Delicious Banana "Ice Cream"

All through school and college I was very active. I was a ballet dancer in a pre-professional company. That meant hours of dance most weeknights and almost every weekend. Honestly, I enjoyed being so active. Once I graduated college and landed my first teaching job, I started to feel sluggish. I just felt like I didn't have the stamina I used to. I found myself getting out of breath doing minimal physical activity. After some serious thought, I decided to pick up running to get back into shape. I figured this was the most convenient workout. I could do it almost anywhere with minimal equipment.

Once I started running, without really thinking about it, I also started eating healthier. I noticed I had better runs, and just felt better overall, when I ate healthy. The more I've started running, the more conscious I have gotten about what I eat. I still consider myself a very beginner level cook and am still experimenting a lot in the kitchen. My latest experiment was banana "ice cream."

Now, I will admit. I was a skeptic. Has anyone else seen those Yonanas commericals? I figured there was no way that actually tasted good. Boy, am I glad I was wrong!

There are a lot of different versions floating around the internet for how to make this delicious frozen treat. I sort of messed around, combining the basic idea of several.  This is my little recipe for one serving.

Ingredients:

1 frozen banana

1/8 cup of skim milk

1 tablespoon peanut butter (I like to use the low salt kind.)

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

I combined all of the ingredients into my little food processor. (Yes, it really is tiny enough that one banana almost fills it completely!)

When finished, the mixture should be nice and creamy, just like the consistency of ice cream! Make sure you get all the little banana chunks smoothed out. They can be hard to spot at first!

And that is all there is to it! Now you can enjoy your delicious frozen treat without all the guilt! I basically inhaled mine. It was so good. I also tried another version where I substituted the tablespoon of peanut butter with unsweetened cocoa powder. It was good too, but I prefer peanut butter over chocolate.

Have you changed your eating habits since you started running? Was it intentional?

Healthier Brownies!

Today I did something I have never done before. I made up my own recipe. Not only did I make up my own recipe for the first time, but by some miracle, it turned out! I made a healthier version of brownies. Now, I am not sure you should go eating a dozen of these, but they are certainly better for you than your average brownie! The sugar is replaced by honey, and the butter is replaced by avocado. Some of the egg is replaced by Greek yogurt. I didn't feel quite as guilty licking the entire bowl clean. I just couldn't help myself!

Now, to the recipe! (Click here for a printable recipe.) Makes approximately 9 small brownies. 

Ingredients:

• 4 ounces of melted semi-sweet chocolate chips


• 1 mashed avocado (The better mashed, the less likely people will know it is in there!)


• 1 egg


• ¼ cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt


• 1/8 cup of honey


• 1/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder


• 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour


• 1/4 tsp salt


• 1 tsp vanilla


• 1/8 cup skim milk

Directions:

• Whisk together the egg and the honey

• Melt the chocolate and gradually add to the egg/honey mixture

• Stir in the whole wheat flour, cocoa powder, salt, and vanilla


• Stir in the mashed avocado until you can barely see/not see at all

• Add the skim milk


• Pour into a square baking pan

• Bake at 325 for 20 - 25 minutes


• Allow to cool completely before cutting


• Enjoy!

Even though these brownies have some healthier substitutions for ingredients, I think they turned out delicious. I am not sure I would know the difference if I hadn't made them myself! The Greek yogurt gave the brownies a nice fudgey texture, which I prefer in my brownies. Also, make sure to mash the avocado as best you can. The less you can see the green specs, the less questions any potential eaters will have.

Hopefully you enjoy this recipe as much as I did. Remember this is my first attempt at making my own recipe, so be kind! Do you have any healthier substitutes for baked goods? I would love to here them!