Healthy Banana Bread

Okay, my husband and I have a slight obsession with banana bread. I pretty much buy bananas with the hope that I end up with overripe bananas for banana bread. The problem is, I usually can't wait days on end for the bananas to turn brown. So I tried out a new recipe and roasted the bananas before they were fully browned and it's quite possibly the best healthy banana bread recipe I've made so far (trust me, I've made A LOT). I tweaked this recipe to my liking, substituted apple sauce for the oil in the recipe, added wheat germ, and then doubled it to make two loaves (like I said, we're obsessed). The best part is that because it's healthy, you don't have to feel guilty for having more than one slice. Throw on some honey and a dab of butter and you'll never turn back.

Ingredients:

4 bananas
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup wheat germ
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 egg whites, plus 1 whole egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
2/3 cup apple sauce (unsweetened)
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup agave nectar
1 tablespoon brown rice syrup (if you don't have it you can use honey instead)
1/2 cup 0% greek yogurt
1/2 cup hot water
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 cup chopped nuts (I used almonds)

Optional Crumble Topping:
2 tablespoons cold butter
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup whole wheat flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On a baking sheet place all four bananas (skin on) and roast in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool completely.

Lower oven to 325 degrees. In a bowl, mix flour, wheat germ, salt, and cinnamon. In another large bowl, mix together apple sauce, egg whites and whole egg, honey, agave, and brown rice syrup.  Mix in the roasted bananas, vanilla, and greek yogurt. Gently stir in flour mixture. Add baking soda to the 1/2 cup hot water and stir into batter, but don't over mix! Lastly, gently fold in 1/2 cup of nuts. Divide batter into two bread pans.

Crumble topping:
Cube butter and add to bowl of cinnamon, sugar, and flour. Mix with hands or pastry cutter until the mixture turns into little crumbles. Sprinkle on top of batter.

Bake loaves in the oven for 50-60 minutes.

Banana Oat Muffins

On my last day off I made Banana Oat Muffins since I had some extremely ripe bananas sitting in our fruit bowl. I'm on the search for a healthy version of banana bread that still tastes amazing and these were pretty close. I only changed a few things:

I used two bananas and I used more flour than the recipe called for to make up for it.  I also omitted the allspice and cardamom, and only used cinnamon.

2 very ripe bananas

1/4 cup yogurt (I used Greek)

2 tablespoons agave syrup

1 egg

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/3 cup quick cooking oats or coarse oatmeal

2/3 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tin with oil or muffin liners. 
In a bowl, mash the banana. Add yogurt, eggs, agave syrup and oil. Stir until well combined. Set aside.
In a separate bowl stir together all dry ingredients. Gently fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients. 
Pour batter into muffin tins. Bake for 18-20 minutes.


My favorite part...the taste testing! With a cup of tea and butter on the steaming muffin, it passed my test.

Greek Panzanella Salad

Last night I had "greek" panzanella for dinner since Brett worked late. I used a mixture of spinach, arugula, kale, combined with onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, and homemade whole wheat croutons, topped with feta cheese and olive oil. It was delicious.

Crunchy Almond Butter Granola Bars

So I introduced my husband to Cascadian Farm's Almond Butter Granola Bars and he loves them. He loves them so much that he goes through an entire box of them in a matter of days (that is not cheap!). So I decided that I would start making them at home. I searched an Almond Butter Granola Bar recipe and decided to tweak it a bit. I used Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Whole Grain Cereal instead of the puffed kamut and grape-nuts cereal. I also opted out of the brown sugar and added agave nectarinstead. I also did away with the dried fruit and substituted raw almonds instead of pumpkinseeds and sunflower seeds. The result tastes almost exactly thesame as Cascadian Farm's! I think Brett will be pleasantly surprised to find a giant bag of his favorite granola bars in the cupboard.

Ingredients:

1½ cups Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Whole Grain Cereal

1½ cups traditional rolled oats (not the quick-cook kind)

¼ cup raw slivered almonds

3½ tablespoons almond butter (can substitute soy butter or peanut butter), creamy or chunky

1½ tablespoons brown rice syrup

2 tablespoons agave nectar

2 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line and 8- or 9-inch square pan with a long sheet ofparchment paper (so ends extend over edges of pan). (I recommend spraying the parchment paper with cooking

spray because the parchment paper stuck to my bars pretty badly once they cooled).

2. Mix the Ezekial cereal, oats, and raw almonds in a large bowl.

3. In a small saucepan over low heat, warm the almond butter, brown rice syrup, honey, agave and vanilla until sugar has melted and the almond butter has thinned.

4. Pour the liquid mixture on top of the dry ingredients, mixing well. When everything is equally coated, spread the mixture into the pan. Press the mixture down with the bottom of a measuring cup. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until golden brown.

5. When you remove the pan from the oven, again use the bottom of the measuring cup to press the bars flat. Allow to cool completely before touching them again.

6. When totally cooled and hard, lift the ends of the parchment and put onto a cutting board and cut into bars or squares. I wrapped the individual bars in foil and stored them in a ziploc bag at room temperature.

Whole Wheat Sweet Potato and Yogurt Pancakes

I made these pancakes the other day after being inspired by some delicious pancakes I had at a restaurant called Snooze. I had never eaten sweet potato pancakes prior to visiting Snooze, but let me tell you, they're amazing. I searched a couple of sweet potato recipes and ended up putting them all together to come up with my own recipe. I added some greek yogurt to make them more moist, and used agave nectar and brown sugar instead of white sugar. If you're feelin' really bad, I put a recipe for cinnamon butter under this pancake recipe; I highly recommend it.

Ingredients:

(Serves 2, roughly 8-12 small pancakes)

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

3/4 cup pureed sweet potato (boiled until soft, then pureed)

3/4 cup greek yogurt

1 tablespoon canola oil

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp salt

2 tsps baking soda

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon agave nectar

2 eggs (whisked)

1/2 cup-1 cup of milk or soy milk

Add flour, salt, baking soda, and brown sugar to a bowl and mix well. Add sweet potato puree, yogurt, canola oil, vanilla, whisked eggs, agave nectar, 1/2 cup milk and whisk gently. If the batter is too thick you may need to add more milk until it's the perfect pancake-batter consistency. Coat a large flat pan with cooking spray. Turn pan to low heat. Pour pancake batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto the pan. Turn when bubbles form on top; cook until second side is golden brown. Top with maple syrup, banana slices, toasted almonds, and cinnamon-vanilla butter (optional).

Cinnamon-Vanilla Butter

1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract Directions For cinnamon-vanilla butter: Combine softened unsalted butter, cinnamon and vanilla extract in a bowl. Mix until well combined. Set aside in fridge until pancakes are ready.

Homemade Pita Chips- SO easy

About two weeks ago I made my friends a greek feast, and because my friend is on a 'weddin' diet I decided to make the greek food extra healthy. So I made my healthy, fast version of pita chips. Now all I need is a great homemade hummus recipe to go with them.

Ingredients:

One bag of whole wheat pita bread

Olive oil cooking spray

Clove of garlic cut in half

Salt

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Meanwhile cut each round of pita bread into pizza-like shapes and arrange evenly on to a baking tray. Spray an even layer of olive oil on both sides of each slice of pita bread and sprinkle with salt. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until chips just start to brown. Remove them from the oven and rub each chip with the garlic clove. So delicious!

Gnocchi a la Parisienne

This past week my friend Megan and I decided to make Gnocchi a la Parisienne. It's basically a gnocchi version of macaroni and cheese, or a gnocchi casserole. We decided to make our ramekins healthier than Brett's and add sauteed kale and mushrooms, with a drizzle of truffle oil on top just for kicks. To accompany our gnocchi we wrapped chicken in prosciutto and ate it on a bed of arugula. Fancey shmancy dinner indeed!

Ingredients:

1 bag of gnocchi

2 cups milk

3/4 cup shredded Italian blend of cheeses (mozzarella, parmesan, and asiago)

1 tablespoon flour

1 tablespoon butter

2 slices chopped prosciutto

sauteed vegetables of choice

salt and pepper to taste

First sautee chopped prosciutto and vegetables until prosciutto is crispy and vegetables are cooked. Remove from pan and set aside. In a separate pot bring 4-5 cups of water to boil.

While you're doing that, add the butter to a sautee pan (same one that you used for prosciutto and veggies) on low heat. Add the flour and whisk repeatedly for about 2 minutes. Then pour in the milk slowly, continuously whisking. Turn up the heat a bit until the milk starts to thicken, then lower to a simmer. Add 1/2 cup of the cheese to the pan and whisk again until thick.

Meanwhile add the pre-made gnocchi to the pot of water, boil for 2-3 minutes, drain, and add to the pan of cheese-milk mixture.

Add prosciutto and veggies to pan as well and transfer to ramekins (or small baking dish if you don't have ramekins).

Sprinkle remaining cheese on top and put in oven on 450 for just a few minutes until they are browned on top. Watch these closely!

Once they are browned, remove them from the oven and drizzle truffle oil on top. Voila!