Wed. Foodie: Protein Banana Bread

Wednesday, April 10^th, 2013:

Hello Peeps!!!

Today’s foodie is a banana bread wanna-be. It is not calorie light, but it is flour free!!! Not only is it flour free, but its full of good stuff! I have made banana bread for the family I work for, many times. Every single time I want just a little slice, but can’t. The other day I was looking for recipes for bread without flour because I was going to make a stock of soup for my planned meals. I did find a recipe for one, but on top of that I also found a recipe for banana bread!

I was very optimistic about this recipe. I am no longer that pessimist that looks at at recipe and thinks “well it has no butter, no flour, no yolks, it just can’t be good”. I have become pretty open-minded about healthy recipes. So I was very excited to create this one.

 

Now the only change I made to this recipe was the rolled oats ingredient and the stevia. I didn’t have any rolled oats at hand. I actually had packed just my quick oats and oat flour, but not my old fashioned rolled oats. (yes…yes…i have all three of those). So instead of using the old fashioned oats I used the quick oats. Same amount and everything. I allso didn’t want to put in a ½ cup of stevia so just added 5 packets of organic stevia sweetener. For me that was enough.

The wet and dry mixtures together.

This recipe is SO SIMPLE!!! First you slice all your bananas and strawberries. Spray a pan wilt non-stick EVOO and line half of your sliced bananas on the bottom. Then I went ahead and mixed my dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet in another. Then mix both mixtures together making sure all ingredients mix well. Then pour the mixture on top of your lined bananas then on top put the strawberries and remaining bananas.

Didn’t take pictures before I got to this step Sorries. But this is kinda what it looks before you are done. lol

Now the recipe uses a cake pan, but I didn’t have one so I just used a loaf pan. Which still worked out. The whole nutritional thing is done for 4 servings per batch, but honestly they are huge. You could probably make 8 servings out of the batch. Which would half the calorie serving. They are also super heavy and full of protein so you can just make it into a nice after work-out snack. I love that it kept me nice and full.

Loaf Pan lined with banana slices.

 

 

Give it a shot! It honestly is delish! I mean to my taste buds anyways. Hehehe.! Have some fun baking. 😀 It is a great way to introduce people to healthier desserts as well. Take it to your next potluck.

xoxo,

Bianca

I had mine with a side of coffee and a tbsp of drizzled agave on top. YUM!

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Recipe for Protein Banana Bread (Based off Strawberry-Banana Oatmeal Protein Bake by bodybuilding.com)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of quick cook rolled oats
• 4 scoops of vanilla whey protein powder
• 2 tbsp ground flaxseed
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 5 packets of O Organics Stevia Sweetener
• 4 egg whites
• 1 1/2 cups unsweetened almond milk
• 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 4 oz unsweetened applesauce
• 2 bananas (sliced fairly thin)
• 4 large strawberries (sliced fairly thin)
• Almond Slices (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Spray a loaf pan with non-stick EVOO spray and line with half of the bananas.

3. In a bowl mix together dry ingredients.

4. In another bowl mix the wet ingredients.

5. Mix the ingredients together, making sure there are no dry patches.

6. Pour mixture on top of the sliced bananas.

7. On top of the mixture line the strawberries and bananas.

8. Sprinkle some sliced almonds on top. (This is optional)

9. Bake for 50 – 55 minutes until top is golden brown or until a knife comes out clean.

The nutritional information can be found on bodybuilding.com. I did not adjust mine to my changes so won’t list them here.

 

Click on pic for BodyBuiding Recipe. 🙂

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Wednesday Foodie: Green, Nutty, and Yummy Smoothie

Wednesday February 27^th 2013

Happy Hump Day Dollies.

I am soon beginning an intense 28 day weight strength training. I mean its super intense and it makes me super EXCITED!!!! Yet, one of the things about this program is that almost all the meals are juice meals. You get one meal per day that is a proper meal, but thats it. I have been looking at some smoothies and juices. Of course I searched on pinterest and came across this smoothie and decided to give it a shot. Skinny Green Monster by Gina. (She has some awesome recipes!)

The banana is under all that leafy goodness.

So at a glance you will see that its all green. When I made it I was so ready to be like “ewwwww”, but no! It was remarkably delicious. It was thick, smooth, peanut buttery, bananaish, all around goodness. Hiding the fact that there are 2 cups of raw spinach in there..

Greek yogurt is what gives this smoothie its thickness and smoothness. 😀

Be conscious of how much peanut butter you are adding. We don’t want to make this a fatty smoothie. I know its delicious but keep an eye on it.

I also began adding nuts to it. Just a little handful of brazilian nuts. It adds a little bit of nuttiness to the taste. Yumm.

It is also very filling. Just give your tummy enough time to send the message to your brain that you are full. I know as a society we see a liquid meal and automatically assume it can not fill us up. Yet, I have eaten lunch then followed it with this smoothie and I was super ugly full. I started just taking the smoothie by itself and once I give it some time I can feel that I am actually full.

UNSWEETENED Almond Milk. 1 cup is just 30 calories. Can’t beat that!

The recipe calls for a frozen banana, but I used one at room temperature. I enjoyed the semi-cold taste. If you want it cold then use a frozen ripe banana or ice. I used ice once and that was nice too, but I prefer semi-cold.

End result….yummmy!

So give this awesome smoothie a shot dollies. It is delish!!!! Happy *nom* *nom* Wednesday.

Another great thing about this smoothie is that you can use that spinach that is beginning to wilt a little. Makes no difference here!

Recipe:

Adopted from Skinnytaste.com

• 2 cups of raw spinach
• ½ cup of Fage 0% Greek Yogurt
• 1 ripe banana
• Small handful of brazilian nuts
• 1 tbsp. of Organic Peanut Butter
• ¾ cup of Unsweetened Almond Milk
• Some ice (optional)

Directions:

1. Put all ingredients in blender.
2. Blend on high for a couple minutes, to make sure spinach gets all blended in.
3. Enjoy!

xoxo,

Bianca .

Click on picture to go to the website for recipe and blog. 😀

Wednesday Foodie: Lemony Brussels Sprouts Leaves

Wednesday February 20^th, 2013

Wednesday Foodie: Brussels Sprouts

Hello Dollies!!!

Today’s recipe comes from Pinterest. (The origin of the recipe comes from Martha Stewart’s website. Crisp Brussels Sprouts Leaves.) I was looking for recipes that dealt with just veggies and came across this brussels sprouts recipe. It seemed simple and easy enough to pull off. I gave it a shot.

The recipe calls for the brussels sprouts to be trimmed and the leaves separated. Seems like a pretty simple task until you actually do it. Separating all those leaves from the small ball of the brussels sprout is not the fastest task. It didn’t take me forever, but the prepping time of 15 minutes are mostly all spent on doing that task.

Once you separate the leaves and such it is pretty simple afterwards. You toss them with some olive oil, walnuts, lemon zest, lemon juice, and salt & pepper. Put them in the oven a few minutes and done!

My lemony brussels sprouts leaves. 😀

Mine didn’t really have a crispy taste to them. Some of them did, but most didn’t. I didn’t want to leave them in longer because they had began burning around the edges. Took them out and served them. They were pretty tasty. I did enjoy that they had some flavor to them.

Future Modifications:

Some future modifications that I would do is perhaps adding some spicy ingredient to it. The leaves idea is great if you are entertaining and kinda want to present them nicely, but for just eating at home I think I would just cut them in ¼.

Overall, it is a great recipe for brussels sprouts and making them edible. So give it a shot!

Happy future *nom* *nom*.

xoxo,

Bianca

Click on the picture for the recipe.

Protein Pancakes….YUM!

Wednesday February 6^th, 2013

Hello Dollies!

Wednesday Good Eats Food: Protein Pancakes

Hope you are all enjoying the fact we are so close to the weekend! I am so excited to post another recipe for a bread filled food, WITHOUT the bread! Protein Pancakes! I am blown away by these.

As you all know I do not consume bread. So I have not had a whole pancake for quite some time. I actually had a bite over the holidays. It wasn’t as great as my mind had made it out to be. Anywhoos. So of course now that I discovered you can make cookies without bread, I started looking for other things and came across PANCAKES!!!!

The mixture for this morning

I found the recipe, again, through Pinterest. I pinned it and then went on to the website. This woman…wait I think its a woman…let me check…yes Tiffany..has a whole section on clean eating. Her website is called The Gracious Pantry. One of the things she has a recipe for is Protein Pancakes. When I first saw the recipe it didn’t really click what I was doing, until I was actually making them. So the recipe calls for two things. Yes, thats right. DOS ( thats two in Spanish). Egg Whites and Oats. That’s it ladies and gents. You mix them and dump them on a pan and you get a pancake.

My first try at Protein Pancakes…YUM! Oh yeah..I also had a little almond butter with them.

Now as I was actually making them that is when it clicked that I was making what could also be considered some type of omelette with oats and I was like “whaaa….oh.” I honestly did not have high hopes that this was going to taste like anything, but eggs with oats in them. I was so wrong…yes ok it has a hint of egg taste, but not a lot really. Especially if you add cinnamon or your favorite spice to it. I added cinnamon, put some agave honey on top, along with some blueberries. FREAKING DELICIOUS!

So this morning I decided to make them with whole oats, instead of the quick oats and with bananas, cinnamon, and walnuts. Just for taste, I prefer the quick oats. Its not as oaty. lol.

The first time I did them I did them on a big skillet and that allowed them to spread nice and thin. Today I tried a small skillet which contained them and made them a bit bulkier. The only draw back is since the egg is more bulked up the taste of egg rises up. No biggie really, but I prefer the thin ones.

Small skillet pancakes

 

 

 

 

I put a little of sugar free jam in between them and YUM! I am beyond happy. Now I am finding and thinking of different variations to work on for this recipe. I know the egg factor might throw you off, but honestly give it a shot! Have an fun day and don’t forget to cook some protein pancakes tomorrow morning.

Steaming goodness!

xoxo,

Bianca

 

Click on the picture to go to her recipe. I need to learn to take better pics! lol

Oat Cookies and Revelations

Monday, February 4^th, 2013

Evening Dollies,

Quick post tonight. Just wanted to share with all of you that I can eat cookies again!!!! I have been working hard at creating bread without flour. Today I accomplished that. I made cookies full of protein and goodness. There is absolutely no flour being used, just oats.

Cooling after baking for 30 minutes

I got the recipe from the blog Watching What I Eat. I originally found it on pinterest and pinned it. Then it lead me to her blog with the recipe. I did exactly what she says except for the protein powder. I did not use vanilla. I used chocolate just because I didn’t have the vanilla and really wanted some protein in there.

The result? They are a little darker cookies than the ones shown in her pictures. They also have that chocolatey taste. I also did not add chocolate chips since well I can’t and did not want to actually. Which is funny. That I actually did not want to add chocolate chips. <<Mind Blown!!!!’

They are huge too!!!

I had a “oh my gawd” moment. I was driving to the coffee shop thinking about writing this entry and I realized that…..I realized….*tear*….I realized I would take my no flour, no sugar, no eggs, cookies over any cake or cookie presented to me. I actually believed that I would rather eat my healthy little cookie vs. all those sugary desserts I have so craved for before. I was ASTOUNDED! I could not believe that I am actually CHANGING. I AM CHANGING.

*whispers* “The funniest thing is that I have already changed!” How I eat, what I put down, what I put in my mouth (*giggles*), seriously. It is healthy 90% of the time. No I believe 98% of the time. It is insane! I really can not believe it to be honest. I really just can not. Anywhoos. (<<My little “minimize good things” voice)

Take a peek inside. 🙂

Dollies please check this cookie recipe and try it out! They are so tasty and honestly filling! You can not have more than like 2 at a seating. Great thing?! Since it is mostly protein they keep you full, unlike regular cookies that make you go back for more. *sigh* It is a good day for me. 🙂

xoxo,

Bianca

P.S. I am thinking that you can save the trouble of spooning these and making them into cookies. Instead just dump the batter in a pan. Then once done cut into bars. PERFECT after work-out bar snack!!!!

Click on picture for recipe!!! -Watching What I Eat

Detox: Veggie Soup Recipe

Friday, February 1^st, 2013

Afternoon Dollies,

I’m making up for not writing all week 😛 .

I just wanted to put up a quick recipe entry. One that I made and really loved! It was truly delicious. I thought I had taken a bunch of pictures of it too, but I can’t find them. 😦 Sad. I will have to make it again and take more pics for all of you.

As I was going through my 7 day detox I was really limited as to what to eat. At least I believed so, but I wasn’t really. I was just not really aware of how to cook with vegetables. I had never had to experience cooking with just veggies. Well I got on my computer and on the good old internet and found some awesome recipes. This is one.

The recipe is super simple, super easy. All you do is get the veggies, cut them up, boil the broth, and empty them into the pot. Add a little creole, or a lot. Depending what you like. Leave it to simmer for 30 minutes and bam! Awesome soup!

I can not recommend this soup enough. It is healthy, it is stocky, and it fills you up!!! AND YOU CAN EAT AS MUCH AS YOU WANT OF IT!!!!!

The recipe calls for chicken broth, but I easily replaced that with vegetable broth. I am sure it would be as tasty with chicken broth. Dollies try it out!

Recipe: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/quick-and-easy-vegetable-soup/

xoxo,

Bianca

P.S. Make sure to leave a nice comment to the lady that put up this post! I mean if you liked it. 😛