Healthy banana bread

It seems like I always have a couple of bananas lying around that have gone bad. I used to make bad-for-you types of banana bread, but I want to stop that. This recipe came out of the magazine Cooking Light and comes highly recommended. (The actual recipe calls for 2 cups white flour but wheat works just as well and, of course, is healthier.) Apparently this recipe won a bunch of awards and stuff.

Oh, and btw, when I don't have time to make banana bread but I have bananas that really need to be used soon, I just freeze them and then use them later after thawing them.

Classic Banana Bread

We love this bread's moist texture and simple flavor. Banana bread should form a crack down the center as it bakes--a sign the baking soda is doing its job.
2 cups wheat flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)
1/3 cup plain low-fat yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cooking spray
Preheat oven to 350°.
Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.
Place sugar and butter in a large bowl, and beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 1 minute). Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add banana, yogurt, and vanilla; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist. Spoon batter into an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.
Yield: 1 loaf, 14 servings (serving size: 1 slice)
CALORIES 187 (21% from fat); FAT 4.3g (sat 2.4g,mono 1.2g,poly 0.3g); IRON 1mg; CHOLESTEROL 40mg; CALCIUM 20mg; CARBOHYDRATE 34.4g; SODIUM 198mg; PROTEIN 3.3g; FIBER 1.1g
Cooking Light, SEPTEMBER 2003"

100% Whole Wheat Bread

I like this bread better than the last wheat bread recipe I posted. The vital wheat gluten makes it unusually chewy and not as dense as 100% whole wheat bread usually turns out to be.

I found the recipe in my Bosch cookbook. I make quite a few changes however since I don't have things like tofu drink mix on hand. I need to try it making it someday exactly as written but for now here's what I do: First of all, I only like to make two loaves at a time so I half the recipe and that makes two good sized loaves. I skip the tofu mix and the dough enhancer. I add three heaping Tbsp. of vital wheat gluten (to make up for the tofu and dough enhancer.) And lastly, for some reason to make the dough pull from the sides I have to add quite a bit more flour than the recipe calls for. When I made it in Utah, I added about 7 1/2 cups flour which would make it more like 15 cups of flour in the full recipe. But in NY, I use only about 6 1/2 cups until it pulls away from the sides, which is still more than the range that the recipe calls for.

100% Whole Wheat Bread

Makes 6-8 1 lbs. loaves.

5 cups warm water

2/3 cup oil

2/3 cup honey

2 Tbsp. salt

2 Tbsp. tofu drink mix (optional)

2 Tbsp. SAF instant yeast

2 Tbsp. Vital Wheat Gluten

2 Tbsp. Dough Enhancer

10-12 cups freshly milled wheat flour

In a mixing bowl, put water, 5 cups of wheat flour, oil, honey, yeast, gluten, dough enhancer, and tofu. Mix on low till combined. Then add approximately 5 more cups of flour and salt. Mix, and continue to add flour 1/4 cup at a time until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Then knead for another 4-5 minutes. The dough should feel soft not grainy. Form into loaves and place in pans. let rise until double in size. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until top is golden brown.

The Yummiest Brussel Sprouts Ever

Peter hates brussel sprouts, and to be honest, so do I most of the time. They have a very strong flavor that is often overpowering. But this recipe tastes great. The garlic and olive oil (even better if you use butter, but not as healthy) gives it a great flavor. Seriously, when I make these, I can't get enough of them. Peter likes them, too.

2-3 cups brussel sprouts
1 Tbs. olive oil
6-10 cloves of garlic (depending on the size of the garlic cloves)

Wash brussel sprouts and cut off the core on the bottom. Slice each sprout into 4-5 slices. Slice the garlic cloves into medium to large slices. Combine all ingredients in a frying pan and sautee on medium until brussel sprouts are tender.

Chicken with Lemon-Caper Sauce

A friend made this for us recently. I could not believe how good it was. Definitely restaurant worthy. And so healthy too. The nutrition content is below.

Unfortunately you will have to buy some alcohol to make it. Vermouth is a liquor, in case you didn't know (I didn't).

Ingredients

• 1/4 teaspoon salt, divided
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper, divided
• 4 (4-ounce) skinned, boned chicken breast halves
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Cooking spray
• 1/3 cup extra-dry vermouth
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 1/2 tablespoons capers
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Preparation

Sprinkle 1/8 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper evenly over chicken. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook 6 minutes on each side or until chicken is done. Remove from skillet. Set aside; keep warm.

Add 1/8 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon pepper, vermouth, lemon juice, and capers to skillet, scraping skillet to loosen browned bits. Cook until reduced to 1/4 cup (about 2 minutes). Stir in parsley. Spoon sauce over chicken.

Nutritional Information

Calories:

163 (27% from fat)

Fat:

4.8g (sat 0.8g,mono 2.8g,poly 0.6g)

Protein:

26.5g

Carbohydrate:

2.1g

Fiber:

0.1g

Cholesterol:

66mg

Iron:

1mg

Sodium:

474mg

Calcium:

17mg

Almond Honey Power Bar

Finally I found some granola bars that really ARE good for you. Sweeteners are honey and raw sugar. And they are sooo good. Btw, I don't use the dried fruit listed. I use dried cranberries and blueberries instead of currants and raisins. If you cut this recipe into 8 bars, each bar is 244 calories.

Next time I make these I'm going to put in only half the sugar called for. They aren't super sweet or anything but we just want to see if we still like them with less sugar.

• 1 cup(s) old fashioned rolled oats
• 1/4 cup(s) slivered almonds
• 1/4 cup(s) sunflower seeds
• 1 tablespoon(s) flaxseeds, preferably golden
• 1 tablespoon(s) sesame seeds
• 1 cup(s) unsweetened whole-grain puffed cereal (see Tips & Techniques)
• 1/3 cup(s) currants
• 1/3 cup(s) chopped dried apricots
• 1/3 cup(s) chopped golden raisins
• 1/4 cup(s) creamy almond butter (see Tips)
• 1/4 cup(s) turbinado sugar (see Tips)
• 1/4 cup(s) honey
• 1/2 teaspoon(s) vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon(s) salt

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Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat an 8-inch-square pan with cooking spray.
2. Spread oats, almonds, sunflower seeds, flaxseeds, and sesame seeds on a large, rimmed baking sheet. Bake until the oats are lightly toasted and the nuts are fragrant, shaking the pan halfway through, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl. Add cereal, currants, apricots, and raisins; toss to combine.
3. Combine almond butter, sugar, honey, vanilla, and salt in a small saucepan. Heat over medium-low, stirring frequently, until the mixture bubbles lightly, 2 to 5 minutes.
4. Immediately pour the almond butter mixture over the dry ingredients and mix with a spoon or spatula until no dry spots remain. Transfer to the prepared pan. Lightly coat your hands with cooking spray and press the mixture down firmly to make an even layer (wait until the mixture cools slightly if necessary). Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes; cut into 8 bars.
   
   Carb Servings: 1 starch, 1 1/2 other carbohydrate, 2 fat. Carbohydrate Servings: 2 1/2. Nutrition Bonus: Magnesium (19% daily value).

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Tips & Techniques

Ingredient notes: For this recipe, we like unsweetened puffed multigrain cereal, such as Kashi's 7 Whole Grain Puffs. Almond butter can be found at natural-foods stores and large supermarkets, near the peanut butter. Turbinado sugar is steam-cleaned raw cane sugar. It's coarse-grained and light brown in color, with a slight molasses flavor. Find it in the natural-foods section of large supermarkets or at natural-foods stores.

Quinoa with Corn and Basil

I thought I'd break the posting silence. I love this salad. You can do so many different variations of it. For example, last time I made it I cooked the quinoa in chicken broth and added sauteed chicken to the salad. Made it so it was a full meal instead of a side dish. I especially like this salad in the summer because it's so stinkin' hot in our house and so a hot meal does not sound good. This is cool, healthy and refreshing.

1 1/2 c. quinoa

1 t. salt

1/2 c. roasted red pepper (jarred) chopped, wring out liquid

2 c. frozen corn, thawed

1 c. (packed) basil

2 T. olive oil

5 T. lemon juice

1. Cook Quinoa in 2 cups water with salt until all water is absorbed - 15 min or so. Cool.

2. Add olive oil to quinoa. Toss.

3. Add all vegetables.

4. Add lemon juice.

Split Pea Soup

I make this recipe all the time. Split pea soup has a bad reputation for some reason, but honestly this soup is one of Stephen and I's favorite meals. Stephen begs me to make it for him when I haven't for a while, I kid you not. It"s SO good for you, SO cheap, SO easy to throw together and SOO good. I've looked at lots of different recipes for it and kind of combined them to come up with this recipe. But I change it up all the time, putting different amounts of everything, and it always turns out great.

I'm counting calories right now so I measured everything out this last time I cooked it, totaled up the calories, and divided by the amount of cups it makes. If you follow this recipe exactly, it's 192 calories per cup -- really filling for not that many calories!

This makes A LOT of soup - almost 15 cups of soup - so beware. We like to make it and eat it for lunch for a few days. Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

12 cups water (use more or less depending on whether or like thick or thin pea soup)
8 chicken bouillon cubes
3 cups dry split peas
3 cups chopped ham
ham bone (I don't always have one to throw in. Works fine without it)
2 cups chopped carrots
1 1/4 cup chopped celery
1 1/2 cups onion
Dried thyme to taste
3 bay leaves
Crushed black peppercorns (not necessary if you don't have these on hand but they are SO good!)

Just throw everything into a big pot, bring to a boil, then turn down the heat to a simmer until the peas are a consistency you like. I like it when the peas are totally mushy - takes about an hour I think.

Serve with homemade wheat bread. Yummmm!