Peanut-Banana Espresso Smoothie

This week I'm back with another recipe I discovered via Pinterest. This is a smoothie from Martha Stewart that had somehow escaped my notice until we crossed paths on Pinterest. I gave it a shot one weekend morning when Josh was out of town. I didn't want to make coffee for one, but I definitely still needed to get a caffeine wake-up call. I thought this might be just the time to try this espresso laced sip. I whipped up a half-batch in my blender, as this recipe serves 2 and as I mentioned I was sipping solo that morning. This is certainly not low on calories, what with the peanut butter, but with the addition of the banana and milk it's full of protein that kept me full and gave me plenty of energy. I used soy milk for my version, since that's what we keep around the house. I figure after that substitution that this hits the mark around 280 calories, which is just under my typical breakfast count so not too shabby on the whole. The espresso definitely provided the perk I was looking for. And on top of everything I've gone on and on about- it tastes great! The combined smooth and creamy flavors of banana, peanut butter, and the rich, almost chocolatey espresso are delicious together. This is a great alternative to the typical fruity-sweet smoothies, and can step in for your coffee and your cereal all in one!

Peanut-Banana Espresso Smoothie
Adapted from Martha Stewart; Recipe serves 2

1 cup plain soy milk
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
1/4 cup natural creamy peanut butter
1 ripe banana, cut into thirds
1 cup ice

• Blend soy milk, espresso powder, peanut butter, banana, and ice. Enjoy!
  

Using What You Have (And Don't Have)- Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes

I have been under the control of a vicious cold bug since last Tuesday. I'm partially to blame, because I have been eating far from healthy lately. In part due to a foot injury which has kept me on my butt as often as possible, and in part due to sheer laziness. Either way, I certainly haven't been helping my immune system along. So this weekend I figured I could use a health food boost. Sure, the boost came in syrup covered form, but are we really going to nit pick? I had to work with what I had because this was a pre-grocery shopping trip meal. So, what did I have? Several bananas nearly beyond the point of usability. What did I not have? Eggs. But I kept coming back to pancakes, which I had been craving for weeks. So, I turned to Google for an egg-less pancake recipe. I came across this recipe on Recipezaar. It had some good reviews so I decided to use it as a starting point and after a few adjustments I was ready to get to flipping some flap jacks!

Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes
Recipe adapted from Recipezaar; Makes 12-16


1 1/3 cups white whole wheat flour
1/3 cup toasted wheat germ
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons sugar
1 1/2 cups soy milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 mashed bananas

• Whisk together the flour, wheat germ, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and sugar.
• Add to dry ingredients the milk, vanilla and mashed bananas. Mix until just combined.
• Cook by 1/4 cup full on well oiled skillet or griddle over medium/medium-high heat. Serve warm.

My notes: These pancakes didn't come out as sweet as I thought they might. I considered increasing the sugar, as one of the recipe reviewers suggested, but I thought that the very ripe bananas might lend enough sweetness on their own. Next time I'll definitely increase, and might even switch to brown sugar like the Cinnamon-Oat Pancakes that I love. Also, since we're soy milk drinkers around these parts and I was out of eggs this recipe is vegan friendly.

Banana Blueberry Muffins

The same weekend I made the Cinnamon-Oat Pancakes I had some over-ripe bananas and a pint of blueberries that needed to be put to good use. On the weekend I usually hate making dinner, but am more than happy to make breakfast since I don't have the opportunity to all week long. So, breakfast was the obvious use for the surplus fruit. I did some searching online and came across a recipe from Everyday Food that I thought would fit the bill perfectly. These muffins were in the January 2008 issue, but I apparently overlooked them. To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of banana-flavored baked goods. Banana bread and I were never fast friends. But I needed to use these bananas up so I thought I'd give this recipe a go. These muffins were just sweet enough, and not too detrimental to your health thanks to the whole wheat and wheat germ. If you've got some bananas waiting to be used then I recommend you give these muffins a shot.

Healthy Banana-Blueberry Muffins
Recipe from Everyday Food; Makes 12














1 cup whole-wheat flour (spooned and leveled)
3/4 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1/4 cup wheat germ
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed light-brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 ripe bananas (about 1 pound)
1/3 cup reduced-fat (2 percent) milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup frozen blueberries

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners. In a bowl, whisk together flours, wheat germ, baking soda, and salt.
• In a large bowl, beat butter and sugars with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. In another bowl, mash bananas with a fork (you should have 3/4 cup); stir in milk and vanilla.
• With mixer on low, alternately add flour mixture and banana mixture to butter mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture; mix just until combined. Fold in frozen blueberries.
• Divide batter among muffin cups. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, 25 to 28 minutes, rotating pan halfway through. Let cool in pan 10 minutes; transfer muffins to a rack to cool 10 minutes more.

My notes: I used soy milk instead of 2%, and I used fresh blueberries since I had them. This recipe was printed in January, which I assume is why they used frozen.

Healthy Treat

Josh went back to the doctor today and got a prescription for Nexium (which incidentally is expensive without insurance), so hopefully he'll be on the road to recovery tomorrow morning. For tonight's dinner I made scrambled eggs, and some turkey bacon that I picked up on the way home. Josh has lost 7 pounds over the past week, so I figured he could use the protein. And to try and cheer him up I put together a little sundae for dessert.

Yogurt Banana Split
Recipe by moi
1 baby banana, peeled and split
low-fat vanilla yogurt
granola
maraschino cherry

• Pretty self explanatory- top the split banana with yogurt, then granola, and top with a cherry.

My notes: The cherry is key, in my opinion. The combination of the banana and cherry flavors really gives you that banana split taste. And it's really pretty good for you, especially since I used the low-fat granola I made a couple weeks ago.