Half Sugar, Low Point, Whole Wheat Banana Bread

It’s been a while since I’ve updated here for many reasons (school, work, etc) and many of those reasons have also slowed my adventures in cooking healthy as well, but I’m going to try and make a stronger effort to update at least once a week. I decided to make my return with this delicious banana bread recipe.

The recipe itself was pulled from Simply Recipes and isn’t really all that healthy. It’s a pretty standard banana bread recipe, actually – lots of sugar, bleached white four, etc. I kinda played with it and found that by cutting the sugar from the 1 cup they called for to 3/4 cup it still tasted fine. That didn’t seem like all that much of an improvement though, so I took it down to 1/3 cup sugar and 1/3 cup baking Splenda this time around. I think next time I will take it to completely Splenda at 3/4 cup, however. The bananas are plenty sweet themselves. =)

I also decided that bleached white flour is not only not as good for you, but plain boring and decided to substitute whole wheat flour. I find that the taste is actually much more delicious and the texture is great too. This adds more fiber, which is awesome at lowering points (if you follow the Weight Watchers plan). On top of that, I often also add some dissolveable fiber (I prefer FiberSure) powder to my baked goods which ramps the fiber even higher and doesn’t change the taste or texture one bit.

When finished, this bread (or muffins if you go that route) are sure to make your entire house smell amazing and satisfy that sweet baked good craving you’ve been having. Oh, and did I mention, they are insanely easy to make – you don’t even need a mixer!

After my many little modifications to this recipe, it yields 12 servings and the points dropped from 5 to 3 for each. I’m sure if you went the all Splenda route, the point value would be right about 2 for each muffing.

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3 Point Banana Bread

• Servings: 12
• WW Points: 3 for each serving (2 if you only use Splenda)
• Prep Time: No more than 10 minutes.
• Cook Time: For loaf: 1 hour For 12 muffins: 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 3 ripe bananas, smashed
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup Splenda
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose whole wheat flour

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350*F and butter your loaf pan or muffin cups. I do not recommend using paper cups.
2. With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl.
3. Mix in sugar, egg, and vanilla.
4. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in.
5. Add the flour last, mix well.
6. Pour mixture into 4×8″ loaf pan or 12 muffin cups. Bake loaf for 1 hour or muffins for 20 minutes. Loaf/muffins are finished when they are a nice brown color and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
7. 7. Be sure to cool slightly before you enjoy. =)

Polenta-Stuffed Peppers

This recipe is super easy and tasty. The polenta mixture inside has a nice flavor and works to compliment the slight sweetness of the oven roasted red pepper outside without overwhelming it. This would work well as a side dish for you meat eaters out there, but we had it as the main course of our meal.

I would recommend getting your zucchini, garlic, tomato, and parsley ready before while you preheat the oven but before you start the rest of the cooking. It will save time and a bit of sanity if you are making this on your own. Thankfully, I had John in the kitchen with me so I didn’t go too crazy.

The instant polenta can be tricky to find if you’ve never bought it at your grocery before. I was able to locate it in the ethnic food section of Meijer but you can also find it where the grains and flours are sold.

This recipe is pretty easy to make and follow, but it does take some time. After getting everything chopped up, you need about 15 minutes on the stove top and 30 minutes in the oven. I would guesstimate, all told, you should plan an hour for this dish. The great thing about it is that while it’s baking, you can definitely prepare the rest of your meal.

This recipe yeilds 4 servings, or one fully stuffed pepper.

Sorry for the not so great quality shot. I took this on my phone.

Nutritional Information

• Calories: 157
• Fat: 4g
• Dietary Fiber: 5g
• Weight Watchers Points: 3

Ingredients

• 4 red bell peppers, stems and seeds remove
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 onion (red or yellow taste best), diced
• 1 medium zucchini, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups water
• 1/2 cup instant polenta
• 1 tomato, diced
• 1/4 cup grate Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup fresh chopped flat-leaf parsley

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375. Spray an 8″ square (or circle if that’s all you have) baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a medium saucepan, heat the oil. Add the onion and cook, stirring as needed, until softened. This should take about 5 minutes.
3. Add the zucchini and garlic and again cook, stirring as needed, until softened. This should take an additional 5 minutes.
4. Add 2 cups of water and bring to a boil.
5. Slowly stir in polenta and cook, stirring constantly, until completely thickened. This could take between 3 and 7 minutes.
6. Stir in tomato, cheese, and parsley.
7. Spoon the polenta mixture into the peppers. Place the peppers in the prepared baking dish and bake until the peppers are tender and the polenta is a nice golden color. This should take about 30 minutes.

Please Note: This recipe was taken from Weight Watchers Versatile Vegetarian and, as such, I cannot claim it as my own.

Hello foodies!

Welcome to my recipe wordpress inspired by all the crazy cooking I’ve been doing recently. My hope is to update this as often as I make a new recipe with that recipe, my impressions, photos, and tips. I may also post my progress on the Weight Watchers program so you can see that losing weight can be delicious.

=D

Also, don’t forget to check out my original blog: http://rain0rshine.wordpress.com/