got one bite!  So I had to make a few loaves of my own for him!  (I'm not going to lie to you, the poor guy didn't get much of this either...) 

1 1/2 cups flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup oats
1 cup mashed banana (about 2 large)
1/3 cup lowfat buttermilk (I often make it with regular milk and it turns out great)
1/4 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips (or however many you like)

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.  Combine flour through salt, stirring well with a whisk.  Stir in the oats.
3.  Combine mashed banana, buttermilk, canola oil, vanilla and eggs.  Add to flour mixture and stir just until moist.
4.  Stir in chocolate chips.
5.  Try to get the chocolate chips put away in the pantry before your kids eat the entire bag.
6.  Spoon into an 8x4 inch loaf pan coated with baking spray.  I like to sprinkle a few oats and chocolate chips on the top before baking.
7.  Bake at 350 for about 55 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  (This recipe also makes 3 mini loaves - bake about 35 minutes.)  Cool 15 minutes in the pan and the remainder on a wire rack.