Banana Oat Bars

So I definitely get "into" certain foods and continue to make/eat the same thing each day for a while.  This time it's homemade granola bars.  And after all of the sugar yesterday I thought I'd seek out a slightly less sugary fix.  I found an awesome recipe at Eating from the ground up.  And this time I made sure to cut them into bars before diving into the pan and letting things get too out of hand....

I changed up the recipe slightly.  Banana Oat Bars:

3/4 c whole wheat flour
2 c quick oats
1 1/2 c Rice Krispies
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg (optional)
1 tsp cinnamon
3 ripe bananas, peeled and mashed
2 TB honey
1/4 c vanilla yogurt
2TB peanut butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly coat a 9x13 pan with cooking spray.
Combine flour, oats, Rice Krispies, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon in a bowl.  Mix well.  In another bowl combine the bananas, honey, yogurt and peanut butter; stir until fairly uniform.  Combine dry ingredients with wet and mix well.
Pour mixture into prepared pan and flatten out.  Bake for 15-30 minutes depending on how you like your bars.  I went for 15 minutes because I like them soft.  Let cool before cutting into squares.
Makes 12 bars.  (1688 cal/recipe.  141 calories per bar.)

Lemon Spinach Pasta

I usually just whip up my favorite breakfast foods for dinner when Colby will be gone all day--because if you don't know this already about me, breakfast is by far the best meal of the day.  I eat breakfast for lunch almost every day...  But tonight I decided it would be a perfect opportunity to try a new recipe that I was nervous he might not like.  We have different tastes and he gets to endure many trial recipes that in my opinion look delicious.  Good thing I have Mac & cheese hanging around when complete failures make their way into our kitchen or he would never let me experiment.  Anyways...enough of my rambling and on to the tasty pasta perfection adapted slightly from one of my favorite blogs Mel's Kitchen Cafe.

Mel's pictures are always gorgeous (have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE how easy to navigate and organized her blog is??? LOVE IT.  Well this of course is not Mel's photo, but go to her blog if you want to look at top notch food photography....

In the meantime, here is the recipe.  Lemon Spinach Pasta:

Pasta (6 oz or so.  I'm not sure how much I used because I just grab a handful or two and throw it in)

1 TB butter

1/4 tsp garlic powder

5 cups (or more if you're a huge fan of spinach like I am) coarsely chopped fresh spinach--keep in mind it will cook down

2 TB water

1/8 tsp chicken bouillon

1/2 tsp lemon zest

3 TB fresh squeezed lemon juice

Parmesan Cheese to taste (I use powdered)

Cook Pasta (drain).  While pasta is cooking, melt butter in skillet and add garlic powder, spinach, water, and chicken bouillon.  Stir and cook until spinach is wilted.  Then stir in your pasta and lemon zest/juice.  Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. 

PS...I was right.  Colby wasn't a huge fan....but once I told him he could add more parmesan cheese to it he was much more willing to approve.

Peanut Butter Pretzel Granola Bars

I adapted this recipe slightly from Two Peas and their Pod.  They were delicious!  The only problem was that I started digging in before cutting them into bars....self control? zero.

1/4 c butter
1/4 c brown sugar
1/4 c honey
1/4 c (natural) creamy peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 c quick oats
1/2 c Rice Krispies
about 20 chopped pretzels
(chocolate chips optional)

 Microwave butter, sugar, honey, and peanut butter for about 1-2 minutes.  Stir and continue cooking 30 seconds-1 minute or until bubbly.  Then add vanilla and stir.  Add oats, cereal, and pretzels.  Press into 9x9 pan (top chocolate chips if desired and press into granola bars) and put in fridge for about 20 minutes.  Cut into 10-12 bars.
Calorie count:  1898 for recipe, so for 12 bars it comes to about 158 per bar.  (without chocolate)

Banana Pancakes and Banana Granola

I love bananas!  And Our Best Bites is my all-time favorite food blog.  I have been whipping up their Chunky Monkey Pancakes for weeks now.  My daughter and I love them!!  I always make extra and freeze them for a quick breakfast or snack later.  Here is the recipe:

Banana Pancakes:
Our Best Bites

1 ½ c flour                            1 TB canola oil

3 TB sugar                            1 large egg
2 tsp baking powder       2 small-med ripe bananas
1 ½ tsp baking soda         6 TB mini chocolate chips (optional)
¼ tsp salt                             cooking spray or butter for pan
1 ½ c buttermilk *          
1 tsp vanilla extract        

Combine flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a mixing bowl and whisk together. In a separate bowl combine buttermilk, eggs, oil, and vanilla and whisk well. Add the wet ingredients into the dry and mix just until moistened and combined. Place bananas in a bowl and roughly mash with a fork. Fold into batter. Toss chocolate chips with 2 tsp flour and stir into batter  (I only add the chocolate chips when I'm making them for my husband...I will admit that ever since my pregnancy, I am not a fan of chocolate).

Heat a nonstick griddle or skillet to medium heat. Coat pan with little butter and then pour on pancake batter. Use ¼ c batter for large pancakes (4-6″) and 2 T for kid-sized ones (2-3″). Wait until bubbles form and edges are set and then flip.

*At Our Best Bites Sara makes a peanut butter syrup.  I'm not a syrup lover so I go straight to the peanut butter! 


And recently I experimented with Banana Granola.  I loved it...much healthier alternative to my previous go-to granola recipe.  I think I've found a weakness for banana recipes...
In a blender, blend:
1 banana
3/4 c water (more as needed)
1 TB honey
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
After this is well blended, add to 2 c oats, and any other add-ins (1/4 c chopped almonds, 1/4 c coconut, chopped walnuts, sunflower seeds, anything else you like in your granola).
Spread onto a half cookie sheet (Double recipe for full sheet--mine never covers the whole pan though) and bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes (or until oats are slightly browned); check every 10 minutes to stir.

I hope you enjoy bananas as much as I do!