Basic Whole Wheat Oatmeal Quickbread

This is a basic recipe that makes a dense, wholesome, tasty loaf. It is easy to make substitutions in the ingredients depending on what you have on hand.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 cups old fashioned oats
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt (optional, I usually leave this out to cut down on my sodium)
• 2 Tbsp. oil
• 3 Tbsp. Splenda
• 2 cups milk

Directions:

1. Prepare a 9x5" loaf pan - give it a good coating of cooking spray or line with parchment paper as this dough tends to stick to the pan.

2. Combine the oats, flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.

3. In another bowl, mix the oil, Splenda and milk. Gradually add in the flour mixture and mix well.

4. Place the dough in the prepared pan and bake at 350 degrees for one hour or until a knife inserted in the center comes out mostly clean. It is not necessary to preheat oven but don't timing until the oven reaches the correct temperature.

Possible substitutions:

For the Splenda, you can use honey, sugar, brown sugar or any other sweetener of your choice.

For the milk, I have used water, fat free plain yogurt, a combination of the yogurt and reduced fat mayo, one cup unsweetened applesauce and one cup water - as long as you use two cups of liquid, the possibilities are endless.

For the oil, I have used an additional two tablespoons of the yogurt, or applesauce or mayo.

You can also use white all purpose flour in place of all or part of the whole wheat but it will change the texture of the bread.

You can add spices and dried fruit for a nice taste variation. I have added a teaspoon of cinnamon and about 3/4 cup of raisins, but use whatever you have on hand.

Source: I found the original recipe, Oatmeal Whole Wheat Quick Bread, on www.allrecipes.com. I have experimented and tweaked it a lot!

By MARY PSOMADAKIS from New York,NY