July 30th...Snacks: Healthy Banana chips!

So I'm looking in my fruit bowl at my over ripe collection of bananas and wondering what to do with them all?  Then I remembered that I ask the my clients in the gym to send me some of their favorite snack ideas.  Rebecca had brought in these homemade banana chips and they were sooo good!  So here's my first attempt at Banana chips!  But first I'm going to tell you HOW bananas chips CAN BE a healthy snack...bananas are a great source of potassium and fiber.  Why is this good for me?  Potassium, is a simple mineral with a crucial job: helping your heart beat.  A hundred thousand times a day, potassium helps trigger your heart to squeeze blood through your body.  Potassium is a critical electrolyte  which allows our muscles to move, our nerves to fire and our kidneys to filter blood.  Fiber, I could go on and on about how great fiber is for you, but all you have to know is that it keeps you having regular poops!  Good enough reason for me!  

  

 All you need is lemon juice and bananas!  Be careful, many store bought banana chips are deep fried and covered in sugar!  READ YOUR LABELS!

 Peel and dice bananas up into thin pieces, quickly toss them in lemon juice.  The picture shows 3 bananas but I ended up using 4...

Then place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.  Set oven to about 200-225 degrees  depending on your oven.  Bake for 1 hour and 45 mins.  I thought I'd be creative and sprinkle some of the banana chips with Cinnamon and Mango-Curry seasoning, just to mix things up a bit...

OK so here I am 2 hours and 10 mins. later. I turned up the oven to 225 degrees after 1 hour and 45 mins.  I've had some samples to test the crispiness of the chips and I have to say YUM...but this is crazy!  Good thing I have stuff to do around the house today, because these chips are taking way too long for my liking.  In the picture above I've decided to flip the chips over and put them on a new sheet of parchment paper.  In hindsight, maybe brushing on lemon juice lightly, would have been better than a quick toss in the juice...maybe I made them too wet that is why they're taking so long!

And here you go!  OK, OK they were worth the wait...just barely.  The mango-curry is pretty awesome tasting.  JUST REMEMBER to not eat the whole pan...about 20 chips is equal to one banana, 80 calories.  These would be great added to some Greek yogurt!

July 18th...Burgers: Beef & Pork Apple Spice burgers!

Arrrrg!  The on-going saga of "whats for dinner?"  Were well into summer and I'm bored with hamburgers already...so I thought let's shake things up a bit.  I cruised through my cook books and the internet seeing what I made my taste buds water.  I came across a pork and stuffing style burger...I'm doing the Paleo diet so bread/stuffing is a no-no...here's what I made...

 I combined lean ground beef and pork.  Apparently the pork makes for a juicier burger.  I'm using Italian spice, garlic powder, Sea salt and pepper, 2 apples and an onion...

 Chop the apples and onions up into into little pieces and I say "little" because I did not do that.  It's not a huge deal, it's just that when I put the burgers on the bar-b-q, I ended up loosing some of the apples and onions off the edges because they were too big to be held in by the mixture...

 I used 2 packages of meat, one pork and one beef.  I can't stand recipes that serve 4pp...I have 3 boys and a husband, so I'm looking for realistic recipes that will leave me with left-overs for the next night or to freeze and save for later...come on people were hungry here...4pp serving WTF!  As you can see I have separated the mixture into 2 bowls.  Good thing I take pictures after the fact, because I tried to mix this all together in one bowl, what a mess all over the counter!

This recipe made me 14 burgers and one mini one.  As you can see the burgers are a good size and so are the pieces of apple lol!  Don't be afraid to make your burgers big as they will shrink up on the bar-b-que.  These were just a little bit bigger than the palm of my hand.  Cook burgers on medium on the bar-b-que for about 6-7 mins. per side.

OK these turned out really good!  Super moist and super tasty.  I served mine on a bed of coleslaw mixed with 2 tbsp of Guacamole.  The burger is about 240 calories for the size I made.  I was thinking a little dash of cinnamon would have been good as well, next time! 

July 5th...I Mel-er-ized a Dark chocolate, Almond-butter frozen Banana sandwich!

Alright, I will not take credit for this SUPER...YUMMINESS of a party in your mouth!  I saw these posted on Face Book and as awesome as they looked, I knew they would not be bikini body friendly!  So I decided I would Mel-er-ize them into something healthy.  All you need are 3 simple ingredients... 

So the original recipe uses bananas, peanut butter and milk chocolate...I'm using Almond Butter because it's healthier than peanut butter...just read the labels.  Almond butter has 1 ingredient and peanut butter has at least 10 and 8 of which, I cannot pronounce.  Banana is a Banana.  And Dark chocolate, has less sugar and fat and, a higher Cocoa bean count.  This makes it higher in nutrients.  One of those nutrients are flavonoids, a special class of antioxidants which help prevent cell damage in your body...

First you want to get the chocolate melting, above I'm using a double boiler.  Start this process out on low-med. heat, it will take you a few minutes to get everything else going and you don't want to burn the chocolate...

Secondly, you need to slice up your bananas HINT...leave your bananas in the fridge to get hard so that when you slice them into bite size pieces, they don't get all mushy and slimy...

Next, I use just a dab of Almond butter, just enough to hold the bananas together.  Don't go crazy and load them up as if it were a "Smores"...remember 1 Tbsp = 100 calories!

Once your mini "banana-butter" sandwiches are built, your ready for the chocolate!

Now that the dark chocolate has melted, place Parchment paper on a cookie sheet and begin to dab a little on the top of each...

Once you have finished, place them in the freezer for at least an hour.  I know that's a long time to wait, but it will be worth it!  You have to think in terms of "less is more" here, because the ingredients are richer in flavor, therefore you can use less, and EAT MORE!

I used 3 bananas, 6 squares of chocolate and about 1 Tbsp of Almond butter, which made me 25 pieces.  Each mouthful is about or less than 25 calories, so take a bite, let it melt in your mouth and enjoy!

July 4th...don't waste it, save it and freeze it!

 OK I know you are looking at this picture and wondering, what is she up too...well I was making my homemade Quinoa Granola yesterday and the recipe called for 1/4 cup of canned pumpkin.  I opened the monster can of pumpkin and scooped out the 1/4 cup. This hardly made a dent in the can and now, what to do with the rest?

Every once in while, if I have enough coffee my brain can be pretty clever!  I knew I needed to freeze the pumpkin and that it had to be in little batches as that is what most my recipes require hmmm?  I took out the empty ice cube tray in the freezer and I say empty because no one ever refills it! 

Then I scooped out 1/4 cup pre-portions of the pumpkin and put it in the trays...keep your edges clean so that you can slide it out easy with a spoon.

Some how I had these giant freezer bags in my cupboard, I think I got them from the dollar store, anyhow I wrapped the tray with Clip Wrap first so the pumpkin wouldn't make a mess all over the bag, then I can reuse the bag again.

Once frozen, you can pop each one out and store in a smaller freezer bag for when you need it...remember to label the bag, because when it gets lost at the back of the freezer, you will know what it is!