It's no new revelation that breakfast is an essential meal. "Back in the day" I used to be a breakfast skipper, and in those "dark days," it would not be uncommon for me to reach for an undesirable mid-morning snack, traditionally in bar form, or overdo it at lunch and then feel weighted down and lethargic. Sound familiar breakfast skippers? Breakfast is the meal that breaks your overnight fast. For skippers who are also getting the ideal hours of sleep, you could be going around ten hours without adding any fuel to your body. Imagine then, if you wait until lunch, you could possibly be fasting for 16 hours. That's long enough to put your body into starvation mode and slow your metabolism down.
Read moreMy Bananas Were Getting Old So....
I guess I am in a banana bread state of mind or I am not that creative when it comes to figuring out what to do with a bunch of aging bananas-either way I whipped up a whole-wheat banana bread studded with dark chocolate chips and sweetened only with honey. Perfect along side my Siggi's topped with chia seeds.
Banana Bread Pancakes
I got the craving for pancakes recently, yet wanted to step out of the box (literally and figuratively) and create a healthful and unique version. I uncovered a great recipe for these unconventional and tasty gluten free banana bread pancakes and studded them with blueberries. I got the recipe here (thanks pesto). This is not your traditional fluffy stack, but they put my craving at bay, especially with a decent drizzling of grade A pure maple syrup.
photo taken with instagram
Banana Baby
"Ok, I know what you are thinking, what is up with this turd looking thing on a stick?" Well, despite its lack of beauty, this frozen banana coated in dark chocolate and walnuts was an amazing and delicious dessert on a 100 degree day. I had a few too many bananas laying around my apartment, so I did what any logical person would do; peel them, insert a popsicle stick (or chopstick) all the way through, and stick them in the freezer. I got really good quality dark chocolate, melted it over a double boiler, and coated the frozen bananas. (I am not an expert confectioner, so I am sure there are better techniques that would have created a more pleasing appearance.) I then covered the chocolate in chopped walnuts and stuck the banana babies back in the freezer. About an hour later, I was able to enjoy this frozen treat. The creamy cool perfectly ripe banana coated in the crunchy and sweet nutty outer layer was a divine dessert and had health benefits to boot!
- Bananas contain more than just potassium. They also have vitamin C, folate, iron, B6, and copper as well as fiber.
- Dark Chocolate has flavonoids that come from the cocoa bean, which are antioxidants that maintain heart health and healthy blood vessels.
- Walnuts are rich in omega-3 fatty acids and are a polyunsaturated fat, contain antioxidants which reduce cell damage, have fiber and protein.