Bananas

I am LOVING bananas this week.
I have made two AMAZING meals that involved them and the thought of only having two left in the kitchen makes me a little upset.

First recipe I want to share is the baked oatmeal from Skinnytaste.



http://www.skinnytaste.com/2012/01/baked-oatmeal-with-blueberries-and.html

I LOVE the taste of the quick oats, the fresh bursts of blueberries, and the warm bananas that all just seem to melt perfectly together.
I am saving the two bananas for this meal for this weekend :)

I also love the banana smoothie seen on Pinterest that is made with quick oats, almonds, honey greek yogurt, and bananas



http://www.chiquitabananas.com/Banana-Recipes/Banana-Oatmeal-Smoothie-recipe.aspx

So I ate this after my circuit workout yesterday and was so satisfied! It makes two servings and each serving is 5 WW points (which still trying to figure that out) so I saved the other half for Jake's lunch and he LOVED it! I could eat this everday.
Seriously.

When doing weight watchers, I never ate bananas because they were so high in points but they are just so darn good!

I was looking up health benefits of bananas and found some interesting posts found here.
Just thought I'd share that with you.
But it still doesn't change the WW point value :(
Oh well.

I found some other recipes for bananas that looked so amazing. I love banana bread but I hate adding the oil, butter, and sugars to it because I know that makes it even less amazing....well you know what I mean.
I found a recipe that subsitutes the sugar with honey (which I may use Agave) and oil with unsweetened apple sauce (which I just made a a crock pot full of sweet smelling fresh apple sauce!).

yummo!

Ingredients

• 2 cups whole wheat flour ( I LOVE King Arthur flour!)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup sugar free applesauce
• 3/4 cup honey
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 3 mashed overripe bananas

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together applesauce and honey. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack. 

 

Still trying to have healthy meals in the gordon house. I do want to make some valentine cookies for Jake's co-workers next week because I got the cutest set of Valentine cut outs for Christmas that I just HAVE to use. 

We sold our car! We actually sold it to the same couple that canceled on us that first night but we both felt that they deserved the car after getting to know them. I miss it. Jake had to drive me to my study Monday because I am too big of a chicken to drive that truck all the way to Ford Island but he got some yummy cookies out of it and a good snuggle with our jake :) (Jake the gorgeous lab that is supposed to come live with us forever in our imaginery world.)

Stupid Super Bowl has totally ruined by Sunday night this week.....apparently it is such a big deal, ABC is waiting a WHOLE week to show the next episode of Once Upon a Time.

Lame.

We are still waiting to see where God takes us. I am trying to have an open heart and mind to anywhere. Maybe He will move us to Ireland. That I would be totally ok with :)

Speaking of Ireland.....Jake and I are seriously considering taking our first vacation there soon! He should be getting 2-4 weeks of paid leave coming up and we would LOVE to go spend a few days in Cork and look at all the museums, pubs, scenery, and people.

Ugh, I would just die if I got to go there. It is suprisingly only an 8 hour trip from Chicago to Cork and cost less than the amount of money we spent to go home for Christmas this year. That includes food, airfare, and 2 weeks at the Rattissan.

Hawaii is totally overrated. haha

Oh well we can dream can't we :)

Maybe we can bring back an Irish baby!!!! ;)