Healthy Banana Bread

I love anything BANANA!  I wanted to make a bread that was lower in calories though so I could eat more of it, and share it with my diet conscious family or friends.  It tastes healthy but delicious!

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 3 egg whites
• 2-3 very ripe bananas
• 1/3 cup water
• 1   2/3 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp baking powder

optional ingredients for more flavor/ spice: vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, all spice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a loaf pan.  Mix the applesauce and sugar.  Stir in egg whites and bananas, then water.  Stir in dry ingredients.   Pour mixture into loaf pan and bake about 1 hour or until a knife inserted in middle comes out clean.

Nutritional facts: 122 calories, 1 g fat, 16 g sugar, 38 g sodium, 2 g fiber, 3 g protein.
(Based on 1 loaf of 12 slices)

Cinnamon Chip Chocolate Coffee Cake

This recipe is my own little creation... Born of trying to use up my cinnamon chips before they expired!  I searched and searched for recipes and nothing sounded good, so I tweaked and combined other recipes to form a new one.  Great with a cup of coffee like any other coffee cake!

Ingredients:

• 1 stick of butter, room temp
• 1/2 cup white granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 TBS cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 pkg hershey's cinnamon chips

Cinnamon sugar topping:

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 and prepare 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray.  

Cream together butter and sugar, then add eggs and vanilla.  Add sour cream and mix thoroughly.  Add flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda and mix until combined.  Now combine the cinnamon sugar topping in a small bowl. 

Pour into baking dish in this order: 1/2 the batter, 1/2 the cinnamon chips, 1/2 the topping, repeat.

Bake at 350 for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.

Taco Salad

This is a very easy anytime lunch that is good enough to serve to company!  In fact someone served it to me a few years ago for lunch, and I thought it was a genius idea.



Ingredients:

• romaine lettuce, chopped or shredded
• 1 tomato, chopped (without seedy insides if possible)
• 1 can black beans, drained
• 1 can yellow sweet corn, drained
• cilantro to taste
• shredded cheddar
• doritos, crunched up for topping (I use the baked doritos and they're great)
• thousand island dressing (light)

Mix everything together in a big bowl and serve.  See, I told you it couldn't be easier!

I haven't put amounts for these ingredients because it really just depends on how much you want to make, or how many people are eating it.  If you mix everything together including the dressing, don't mix more than you'll use for the meal... It is NOT good after it sits in the dressing, like most salads.  Or you can mix everything except the dressing and it will last longer.