Fried Honey and Cinnamon Bananas

Okay, so this isn't exactly a "fried" banana more of a heated through banana! It's delicious and healthy! I pinned this awhile back, and couldn't wait to try it, so today was the day! You can see the health information on this snack at The Crohn's Journey Foundation's website! They break down each ingredient with all the nutritional facts about each one! It's worth the read even if you don't make this yummy snack! Let's get started...

Ingredients

One organic banana

Coconut Oil Cooking Spray

1 TB Organic honey

1/2 TB water

Cinnamon

Cut your banana into small rounds and set aside. In your skillet spray your coconut oil spray, and heat the skillet over medium/high heat. Add the banana rounds and brown on one side. Once they are browned, flip the over (carefully) and start browning the other side. Turn the stove off at this point and add your PRE-MIXED honey and water. At this point it's going to start getting very bubbly, and once that dies down you can sprinkle on the cinnamon. If you LOVE the taste of cinnamon be generous, if you are just adding for a touch of flavor, a light dusting will do! Remove them from the pan and let them cool, then enjoy! 

Honey and water mix

I didn't have the cooking spray, so I added a little bit of coconut oil to the pan! I use this for SOOOO many things including, toothpaste, hair conditioner, lotion, sunscreen, etc etc! It's awesome!

Here is the banana in the skillet getting browned! 

I LOVE cinnamon! If you'll take my advice and read up on the website where this recipe was pulled, you'll find that you might start adding cinnamon to recipes when you can :) I've added it to sloppy joe mix before and it was awesome! If you like Coney Island, did you know they add cinnamon to their chili!? (Not that that will make their coney's healthy lol but they are delish!)

Here it is just finishing up! I can still smell ALL of the ingredients in the house! 

Stay tuned for a new recipe...Shrimp & Grits! 

Until then...

Pineapple-Banana Smoothie

Smoothie Time!! 

This was a great pick me up yesterday when I was starting to run out of energy!

If you are wondering what all the health benefits are that you might get from a pineapple, then check out this information on Livestrong! You will be very happy to know that this whole smoothie is very low in calories (147 for one serving), and packed with benefits for your health and well being! 

Ingredients

1 1/2 c fresh diced pineapple

1 Banana

1/2 c yogurt

1/2 c of blueberry pomegranate juice

10 ice cubes

(I picked this up in the refrigerator section at the store in a single serving container because it sounded to good to pass up. I decided later that night I would rather put in a smoothie to add extra flavor. Great decision!!)

Throw all of these ingredients in your blender, and pulse until you have the texture you like. I couldn't drink it fast enough! 

Positively Refreshing!

Stay tuned tomorrow, for another round of tortellini crock-pot soup! My best friend was looking for the recipe I put on the blog awhile back, and made a different one by mistake! So we're going to give it a go to let you know the difference! (The pin on Pinterest said that it is the BEST CROCK POT recipe they have made in awhile. I'm game for anything that people think is THE BEST lol.) 

Until then...

Go Green

I'm so proud of myself! I made a green smoothie and I LOVED it! I see these floating around on Pinterest all the time, but the color has always made me second guess the flavor of these drinks. It's kind of like eating green eggs and ham! I just don't think a drink should be quite so "green" especially when I know the green comes from a leafy substance I usually put in salad or something else! So, I decided to give it a try and was very surprised that I couldn't taste the "green" at all. Instead this almost tastes like a banana & cinnamon drink! So let's get started on this delicious and nutritious drink...

Ingredients

2 c Kale

1 c ice

1/2 c almond milk

1/2 c plain yogurt

2 TB peanut butter

1 banana

6 strawberries

1 tsp cinnamon

1 TB Chia seeds

Put all this together in your blender and blend away! 

This smoothie is packed with potassium (660 mg), vitamin A (210% of your daily value), vitamin C (178% of your daily value), among others! It has 276 calories, which made for a great snack because it's about the same as eating 2 small bags of Doritos and much better for you! I wasn't tempted to snack on anything else because it is very satisfying! I came across this recipe at Tone It Up! 

If you want to know more about Chia seeds and their nutritional value you can check out this list on Livestrong. I throw some in to my water bottles and juices sometimes! The "texture" is something I had to get used to, however I barely notice it anymore!    

Stay tuned for the photo challenge update and many more recipes! 

Until then...

Banana-Oat Smoothie

BANANA-OAT SMOOTHIE

One of my new favorite things to whip up in the kitchen since I re-placed my blender are smoothies! There are soooo many options, and I like to try all of them and keep notes in my recipe book about whether or not I liked them and if they worked! How does a smoothie "work" you ask? Well, there are so many combinations the possibilities are almost endless. Feeling sick? Make an anti-oxidant smoothie! Need some energy? Make an energizing smoothie! DJ and I have been trying to do better with tracking what we eat, so we can see what we're missing out on during the day! Now that I'm trying to get more in shape, it's especially important that I'm getting enough protein and calories to make up for what I burn off exercising! It's not always easy, and I'm NOT a calorie counter and HATE doing so, but it's important to stay healthy-so here we go down that road! 

So here are a few reasons why this smoothie is packed with a nourishing punch!  

According to LiveStrong, bananas come with the following:

Vitamins A,B,C,D,E, & K

Potassium

Healthy source of carbs

Fiber

Low Sodium

So with that being said, here are the ingredients...

1 Banana

1/2 c plain yogurt 

1/2 c milk (we use Almond)

1/4 c oats

1 TB honey

1 c ice

All you have to do is put all these ingredients into your blender and mix away! 

This particular recipe serves 2, and each serving is 165 calories! I would much rather down one of these for a snack than grab a bag of potato chips! 

You can find a list of smoothies at Whole Living, which I'm sure you'll hear back from me about more of these! I'll be the first to admit that I'm not always the healthiest eater, but I'm working on it!!

In goes the yogurt!

Yes, I have an OU gnome in my kitchen! We love him!!

Everything is in except for the ice!

Delicious!!

Until next time...