Clean & Delicious with Dani Spies

Fuel your body. Feed your life!

Bananas

Grain-Free Banana Pancakes

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Banana PancakeYT

Scroll down to watch the step-by-step video.

These grain-free, dairy-free, refined sugar-free banana pancakes have become one of my favorite ways to make pancakes.  They are so light, fresh and simple that they are hard not to love.

Essentially, all you have to do is mash up some banana with egg, cinnamon and baking powder and your pancake batter is ready to go.  The baking powder is not essential, but I do find it helps keep the pancakes a little bit fluffier.

Here are a few tips I learned along the way to ensure your pancake making experience is EASY and DELICIOUS:

  1. Weigh your bananas.  I have found seven ounces of banana and two eggs is the perfect ratio for these pancakes, but because bananas come in all different sizes it’s best  to weigh them if you can.  If you can’t then just know seven ounces is usually somewhere between two and three bananas, so if they look small or skinny use three and if they are big fat bananas two will do the job.
  2. Keep it chunky.  When you mash the bananas leave some chunks (you can watch the video below to see the consistency that works best) this will help to keep the pancakes light and fluffy.
  3. Make them small.  Because there is no flour, these pancakes are a little delicate (read: tricky to flip).  If you use about two tablespoons of batter per pancake, you will make the flipping process a whole lot easier and you’ll have cute little silver dollar pancakes.
  4. Give them space.  Do not be tempted to overcrowd the pan because this will also make ‘the flip’ a nightmare.  Giving them a little extra wiggle room will give you a lot more sanity.

As for toppings, I have a few favorites.  You can always stick to the traditional drizzle of real maple syrup (which is aways delicious) or try a smear of almond butter or coconut oil over the top with some fresh berries.  I find the extra fat helps me stay full longer and the berries add a fresh, bright boost of flavor.

If you are interested in the step-by-step, you can watch the video below. And if you have any thoughts, tips, or questions, please leave them down in the comments!

Here are a few of my other Clean&Delicious pancake favorites:

HELPFUL KITCHEN TOOLS:
Glass Mixing Bowls
Glass Mixing Bowls with Lids (great for storage and traveling)
12-inch Non Stick Saute Pan

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Banana Boo-Pops (video)

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Banana Boo Pops - Clean & Delicious®
Banana Boo Pops – Clean & Delicious®

Scroll down to watch the video!

Halloween is coming.

It’s right around the corner.

And as we all know, with Halloween, there will be buckets of candy and sugar laden treats, everywhere.

I’ve had a lot of people ask me questions like this:

  • Do you buy candy to give out on Halloween? (yes, i do)
  • Do you let your kids eat candy? (yes, i do)
  • Do your kids ever eat processed snacks? (yes, they do)
  • Do you let your kids eat their Halloween candy? (yes, i do)
  • How can I control things so my kids don’t eat too much sugar? (in a nutshell, you can’t)

Maybe you have even wondered the same.

My approach to food with my kids is this:  in my house we eat real, whole, unprocessed food – most of the time. I buy the best quality ingredients available and affordable for my family.  My hubby and I eat clean.  My kids eat what I make for the family.  Most of the time they are open to eating kale salad and trying new veggies.  Sometimes they are not.

But my kids also live in the world.  They go to birthday parties, play dates, and have grandparents who love to love with food.  They eat ridiculous amounts of cake, pizza, cupcakes, ice cream, gold fish, and candy.

I really don’t micro-manage them (too much).

I don’t want all of my ‘healthy eating’ efforts to backfire.

I tell them why its important to eat real food – I remind them that healthy food makes their bodies strong so they can have energy to do all the things they love.

I want them to want to eat real, whole, healthy foods.

My point is this.

I focus on what I can do and what we do, do.

And I hope in the long run, as they learn to pay attention to their body and how food makes them feel, all of my influence seeps in.

Fun little healthy snacks, like these boo-pops, are the prefect example of how I try to keep things fun and Clean&Delicious (most of the time).

Then, when Halloween and birthday parties rolls around, a day with some extra cake and candy, isn’t such a big deal.

I initially tried to have my kids in this video with me, but after about 20-minutes of trying, it quickly became clear why you don’t ever see 3 and 5 year olds in a cooking video.  If you want a laugh, be sure to watch until the end to see the blooper reel from this one!

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Elana’s Paleo Banana Bread

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Paleo Banana BreadIt’s certainly no secret that I am kind-of-sort-of obsessed with Elana’s Pantry.

As much as I love to cook and be in the kitchen, I really find no reason to reinvent the wheel; so when I find someone who does it right, I roll with it.  And Elana has mastered grain free baking, using almond flour and almond butter as the base of her recipes in place of traditional wheat flour.

I originally began baking Elana’s recipes when I was pregnant with my daughter (5 years ago!).  During that time, I was very diligent about removing processed sugars, wheat and gluten from my diet.  It wasn’t that I was restricting them, I was just so in tune with my body and how I felt during my pregnancy that all I wanted was crazy nutrient dense, nutritious foods, and as a byproduct, the sugar, wheat and gluten just kind of fell to the wayside.  And I felt a-m-a-z-i-n-g.

I’ve noticed that since moving to New Jersey, a lot more processed carbs have entered our world.  The kids get crappy snacks at school, there are tons of birthday parties and family events, and a bit too much pizza and bagel eating going on around here.  I’m pretty sure this is a major contributor as to why my energy has been so low and why I’ve gained a solid 5 pounds since our move (although I’m also suspicious that the weather and lack of sunshine are also playing a role for me, but I think that deserves a post of its own).

So when my kids wanted to make banana bread last week, I immediately leaned on Elana for a more nutrient dense option without all of the processed sugar and flour.

The results were delicious.  It’s still amazing to me that one can make bread without any of the traditional ingredients that usually go into it (i.e.. wheat flour and sugar) and have such a delicious result.  This bread is super ‘banana-y’ and very light in texture.

The only change I made from the original recipe was to use coconut oil in place of vegan shortening (I just don’t keep it in the house) and to sprinkle 1/4 cup of chocolate chips over the top.

You will have to play with cooking times depending on the size of your loaf pan.  But somewhere between 45minutes to an hour will get you there.

If you haven’t worked with almond flour before you can usually find it at the grocery store by the oatmeal and other fancy flours.  From what I’ve seen, Bob’s Redmill is the brand most readily available at grocery store.

But if you find yourself turning to almond flour often or think you may do some experimenting with it, you can also buy it in bigger quantities on Amazon.  I usually buy Honeyville and store it in the freezer.

Other amazing recipes that I have tried from Elana and shared here on Clean+Delicious are the Gluten Free Brownies and Pear Snack Cake (I highly recommend them both!).

I would love to hear if you give this a try.  It really is deeelish!  Have you guys baked with almond flour yet?  Do you like it?  If so, what do you make with it?  And what’s your favorite brand?  I would love to hear from you guys down in the comments below!

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Clean Eating Banana Protein Muffins

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Banana Protein Muffins
Banana Protein Muffins – Clean & Delicious®

Now that I am focusing more on strength training at the gym, I’m constantly trying to find convenient, yummy ideas for high protein snacks.

After making these simple Apple Cinnamon Protein Muffins I’ve been dying to experiment with different flavors.  I just love having a muffin that actually supports my fitness goals (so much better than a plate of egg whites;)).

So today I did a quick search online and found these amazing Banana Bread Protein Muffins from DashingDish (yet another amazing blog stuffed with tons of clean eating recipe [and it also provides info for weight watchers] so please check it out).

The only changes I made to the original recipe were to up the cinnamon and replace the Truvia with a couple tablespoons of turbinado sugar (I really don’t want to get into the habit of baking with artificial sweeteners – I’d prefer to just have a little of the real thing).

These muffins are light, satisfying and delicious (and you would never know they were gluten-free to boot).  Perfect for a pre-post workout snack or simply with some coffee or tea in the afternoon.

I especially love them topped with a little almond or peanut butter!  And am certain a schmear of Greek yogurt would be delicious too.

Are you a fan of protein muffins?  I’m really looking forward to experimenting with more flavors!

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Baked Banana Crepe

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Baked Banana Crepe
Baked Banana Crepe – Clean & Delicious®

The urge is to call this recipe a pancake but the truth is that only those that eat super clean and/or have specific fitness goals would actually consider this a pancake.

If you are reading this, you are probably one of those people.

For me, this recipe very much satisfies a pancake craving although it is more ‘eggy’ than ‘bready’ and therefore I went with crepe.  Besides, when my hubby tasted it, he thought it was a crepe so that was one more reason I went with it.

It’s simple. It’s fast. And it’s made with 2 base ingredients; egg and banana.

This recipe (or some form of it) has been sweeping the ‘health/paleo/fitness/clean-eating blog’ world for some time now and I’ve seen lots of people cook this in a pan just like you would a regular pancake.  But every time I tried to do this myself it never worked.

The idea to bake it came from Tiffany of the Gracious Pantry (a blog dedicated to clean eating recipes – check it out if you haven’t already!).  Not only does baking it create perfectly cooked and delicious results but it also frees you from the time of ‘stove-time’ cooking.  Just pop it in the oven and you’re done.

This is a great alternative for anyone who is gluten-free or simply trying to cut back on processed carbs.  It’s also an ideal pre-post workout meal due to it’s high protein and quick acting, natural carbs.

And because my kids inhale it every time I make it, I can say with confidence that it is also delicious for those who simply like good food (no dietary restrictions required).

Be sure to check back later in the week, because I am sharing a video for my Banana Almond Pinwheels using this banana crepe as the base.

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Dark Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread

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Banana Bread

We go through A LOT of bananas in this house.

Anywhere between 3-5 bananas is our daily average.

And I never worry about buying too many bananas because once they turn brown I either pop them in the freezer and use them for smoothies, protein shakes, and banana ice cream OR bake them into some bread.

Although I don’t do a ton of baking these days I really enjoy it when I do.

This particular recipe is very simple so it’s a great one to get the kids involved with.  They can help you mash the bananas, measure ingredients, or stir everything together.

But even if no one wants to help you with the baking I can guarantee they’ll be lining up to help with the eating.

This banana bread is moist, flavorful, and packed with dark chocolate – need I say more?

BUT for those of you are crazy and/or insane and don’t eat chocolate (does such a person really exist?) feel free to swap to the chocolate for some walnuts, it would be delicious.

I don’t push a whole lot of my recipes on you guys but this is one that I would say you absolutely have to try.  It’s just that good.  So add it to your recipe box and give it a try and then come back and let me know what you think!

Now go and bake. Go on.

Print Recipe

Dark Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread

Yield: 10 servings

Ingredients:

  • 1.5 cups of white whole-wheat flour
  • 2 tsp. baking soda
  • 2 tsp. cinnamon
  • ½ tsp. kosher salt
  • 1.5 cup mashed bananas (2-3 bananas depending on the size)
  • 2 egg whites (1/4 cup)
  • 1/4-cup coconut oil
  • 1/4 cup of plain no fat yogurt
  • ½ cup turbinado sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • ½ cup (3.5 ounces) chopped dark chocolate

Directions:

Pre heat oven to 350

Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl and set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine bananas, egg whites, coconut oil, yogurt, turbinado sugar, and vanilla.  Gently stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until everything is incorporated and then fold in chocolate chips.

Lightly spray a loaf pan with cooking spray before pouring the batter into the pan.  Pop into the oven for fifty minutes.

Nutrients per slice: Calories: 184; Total Fat: 6g; Saturated Fat: 4.8g; Cholesterol: 0mg; Carbohydrate: 30.1g; Dietary Fiber: 2.8g; Sugars: 13.5g; Protein: 3.3g

Vegan Chocolate Almond Butter Banana Smoothie/Protein Shake

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I am not a vegan.

I’m also not a vegetarian.

But I do believe that the more plant-based foods we have in our diet, the better.   So lately I’ve been experimenting; trying to find easy ways to swap out some of my animal based staples with some more plant based options.

My morning smoothie was an easy place to start.

Vegan Protein Shake
Vegan Chocolate Almond Butter Banana Smoothie – Clean & Delicious® 

I swapped my milk to almond milk and traded my whey protein powder in for a raw, plant based, GMO free, brand (Sunwarrior is the brand I’ve been using and really like it.  You can buy it here if you’re interested).

The end result is no less delicious than my former shakes and I feel good about the choices I’m making for me and my family. With all that being said you can certainly make this shake with whatever ingredients work for you and your body.

Both of my little ones love this combo and I love that they love it because I add 2 spinach pops to each shake so not only are they getting the plant based proteins but a good dose of dark leafy greens as well.

If you have any hesitation about adding greens to your shake just know that frozen bananas make EVERYthing better – so this type of smoothie is actually a great place to dip your toes in the water.

When I make this for the little ones I split one recipe in two, but when it’s just for me I enjoy the entire serving;).

Do you ever make smoothies/protein shakes for breakfast?  Have you experimented with any vegan protein powders?  What are your thoughts?

Print Recipe

Chocolate Almond Butter Banana Smoothie

Yield: 1 serving

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
  • 1 small frozen banana
  • 1 scoop of vegan chocolate protein powder
  • 2 spinach pops
  • 1 tbsp. almond butter

Directions:

Pop everything into a blender and blend until you have a thick, rich, creamy shake.  Enjoy!

Makes 1 serving.

Calories: 330; Total Fat: 13.3g; Saturated Fat: 0.6g; Cholesterol: 0mg; Carbohydrate: 37.3g; Dietary Fiber: 7.8g; Sugars: 16.9g; Protein: 22.3g

 

Baked Banana Oatmeal (Video)

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Recently on FaceBook, I shared this little fact about myself:

“I used to be really into ‘amazing meals and gourmet ingredients’ but after having kids my new philosophy in the kitchen is this; make healthy food that requires little effort and tastes pretty good.”

I can no longer spend hours in the kitchen experimenting with new recipes, however, what I can do is spend fleeting moments of the day browsing my favorite blogs and websites.

ENTER — Kath Eats Real Food (aka KathEats).

Kath began blogging as a way to record her 30lb weight loss journey and became a Registered Dietician along the way.  If you enjoy peeking behind the curtains of other peoples health and life journeys you will probably enjoy checking her out.  It’s truly a diary of her life – kind of like reality tv for the web – just without the crazy.

Anyhow, this is a recipe from Kaths blog.

I’ve always wanted to try baked oats and I get a lot of requests for a recipe so I was going to use this recipe as my base and then tweak it to my likes BUT much to my pleasure, the recipe was delicious just the way it was, so why mess with a good thing, right?

I hope you enjoy the play by play in this video AND I would LOVE to know if you’ve ever tried making baked oats yourself?  If so, do you have any tips or tricks worth sharing?

Print Recipe

Baked Banana Oatmeal

Yield: 4 servings

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups dry rolled oats
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • ¼ tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. cinnamon
  • 3 bananas (2 sliced into rounds)
  • 2 egg whites
  • 1.5 cups 2% milk (or whatever type of milk you use)
  • 1 tsp. Vanilla extract
  • 1 tbsp. turbinado sugar (aka – sugar in the raw)

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 375F

In a large bowl combine the oats, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.  Set aside.

In a medium bowl mash one banana with the back of your fork until you have a baby food-like consistency.  Mix in egg whites, milk, and vanilla.  Combine everything together and then pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and combine well.

Grease an 8x8 metal baking pan and line with one sliced banana.  Pour the oat mixture over the bananas and then top with the other sliced banana.  Sprinkle sugar over the top and then pop in the oven for 25 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through.

Cool and slice into four pieces.  Enjoy!

Makes 4 servings.

Calories: 310; Total Fat: 5.1g; Saturated Fat: 1.2g; Cholesterol: 8mg; Carbohydrate: 55.7g; Dietary Fiber: 6.3g; Sugars: 19.8; Protein: 13.4g

Chocolate & Granola Bar Banana Bites

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Chocolate Banana Bites
Banana & Chocolate Granola Bar Bites – Clean & Delicious®

I’m pretty much addicted to frozen bananas these days.

Whether it’s eating them plain Jane out of the freezer, tossing them into a smoothie, or making some 2-minute banana ice-cream, I just can’t seem to resist their cold, creamy goodness.

So one day, while sitting at my desk staring at a box of Kashi TLC Peanutty Dark Chocolate Layered Granola Bars (my 2nd taste test for Kashi) it hit me!

Kashi Granola Bar Box

Slice up some bananas, dip them in dark chocolate, and then roll them around in some chopped up granola bars!!!

Now up until this moment I had been enjoying the granola bars as-is. The thick fudgy layer of chocolate sprinkled with peanuts and spread over a chewy granola bar made them the perfect partner for my afternoon coffee and a convenient snack to keep in the car for both parent and toddler snack attacks!

And since my 3-year old couldn’t seem to walk past my desk without grabbing one out of the box, I knew I had to work quickly if there were going to be any bars left for my Chocolate Banana Bites.

So I headed to the kitchen, sliced up a banana, chopped up a granola bar, melted a little dark chocolate, dipped, rolled and froze.

And all I have to say is, “OMG these little guys are TDF”!  (Otherwise stated as “oh my God” & “to die for”).

The cold creamy banana coated with a layer of dark chocolate and then topped with the chewy, peanutty, chocolate chunks of the granola bar was a match made in heaven and surely a nutritious treat that everyone in your family will love (I know mine did!).

They are the perfect snack to satisfy a sweet tooth without sending yourself on some crazy sugar-binge.

Enjoy!!

*On another note – After posting the first of my three-part series with Kashi I received some comments and emails from caring and concerned readers bringing to my attention the fact that Kashi has been using GMO crops in many of their products.

GMO’s are genetically modified foods and they are not something we want to be including in our diets.

After a bit of research, I learned that Kashi has began a Non-GMO Project and vow to have ALL their products GMO free by 2015.

If you are interested in doing a little more research yourself, please use the links below as starting point:

Kashi and The Non-GMO Project – This page will show you which of Kashi’s products are currently GMO-Free.

Kashi Go Lean Loaded With GMO’s – An article from Sarah, The Home Economist, providing a completely different perspective.

Thanks so much to each and everyone of my caring readers who took the time to share this information with me and therefore all of you.  xo

Print Recipe

Chocolate & Granola Bar Banana Bites

Yield: 2 servings

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 3 hours to chill

Total Time: 3 hours 10 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1 banana, sliced
  • 1 Kashi TLC Peanutty Dark Chocolate Layered Granola Bars, chopped up
  • 1.5 ounces dark chocolate

Directions:

Line a plate with a piece of parchment paper.

Melt your chocolate in a small-medium sized bowl.  You can either do this in a double boiler or in the microwave.

Using a toothpick, dip a slice of banana into the chocolate and then dip into the granola.  Lay banana side down on the parchment paper.

Repeat with all of the banana slices and then pop the plate into the freezer.  Freeze for 3-6 hours or until frozen through.  Once all the Banana Bites are frozen, you can store them in a freezer bag in the freezer.  Enjoy!

Serving Size = ½ a banana

Calories: 225; Total Fat: 8.2g; Saturated Fat: 4.1g; Cholesterol: 0mg; Carbohydrate: 35g; Dietary Fiber: 4.5g; Sugars: 20.5g; Protein: 3.5g

How-To Freeze Bananas (Video)

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The amount of bananas that are eaten in my household on a weekly basis is insane.

I would say we go through 5 bananas a day, and for those of you who don’t feel like doing the math, that’ s like 35 bananas a week.

That’s a lot of  bananas.

As soon as my little one’s wake up in the morning they are both screaming like lunatics for a banana.

It’s seriously like an addiction and God forbid we’re out of bananas – you don’t even wanna know what that looks like – I’m telling you, it’s not a pretty sight.

But who am I to judge?  After all, I’m the same exact way with my morning coffee.

Freezing bananas is a great trick to turn to anytime you find yourself with brown bananas on the counter and no desire to reach in for your inner Martha and bake up some bread or muffins.

Frozen bananas are great in smoothies, protein shakes, dipped in a little Nutella or peanut butter or whirled into some “Better than Banana Ice-Cream“.

Be sure to watch the video to see my trick for avoid having all your frozen bananas stick together and then pop down into the comments and let me know what you like to do with your frozen bananas?!!

Peanut Butter & Banana Power Pancakes

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Ah, Southern California… I just finished a beautiful six a.m. hike with my friend Mary, and when I got home, I was hungry.

I wanted something hearty and satisfying without being overly indulgent and these Peanut Butter Performance Pancakes were exactly what the doctor ordered.

I call them “performance” pancakes because they are packed with energy and make for a great pre OR post workout meal.  Because I prefer to workout first thing in the morning, rarely do I eat a full meal before a workout, so these were post workout for me.

What I love about them is that they are a real rib-sticker, they stay with you for a while (which I guess is no surprise once you look at the ingredient list).  If I had to label them with just one word it would have to be hearty, they are definitely hearty.

Ultimately, they are really just a bowl of oatmeal in pancake form.  I mean really, look at the ingredients; oatmeal, egg whites, peanut butter and bananas.  Everything that I would throw into a bowl of oats just made into a pancake.  It’s funny how you can take the same exact ingredients, cook them up a little differently and end up with a completely different meal.  So fun:).

I make this recipe into one big pancake, but you could make it into two.  And I suppose that if you weren’t super hungry this could easily serve two people (but since technically, I am two people right now, I ate the whole entire thing!

Print Recipe

Peanut Butter Performance Pancakes

Yield: Serves 1-2

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1/3 cup rolled oats
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ cup egg whites (4 egg whites)
  • 1 tablespoon natural peanut butter
  • 1 teaspoon
  • maple syrup
  • ¾ tsp cinnamon
  • ¼ banana, quartered and sliced
  • Cooking spray

Directions:

  1. Combine oats, egg whites, peanut butter, syrup, and cinnamon in a blender and mix until you have a batter.  Stir in your  banana pieces.
  2. Coat a non-stick pan with cooking spray  and heat over a medium heat.  Pour pancake patter into the pan (the batter may be a little runny around the edges, so using a rubber spatula, gently pull the runny edges towards the center of the pancake).
  3. Once the pancakes firms and sets (this will take two or three minutes) flip and cook for another minute or so or until cooked through.  Enjoy!
Nutrients for entire recipe; Calories: 307 Total Fat: 10.5g; Saturated Fat: 1.6g; Cholesterol: 0mg; Sodium: 202mg; Carbohydrate: 34g; Dietary Fiber: 5.7g; Sugars: 10.2g; Protein: 20.7g