Easy 2 Minute Pesto

Since the basil is ready to start harvesting and I do love pesto...my little sioux chef and I whipped up a quick batch this afternoon. Now if we can just keep ourselves from dipping tortilla chips in it and save some for the pasta dish I plan to make later in the week...

2 Minute Basil Pesto

1 1/2 cups fresh basil leaves

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

1/3 cup pine nuts

1/2 teaspoon minced garlic

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

As demonstrated by my little sioux chef above...dump everything into blender or food processor and pulse until everything is chopped up and mixed together.

You may need to take a spatula and scrape the sides of the blender and pulse again a couple of times just to really blend everything together.

**You can also substitute walnuts or almonds for the pine nuts and add lemon juice or hot pepper flakes if you like.**

Yumm...pesto sammiches anyone?

This Week's Meal Plan: Aug 30-Sep 5

I'm still kind of a in blah cooking funk right now-I have all of the recipes I *want* to try out-but once I get home from work in the evenings I just haven't felt like really getting into the kitchen and creating. Tracy's got a big competition today so we'll probably meet him later and have dinner out somewhere. I'm not feeling all that inspired this week so I'll duplicate alot of what we've had recently.

Saturday: dinner out...plus Roasted Red Pepper Hummus and Homemade Pitas to snack on

Sunday: Baked Chicken Parmesan with Whole Wheat Lingine and Fresh Pesto

Monday: Leftovers

Tuesday: Kids Choice Grilled Nutter Butter Nana Sammiches and Triple Berry Smoothies

Wednesday: Cat's Newspaper Chili, Salad

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Baked Chicken Chimichangas, Elote

Extras: lime-sugar-cookies

Garden Update: 5 months

So its been about 5 months since I first planted my first round of seeds. I've learned plenty over the last few months and I am already making plans based on this years learning experience. I'm not so scared of planting things directly in the ground now. I can't wait to have a bountiful garden next season. I am sure that I'll be able to produce enough vegetables to feed our family both fresh and frozen and maybe some to take to the local farmer market and food bank.

What I have not yet learned is how to get rid of these disgusting little white aphid (?) bugs that seem to LOVE all things in the cabbage family. They are relentless. I'll have to work hard on that next year. I really want to have broccoli and Brussels sprouts in the garden because my family eats alot of those two veggies. I do have some little sprouts forming on the "trunk" of the little Brussels plant right now...so I might actually end up with a few sprouts this year.

Basil wins as being the best performer so far-it grows so quickly and abundantly and each time you pull off some leaves to use; within the next day or so the plant is covered back and full of more leaves to use. I can't use the basil fast enough! I'll be making a few batches of pesto to freeze this weekend.

There is really something about natural rain that makes the plants grow faster and green up more than water from a hose ever can. The rains we got over the last week really made things happen in the garden. Just take a look at how fast the cucumbers have developed, I only planted these about a month ago and they already have baby cucs!

I have also found out that apparently my peppers are destined to be sweet baby bells and NOT full size green peppers because they have started to change to a gorgeous red color already at their petite size. Isn't the color amazing?

Pumpkins also grow pretty quickly and its looking like we might have out little mini pumpkin patch in the backyard this year just in time for fall. They already have quite a few large pretty yellow orange blossoms.

This weekend I'm going to prepare another small section of the yard for planting some fall veggies. I've read that carrots, onions, lettuce, and greens like collards and spinach all do well in the fall. Its pretty mild here well into November so I hope to get a decent crop out of this next planting. I've been thinking about trying asparagus or potatoes too. Can't wait to see what this next round of seeds produce!

Brussels Sprouts: A Two for the Price of One Special!

I know most people's idea of a delicious dinner doesn't usually involve Brussels sprouts, and more than likely if someone told you they were having them for dinner you would turn up your nose. BUT...that's only because you've probably been served the bitter, flavor-cooked-out-of-them, boiled Brussels sprouts of yesterday's family kitchen.

BEHOLD!

This is a whole new era of the Brussels sprout! I shall share with you two of my favorite (one is a brand new favorite) recipes for Brussels sprouts that are sure to convert you from a Brussels hater to a Brussels lover.

The first is from allrecipes.com. Its not terribly healthy with the addition of bacon to the dish-but I've used turkey bacon to make it a little healthier and it was still yummy.

Shredded Brussels Sprouts

1/2 pound sliced bacon
1/4 cup butter
2/3 cup pine nuts
2 pounds Brussels sprouts, cored and shredded
3 green onions, minced
1/2 teaspoon seasoning salt
pepper to taste

Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until crisp. Drain, reserving 2 tablespoons grease, crumble and set aside.
In the same skillet, melt butter in with reserved bacon grease over medium heat. Add pine nuts, and cook, stirring until browned. Add Brussels sprouts and green onions to the pan, and season with seasoning salt and pepper. Cook over medium heat until sprouts are wilted and tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in crumbled bacon just before serving.

************************************************************************************

The next one is an all new favorite-I made it for the first time this week. It was a filling dish-that could be used as a meatless main dish or still could be a simple side dish.

Brussels Sprouts with White Beans and Parmesan

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 package frozen Brussels sprouts, thawed, cut in half lengthwise
4 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup low-salt, low fat chicken broth

1 15-ounce can great northern beans, drained

1/4 cup grated Parmesan

Add oil to skillet, add garlic and Brussels sprouts and cook for about 5 minutes until sprouts just begin to brown.

Add broth and beans and cook down for about another 1-2 minutes. Stir in Parmesan and season with a pinch of salt and fresh ground pepper. Serve.

Chocolate Wave Zucchini Bread

This one was inspired by another Foodie Blog I've been reading lately: Taste and Tell. She's got some gorgeous photos and a ton of recipes I'd like to try-you should definitely go check out her blog.

Now zucchini is one of the foods my husband refuses to eat...if you don't know us yet-my husband has an aversion to quite a few foods that I personally LOVE. So I will often times try to sneak those things into dishes to see if he will even notice. Sometimes I'm successful-other times-not so much. Well, zucchini went into the Chilaquiles Casserole the other day and he didn't notice, so I figured I try out this delicious looking bread recipe as well.

Well, he noticed the little green flecks in this one and asked about it-I told him it was spinach...hehehe...he believed it and ate two pieces. The kid also ate it. Score! So this recipe is a lovely way to get some veggies in that your kids might not normally eat.

I used whole wheat flour instead of all purpose-I think that made it a little more dense-and I didn't use butter-I used a butter substitute. I also omitted the walnuts.

The bread comes out moist and rich with a nice texture and its pretty with the presentation as well. My "wave" didn't turn out as pretty as the one on Taste and Tell but it was interesting all the same. not bad for a first try. I think when I make this again-I'll experiment with piping the chocolate batter into the zucchini batter for a different design.

Chocolate Wave Zucchini Bread

1/3 cup butter

1 1/3 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups grated zucchini

1/3 cup water

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1/3 cup chopped walnuts

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1/3 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease one 9 x 5 inch loaf pan.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together. Mix in eggs.

Add zucchini, water, and vanilla; stir. Blend in flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, and pumpkin pie spice. Stir in nuts.

Divide batter in half*, and add cocoa powder and chocolate chips to one of the halves.

Pour plain batter into bottom of the loaf pan. Pour chocolate batter on top of plain batter.**(I poured about 3/4 of the plain better into the loaf pan and then spooned the chocolate batter down the middles. I then spooned the remaining plain batter on either side of the chocolate batter).





Bake until wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool 10 minutes, and remove from pan. Store in refrigerator.


*keep the chocolate "half" at just less than half the batter.

Chilaquiles Casserole with Pico De Gallo

Tex-Mex + Casserole = YUM.


I'm all about an easy meal. I'm also all about a good casserole. Stuffed full of cheesy, veggie, and meaty goodness-they are a one dish comfort food dinner. That's usually a recipe for disaster on the calorie front but once again eatingwell.com I'm becoming an eatingwell.com junkie or something. I've been pleased with every recipe I've tried from the site so far.


The zucchini and sweet corn add a nice sweetness to the dish. I had to make a few modifications, and I was pleased with the end result. i used my favorite tortillas (Extreme Fiber Tortillas) in place of corn tortillas and I liked the results. This was almost like a Tex Mex lasagna.

Chilaquiles Casserole

1 tablespoon canola oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 medium zucchini, grated
1 19-ounce can black beans, rinsed
1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
1 1/2 cups corn, frozen (thawed) or fresh
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 corn tortillas, quartered
1 19-ounce can mild red or green enchilada sauce
1 1/4 cups shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Lightly coat a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook, stirring often, until starting to brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in zucchini, beans, tomatoes, corn, cumin and salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are heated through, about 3 minutes.
3. Scatter half the tortilla pieces in the baking dish. Top with about half the vegetable mixture, about half the enchilada sauce and half the cheese. Repeat with one more layer of tortillas, vegetables, sauce and cheese. Cover with foil.
4. Bake the casserole for 15 minutes. Remove the foil and continue baking until the casserole is bubbling around the edges and the cheese is melted, about 10 minutes more.

NUTRITION INFORMATION: Per serving: 245 calories; 10 g fat (4 g sat, 4 g mono); 23 mg cholesterol; 31 g carbohydrate; 9 g protein; 6 g fiber; 351 mg sodium; 272 mg potassium.
Nutrition bonus: Vitamin C (25% daily value), Fiber (24% dv), Vitamin A (15% dv).

Here's how I modifed the recipe:

~I used Extreme Fiber tortillas and I only used 8 of them instead of 12 corn tortillas.

~I also added ground turkey and a packet of Sazon seasoning.

~I forgot to get enchilada sauce so I used 1 14 oz can of tomato sauce and a can of diced tomatoes and chilis in place of it.

~I used only about a 1/2 cup of cheese.

Weekly Menu Planner: Aug 23-29

Go ME! I actually stuck to my meal plan this past week and made everything I had planned to make. Really made my week much easier. I'm not really feeling the whole meat and poultry thing this week. Its summer and I tend to get sick of really heavy food this time of year. My husband has a hard time accepting a plate of food without any "meat" on it though so I'll throw some in there just to be nice to him.


Saturday~Ham Steaks, Speedy Spinach Quiche, Salad

Sunday~Roasted Red Pepper Hummus, Pita Triangles, greek salad

Monday~Baked Chops, Brussel Sprouts with White Beans, Smashed Red Potatoes

Tuesday~Leftovers

Wednesday~Chicken Florentine Rice Casserole, Marinated Tomato Salad

Thursday~Leftovers

Friday~Oven Baked Chimichangas, Corn and Black Bean Salsa

**Extras~Chocolate Zucchini Bread and a batch of pesto to freeze.

Red's "Super Muscle Yum" Smoothie and Pancake Puffs

Super. Muscle.Yum. That's what the almost 4 year old in the house has decided his latest smoothie concoction should be called. He claims it will give you big muscles like Superman. There are no studies to back this up, but his testimony alone should make you run to your blenders to make some right away!

He really did make this one up, he just tells me what he wants in it and we blend it up in the blender and taste. this one was not half bad. I could see adding oats or flax or even granola for texture and even more protein. We didn't really measure-so this is all estimation...

Super Muscle Yum Smoothie

1 container Light Banana Cream Pie Yogurt

a touch of milk

2 tbsp peanut butter

2 tbsp honey

1/2 cup frozen banana slices

1/2 cup frozen mango chunks

6-8 ice cubes

Throw it all in a blender-liquidy ingredients first. Blend until smooth. Drink. Get big muscles.

Pancake Puffs really have nothing to do with this recipe but the kid becomes mesmerized every time he sees the infomercial for this product on TV. HE stands there almost salivating as he watches them fill these little donut style puffy pancakes with things like strawberry sauce and chocolate whipped cream. Then he jumps up and down and says, "Mommy! Mommy! We NEED to get that! We NEED Pancake Puffs!"

Shoot, we NEED this? Well damn, I had no idea! I'm totally going to have to look into buying this Pancake Puff contraption, which you already know is $19.99 plus s&h. I am a bit disappointed though that there's no "order now and receive TWO pancake puff pans for the same low price" offer. Ah well, I guess its worth it though-I mean who doesn't love to eat sweet doughy goodness stuffed with gooey goodness?

People are talking about these little round puffy balls of goodness...I googled and quickly came across blog after blog post about them. Miss FickleMedia was convinced by a young wise one to get the pan and it has changed her life! diversionwednesday calls it the "future of food." and Domestic Spaz quite a few others are talking about the joy pancake puffs have brought to their children's lives.

How could i even consider depriving my child of the utter elation a pancake puff provides? I guess I'll be making a Target run sometime this weekend...there are rumors that Target carries this culinary gadget from heaven.

Napa Cabbage with Carrots and Rice Wine Oyster Sauce

I should rename this to UN-Napa Cabbage with Carrots...I could not find Napa Cabbage at any of my local grocers. Boo! to that. I really have a poor and limited selection here when it comes to produce. I just have to drive too far to get to Whole Foods or any decent grocer with a wide variety of produce and I loathe driving in this city. Traffic is horrendous. Anyway...

I figured I could use plain old green cabbage in place of the Napa. Here's the problem with that-Napa is a little more delicate than green cabbage and therefore cooks faster. Super Genius that I am-I didn't adjust the cooking time so my cabbage was a little underdone. It wasn't quite tender-crisp as the recipe calls for. The carrots were perfect though and I think I can see myself just making a carrot side dish in the future with the rice wine oyster sauce.

The flavor was still good though and I know that had I just cooked the cabbage a bit longer it would have been delicious. So thanks to eatingwell.com for another really great recipe! I served it with my Salmon Patties and some Wasabi Mayo. Click HERE for my sinfully easy Salmon Patty recipe.

Napa Cabbage with Carrots and Rice Wine Oyster Sauce

2 tablespoons canola oil

1/4 cup thinly sliced shallot (1 large)

2 teaspoons minced garlic

4 cups thinly sliced napa cabbage (about 8 ounces)

1 cup thinly sliced carrot (1 large)

Rice Wine-Oyster Sauce (recipe follows)

1 teaspoon sesame oil

Heat a 14-inch flat-bottomed wok or large skillet over high heat until a bead of water vaporizes within 1 to 2 seconds of contact. Swirl canola oil into the pan, add shallot and garlic and stir-fry for 10 seconds. Add cabbage and carrot and stir-fry until the cabbage just begins to wilt, about 1 minute. Stir Rice Wine-Oyster Sauce and swirl it into the pan; cook for 30 seconds. Stir-fry until the cabbage and carrot are tender-crisp, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in sesame oil. Serve immediately.

NUTRITION INFORMATION: Per serving: 119 calories; 8 g fat (1 g sat, 5 g mono); 0 mg cholesterol; 9 g carbohydrate; 2 g protein; 2 g fiber; 235 mg sodium; 142 mg potassium

Rice Wine Oyster Sauce

1 tablespoon Shao Hsing rice wine or dry sherry

2 teaspoons oyster-flavored sauce or vegetarian oyster sauce

1/4 teaspoon sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

Whisk rice wine (or sherry), oyster sauce, sugar and salt in a small bowl.

NUTRITION INFORMATION: Per serving: 9 calories; 0 g fat (0 g sat, 0 g mono); 0 mg cholesterol; 1 g carbohydrate; 0 g protein; 0 g fiber; 201 mg sodium; 1 mg potassium.

Wasabi Mayo

2 tbsp light or fat free mayo

wasabi paste (to taste)

Mix together mayo and wasabi paste. Add the wasabi a little bit at a time as a little goes a long way. Serve alongside salmon patties for dipping.

Citrus Chicken with Roasted Green Beans and Red Peppers

This is my favorite way to roast chicken at home. Its simple-not a ton of ingredients or prep work; and it tastes fresh and light. The green beans are terribly easy as well. Roasting time in the oven is about an hour and a half-but that's time you spend doing something else. Make your green beans after you have pulled your chicken out of the oven to rest. You have to turn up the heat to roast them and they only take about ten minutes, by the time the beans are done the juices in the chicken should have redistributed and you can slice it and plate it with your green beans.

Citrus Chicken

1 roaster chicken

1/2 small navel orange

1/2 lemon

1/2 small onion

olive oil

kosher salt

black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350. Rinse and clean roaster chicken and pat dry with some paper towels.

2. place in a baking dish or roasting pan.

3. Salt outside of bird and cavity.

4. Halve your orange, lemon and onion and stuff pieces into the chicken cavity.

5. Pepper the bird and then rub a good amount of olive oil all over the outside of bird.

6. Roast according to packaging instructions for bird weight-usually about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours. I like to baste the chicken every 15 minutes or so while it is roasting.

7.Take chicken out of oven and let rest for about 5-10 minutes before carving. This gives the juices the opportunity to redistribute themselves into the meat and makes for a very juicy bird.

Roasted Green Beans with Red Peppers

1 pound fresh green beans

1 red bell pepper-julienne strips

1 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 500. Wash and trim green beans and toss in a bowl with red pepper strips

2. Add tbsp of olive oil, salt and pepper and toss together.

3. Place in an even layer on a baking pan and roast for about ten minutes. Turning the beans after about five minutes. When you take them out they should be just beginning to brown.

**TIP** I cover my roasting pan in aluminum foil. This makes for easy cleanup. I can just pull off the aluminum foil and toss it-no pans to wash.

Weekly Menu: Aug 16-Aug 22

I've decided to start my weekly meal planning on Saturdays every week...I know you are just dying to know why right about now -aren't you? Well I'm just all unpredictable and crazy like that! Living on the edge-that's me! RIIIIIGGGHHHT then. So, really I'm doing that because its just more logical for me. Saturday is my first day off, I usually spend it grocery shopping, cleaning, cooking, sticking around the house. See-I told you I am like totally living on the edge!

Really though, I get my cooking for the week started on Saturday and have more time to play around with recipes and stuff. I often times make enough on Saturday and Sunday to carry over into Monday meals anyway. So there it is. My FOOD week starts on Saturday.


Saturday: Poached Salmon w/ Creamy Piccatta Sauce, Herbed Couscous w/ Tomatoes, Salad

Sunday: Citrus Chicken with Roasted Green Beans and Red Peppers, Fruited Rice Pilaf

Monday: Leftovers

Tuesday: Salmon Patties w/ Wasabi Mayo, Sweet Potato Fries, Napa Cabbage and Carrots

Wednesday: Leftovers

Thursday: Chilaquiles Casserole, Pico De Gallo, Mexican Rice

Friday: Leftovers

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

These don't fall in line with our quest for cleaner healthier eating, but like I said before you can't completely deprive yourself..and its for the kids! Red is having an "End of Summer" party at pre-school today so we went with Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes as our party food contribution. We did use fat free angel food cake mix for the cupcakes though-so that cut down on the fat a little bit.

Here's Red-ever so happy to be going to his party today, fully decked out in his tie-dye shirt (made at school and required attire for the event) and silly sunglasses...

OK, so back to the cupcakes-they are terribly easy to make.

What you need (just the basics you can get fussier and fancier if you want):

1 box of flat bottom ice cream cones

1 box of cake mix, eggs, oil, water

Frosting and sprinklers for decoration

Ice Cream scoop or small ladle

What you do:

~First you prepare the cake batter as instructed on the box (or make your own from scratch-I'm lazy so I use boxed cake mix). Line up your cones on a flat baking sheet or place them in muffin tins.

~Using an ice cream scoop or small ladle, scoop up some batter and put into each cone-being sure to only fill it about 1/2 way full. I have found that an ice cream scoop provides about the perfect amount of batter for the cones. If you overfill it the batter will bake up and over the top and onto the cookie sheet-still tastes good-just not very pretty.

~Place the filled cones into the oven and bake at 350 for about 25-30 minutes.

~Remove from oven, let cool and then frost and decorate.

~Yay! Cupcakes!

Whole Wheat Couscous with Parm and Peas

If you know me-you know that I am a side dish as a main dish queen. I like meat/chicken/fish...but really love foods that are considered sides more than anything. During my weak moments of buttery, cheesy, greasy,cholesterol-y indulgence-you could see me plopped in a wooden chair at the Cracker Barrel dining on lovely down home versions of mac and cheese, collard greens, green beans, squash casserole and cheesy hash brown casserole. Ahhh...comfort food at its finest, and hey I was getting my veggies too, right?

Well, the aging metabolism decided to slow herself down and bestow some 40 inch hips upon my little frame-so the days of creamy cheesy bliss are over for me. I still allow myself the occasional 6 Cheese Baked Mac N Cheese or Loaded Baked Potato Salad complete with gobs of mayo, bacon and cheese. I know me and completely depriving myself would just mean failure.

I also know though that I have found that I love fresh, often times raw foods. I love the clean taste and the lightness of them. I have always loved a fresh crisp salad loaded up with veggies. One of my favorite snacks is shelled, blanched and chilled edamame.

So anyway, after that long drawn out and unnecessary explanation about my love of side dishes...here's what I made for dinner last night: Whole Wheat Couscous with Parmesan and Peas It was delicious! I found it posted on Eatingwell.com-which is a recipe site I just discovered recently. *I* could eat this as a main dish for dinner with a nice green salad. It was filling and at about 200 calories per serving, I would call it hip and boo-tay friendly. It was also quick and fracktastically easy. That's one of the great things about couscous-it literally takes only a few minutes to prepare-start to finish.

I did make some lemon garlic chicken tenders to go with, as my husband is a protein freak-he is an athlete and a true carnivore so there's no getting around the "meat" in this house. this recipe has about 10g of protein by itself-but you will never convince this man that you can get enough protein without some tuna or poultry thrown in somewhere.

I forgot to upload the picture of it to my online photobook so I'll have to post that later.

OK-so...make this stuff. Its elegant and easy and yumm.

1 14-ounce can reduced-sodium chicken broth or vegetable broth
1/4 cup water
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup whole-wheat couscous
1 1/2 cups frozen peas
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
Salt & freshly ground pepper to taste
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1. Combine broth, water and oil in a large saucepan; bring to a boil. Stir in couscous and remove from heat. Cover and let plump for 5 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, cook peas on the stovetop or in the microwave according to package directions.
3. Add the peas, dill, lemon zest, salt and pepper to the couscous; mix gently and fluff with a fork. Serve hot, sprinkled with cheese.

NUTRITION INFORMATION: Per serving: 208 calories; 4 g fat (1 g sat, 2 g mono); 6 mg cholesterol; 35 g carbohydrate; 10 g protein; 7 g fiber; 186 mg sodium.

**the only thing I did differently was dumped the parmesan in and mixed it into the entire batch. **

Tuesday's Weekly Planner: Aug 4-10

Meh, I'm always a day late a dollar short so the theme might as well carry over into my weekly meal planning too. Hey-at least I'm consistent people-you can at least give me that , right?
Its Tuesday and I am planning my meals for the week now. Mondays are just too depressing to even try to be organized and Sundays-well Sundays are family days for us and frankly, I just don't feel the need to do anything productive on Sundays.

That being said here is the plan for this week:

Monday- Sunday Night Chili Leftovers and a ginormous tossed salad.
Tuesday-Brown Sugar Garlic Chicken, Veggie Fried Rice
Wednesday-Leftovers
Thursday-Crockpot Chicken and White Beans with Tomatillas, Mexican Rice
Friday-Leftovers
Saturday- Tex Mex Pumpkin Patties, Spicy Black Beans and Rice, Mixed Greens Salad
Sunday-Citrus Roast Chickens, Smashed Sweet Potatoes and Lemon Almond Green Beans

Banana Pineapple Loaf: 135 calories a slice!

We were over-run by fruit flies last week. Gawd I loathe those things and they are NOT easy to get rid of. It seems almost inevitable that we get them down here. Every grocery store seems to have them and then you are bound to bring them home with you. DEEEEZ-gusting. Anyway, because of that any fruit I get has to be stored in the fridge-and bananas do not do nice things in the fridge. So I had about three bananas left that were brown and when you have brown bananas about the only to do with them is bake something.

I am not trying to completely blow my quest for hotness though so I figured I'd throw together this low fat/ low cal banana loaf that I've made once before. Its terribly easy and at only 135 calories a slice its pretty diet friendly.

Banana Pineapple Loaf

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup mashed banana

1 can un-drained crushed pineapple

2 eggs, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to about 350. Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray. Combine sifted dry ingredients, sugar and walnuts in a large bowl. Stir in banana, pineapple and eggs. Spoon into prepared pan and bake in a moderate oven for 1 1/4 hours (or until a skewer inserted comes out clean). Stand 10 minutes before turning onto wire rack to cool.

**I added coconut flakes to mine. I think chocolate chips or macadamia nuts would probably be really good too.**