Tasty Tuesday – Banana Oatmeal Bread

Hi there!

It’s Tasty Tuesday!!

Make sure you head over to Lena’s page to check out all the yumminess! She’s featuring a recipe today – Quinoa Stuffed Squash from Welcome to Mommyhood.  Holy decadent deliciousness!! You’re definitely going to want to be putting THAT on your table! Don’t forget to invite me over for dinner. *wink wink nudge nudge*

So, the other day, my sailor mentioned that he had a hankering for some banana bread.

Well, you know what? Me too! Apparently, I just needed the thought to bring out the craving. mmmm…..banana bread……

So I made some!

But, I didn’t want it to be super heavy and laden with butter and oils.

Because, no one likes to feel guilty eating banana bread. It’s supposed to be healthy, right? I mean, it’s made from BANANAS!

I didn’t want it be be boring either.

Nobody likes boring banana bread. It just gets moldy instead of getting eaten.

So, I fiddled around a little with some ingredients and I came up with a winner!

It’s dense without being heavy, pretty much guilt free, and delicious – everything banana bread should be and more.

I made it on Sunday and we’re already down to less than half a loaf.

That may or may not have something to do with the fact that my sailor and I both have jobs outside of the home… not anywhere near the bread box….

Eat it as is, slather it with peanut butter, eat it straight out the pan with a fork, or whatever floats your boat….

Just don’t burn your fingers.

Banana Oatmeal Bread
makes 12 decent slices

3 bananas, mashed
1/2 avocado, mashed
1/2 cup raw honey
1/3 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt
1 egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
pinch salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray loaf pan with non-stick spray.

2. In small bowl, whisk together flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.

3. In large mixer bowl fitted with paddle attachment, combine mashed bananas, avocado, honey, greek yogurt, egg, and vanilla until well blended. Slowly incorporate dry ingredients into wet until combined. Do not overbeat.

4. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 60-70 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in pan 10 minutes before turning out onto cooling rack.

Nutritional information (per the Spark People site) per slice:
Calories 172; Fat 2.5g; Carbohydrates 35.4g (fiber 4.1g, sugar 14.8g), Protein 4.5g

– jennifer

Sunday Food Prep – what went down in my kitchen (6)

Hello, hello!

And, just like that, Monday’s back.

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We had a pretty good weekend so I definitely can’t complain but, sometimes it’s nice to have a rest day in between a busy weekend and the workweek.

We should totally make that a thing.

Would you sign my petition?

So, of course, since today is Monday, that means yesterday was Sunday and I was super busy in the kitchen prepping food for the week!

With a little movie date thrown in. 🙂 We went and saw The Equalizer. Have you seen it yet?

Omigoodness, I can’t wait for it to hit the movie channels so I watch it again!

If you haven’t seen it and you’re into action movies – or maybe you’re just into Denzel Washington, nothing wrong with that – you should totally go see it. 🙂

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Okay, moving on.

Must talk about food.

Okay, really, food.

Seriously.

So, what went down in my kitchen yesterday?

The first thing I did was toss a chuck roast into my crockpot.

Tossed it. Just like it was a football. It’s Sunday, after all.

No, not really. I mean, yes, it was really Sunday but no, I didn’t toss it. Would have been fun if I had though. Like a little game of keep-away with the dogs. Ha!

That served as dinner last night with some roasted acorn squash that I got at the farmer’s market. Yum!

Plus, there are plenty of leftovers perfect for lunches/dinners throughout the week.

Post-movie enjoyment, I roasted a chicken I got from the farmer’s market.

Yes, I know it’s upside down. It’s fine.

Basically, I just rubbed it with olive oil and seasoned with some Weber Garlic and Herb seasoning and roasted it at 425° for 30 minutes, then turned the heat down to 375° and let it cook for about another 50 minutes.

Chickens basically take about 20 minutes per pound to cook. A good rule of thumb is to go a little less and start checking it (get a meat thermometer if you don’t have one. Undercooked chicken is SO not what you want.) after maybe 15 minutes per pound. This way, you can avoid overcooking the chicken.

After it cooled, it pretty much fell apart when I was shredding it. We’ll use it for sandwiches, etc during the week.

Or, I’ll eat it with one of these sweet taters I roasted and top it with some fresh avocado.

These were super simple. Scrub, poke with holes, wrap in foil, and put in oven. They cooked the whole time the chicken was in but probably could have come out after an hour or so.

Pretty sure these will be gone by Tuesday. I can’t help myself. I love sweet potatoes. ❤

And, I made some Banana Oatmeal Bread!

Actually cooked this at the same time the chicken was in the oven.

Killing birds with stones, and all that jazz.

Ha! No pun intended.

Oh, wait, what? The recipe for the bread? You’ll get it Tuesday!

Yep, it’s my own recipe! Pretty sure you’re going to love it.  It’s pretty amazeballs. 🙂

My favorite way to eat banana bread is slightly warmed up and slathered in nut butter. *swoon*

This bread will serve as quick breakfasts for my sailor and Thing 2 and snacks for me. Portable, delicious, and easy – sounds like a perfect snack!

I didn’t chop up any veggies – I tend to buy baby carrots, small cukes, etc, plus, I have some time in the mornings to chop a bell pepper or slice a cucumber or whatever for lunches. But, if you need more grab and go, then you certainly could pre-chop and bag a whole bunch of veggies.

When I was a kid, my mom would cut carrot and celery sticks and keep them in a container of ice water in the fridge. The water helps the vegetables from getting wilty.  And, it freezes little fingers when they reach in to grab some but we never complained. The cold was worth it because they were always so fresh and crunchy!

So, you can always do that. Use tongs if you don’t like the cold water. Brrrr! 😉

There you have it. Another busy and successful Sunday in the kitchen.

Now you can see why I need a day off to rest.

Talk to me: Did you food prep yesterday? What did you make? What was the last movie you saw in the theater?

– jennifer