Thursday, January 31, 2013

Healthier Banana Bread

While I LOVE my Mom's banana bread, it's not exactly healthy. And since I'm trying to drop some poundage, I need to find a healthier, but still tasty, version of one of my favorite foods!

Mom came across this one and it's pretty yummy! One eighth of the recipe is 6 PointsPlus for Weight Watchers.



Very dense and moist, this bread is fragrant and scrumptious. For an even lighter treat, you can cut the sugar in half or use some Splenda sugar substitute.

Weight Watchers Healthy Banana Bread recipe

Ingredients
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose white flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2/3 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)
2 eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar
4-5 very ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 cup sugar free spiced unsweetened applesauce
2 eggs

Preparation
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Spray a bundt pan with cooking spray, set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, mix the dry ingredients, whisking to combine. Add the chocolate chips and nuts if using.
4. Beat the eggs with the sugar together at medium-high speed until creamy.
5. Beat in the applesauce and bananas.
6. Fold in the dry ingredients.
7. Pour into the prepared pan and place it in the oven. Once the oven door is closed, reduce the heat so it’s between 325-350 degrees F.
8. Bake for about 35-40 minutes (the cake is done as soon as a tester comes out clean).
9. Cool on a wire rack for about 5 minutes.
10. Invert on the rack, remove the pan, cool and store in an airtight container.

Nutritional information for 1/16 of the recipe (not including chips or nuts):
Calories: 121
Calories from fat: 8
Total fat: 0.9g
Cholesterol: 26mg
Total carbs: 26.6g
Dietary fiber: 1.9g
Protein: 2.9g

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Slow Cooker Chicken Pineapple Teriyaki

    Ingredients
    Chicken Breast, no skin, 2.5 breasts
    Pineapple, fresh, 2 cup, diced 
    Pineapple Juice, .5 cup 
    Soy sauce , low sodium, .5 cup
    Pepper, black, 1 tbsp 
    Brown Sugar, .3 cup, unpacked 

Directions
Combine pineapple juice, soy sauce, black pepper, and brown sugar in a mixing bowl. Stir until combined. 

Place chicken in bottom of slow cooker, cover with pineapples and top with sauce.

Cook on low 6-8 hours. My chicken was frozen so I cooked for 8 hours. 

To thicken sauce, remove lid from slow cooker in the last hour of cooking. this will allow steam out and the sauce will thicken and condense slightly. If you prefer a thicker sauce, transfer sauce to pan and boil with flour or cornstarch until reduced to desired thickness.

Serve with stir fried veggies like bell pepper and sugar snap peas or over rice.

Number of Servings: 5

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Peanut Butter Fudge

This fudge is famous around these parts. It's made for the annual fair that's held in town every fall. It never lasts long on the bake table!


1 jar peanut butter
2 lbs confectioners sugar
3.5 sticks of margarine (or butter)

Melt peanut butter and margarine in double boiler. Pour sugar into large mixing bowl. Pour peanut butter mixture over sugar. Mix until blended. Put in a 13x9 pan. Freeze for as long as needed. Thaw and then cut into pieces.
Makes 4 lbs of fudge.