Foodie Friday -- Banana Nut Bread

Yeah, yeah, don't fall off your chair just because I'm finally posting a Foodie Friday blog post.

It all started when I bought a bunch of bananas. And they ripened. Quickly, too quickly. I had four that were seriously overripe and I needed to do something with them. Previously, I would peel, slice and freeze them for smoothies, but I didn't want to have a bunch of bananas in the freezer.

So I dug out my mom's banana bread recipe.

Besides, I wanted to try out my Mother's Day gift--Temp-tations Bakeware.

Here's the recipe:

Banana Nut Bread

2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup shortening
2 eggs
3 Tbls. sour milk or buttermilk
1 cup mashed bananas
2 cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Thoroughly mix together sugar, shortening and eggs. Stir in milk and bananas. Mix dry ingredients together and stir in. Blend in nuts. Pour into well-greased 9 X 5 X 3 inch loaf pan. Let stand 20 min before baking. Bake 60-65 minutes at 350 degrees until done.

Hints & Suggestions:

• check for doneness by inserting toothpick into center of loaf. Gooey on the toothpick means it needs to cook longer
• spread the raw dough to the edges, indenting the center--if you want it to be more even than the poofy one I turned out.
• my loaf pan was slightly smaller than the recommended size--adjust the cooking time, as needed
• Other fruit can be used: apples, finely diced, or canned pumpkin, but you might want to add spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, etc.

Enjoy!
Later, Peeps

Foodie Friday -- Green Monster Smoothie

I know I have a few new people poking around the site--shoot, I sent you here! But when you looked up Green Monster, you probably got the blog that had the Luna Moth caterpiller. Those caterpillars are definitely green monsters!, but they aren't the one you're looking for.

A little background on this one is called for, I think. When I first joined WW in 2011. . . for the 4th time, I decided that I wasn't going to buy "products", not the WW stuff, not Lean Cuisine, not any of that nasty Fat Free artificial cheese stuff. If I wasn't going to use those products when I reached goal weight and after, then why would I try to use them now?? IMO, this is why so many people try and fail.They use a product (or a food source-Nutrasystem) until they reach goal and then they stop and go back to their old patterns.  If want an Oreo, or a yummy homemade chocolate chip cookie dripping with all sorts of fats, sugars and bad stuff, then I will eat it and be ACCOUNTABLE FOR THE POINT HIT.

It's all about making choices, my friends. Some days we don't make very good choices, but we can go weeks and make excellent choices. And other times, we can plan to be bad, very, very bad. ;-)

I'll be upfront and tell you that I don't like milk or any milk products other than cheese (I've had to seriously cut back--a serving has way to many points for me!). And I very rarely checked off all my milk squares under the healthy guidelines to get my smiley face.

1) -- I hate skim milk. I refuse to buy skim milk. Yes, I know it has the same protein as regular milk, but I won't do it. Besides, sometimes you need a little fat in your diet to keep you feeling fuller longer.

2) -- I won't buy a smoothie mix. PERIOD. Why would I buy something that will cost me 4-6 points, when I can go old school? This recipe costs the points of the milk, since fruit and veg are zero point value. AND don't you let those WW leaders tell you that just because you blend this that you can't count it as part of your healthy checks! Just don't tell them! :-) They have to play by the corporate gameplan. The theory is that when a product (spinach) is denatured (broken down by blending), then the body doesn't have to work as hard to digest it, which means it takes less energy, thus burning less fat. Understandable, but you are still getting ALL the nutrients of the original product as it isn't broken down by the cooking process.
Hey! It's worked for me! Can't argue with success!

3) --  I had been making strawberry-banana smoothies, but my niece (a diabetic) turned me on to the Green Monster website. I don't use other weird ingredients suggested (wheat grass--I'm NOT a cow, thank you very much), but it was an eye-opener and I have tried my own renditions using pomegranate seeds.

I use a hand blender and an old Hidden Valley dressing maker container (plastic). Just make sure it can hold at least 2 cups or more.You can use a regular blender, too, if you want to add a lot of ice to make it into a shake like consistency. I do not use any artificial sweetener, but if you need a little more sweet try adding a little at a time. I find the banana gives me enough sweet to satisfy, even when I use a greener one.

Green Monster Smoothie

3/4 cup 2% milk

banana

spinach

Measure your milk. Break up banana and blend. Add handfuls of spinach, blending until smooth. Keep adding spinach until desired amount is reached. For added thickness, add ice cubes until reaching desired consistency.

Added bonus -- you can't taste the spinach. Er, check your teeth. If you left tiny chunks of spinach, then you probably will find some remnants in your teeth . . . jus' sayin'.

Makes @ 2 cups.

This is only 2 points! AND you can mark off three of those fruits and veggies under the healthy check guidelines if you end up using 2 cups of spinach. 1 cup leafy greens = 1 healthy check mark. I usually make this after I go on my 3 mile walk (drinking 3 cups of water, btw). I'm stuffed for HOURS.

If you want the shake consistency without using ice cubes, peel and freeze your banana.

Or make a strawberry-banana smoothie by using frozen, slices strawberries (check the package to make sure no sugar is added) to the banana milk mixture.

Enjoy, Peeps!!