Coconut Banana Bread

Every week we usually buy a whole bunch of bananas for the week. Oddly enough, neither Brian or I actually eat bananas fresh. I usually wait until they begin to have little brown spots on them, then I peel them, cut them into thirds, and freeze them. I use these frozen banana bits for my smoothies, acai bowls and protein shakes. They always make everything so creamy.

If you haven't had banana soft freeze, you are missing out!! All you do is throw your frozen bananas into a blender or food processor and blend it until it is creamy like soft serve yogurt. You can add peanut butter, chocolate powder, vanilla, anything your heart desires.

I haven't made banana bread for a while, so I knew that these little brown babies will be destined to be in loaf form. Last time I made banana bread it came out super rich and decadent. Unfortunately I never bookmarked the recipe- all I remember was it had greek yogurt in it. While I was perusing the world wide web, I found a recipe that I decided to tweek a little make it with the ingredients I had.

Healthy Coconut Banana Bread
adapted from Monique of Ambitious Kitchen

1 3/4 cups of flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
3 large ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup + 3 TB sweetened coconut flakes
1/2 TB olive oil
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup Splenda Brown Sugar Baking Blend (or 1/2 cup brown sugar)
3 egg whites
1/4 cup fat free greek yogurt
2 TB coconut milk (or almond milk, soy milk, or regular milk)
2 TB of pineapple juice (or OJ or grapefruit)
Cinnamon

Preheat 350.
Mix the first three ingredients.
In a separate bowl mix the bananas, sugar and vanilla. Add eggs, then add oil.
Mix the dry with the wet ingredients.
Then add the yogurt, coconut milk and juice.
Fold in 1/2 cup of coconut flakes.

Grease a 9x5 pan and pour in batter. Sprinkle the remaining 3 TB of coconut flakes on top. Then lightly sprinkle cinnamon evenly on top. Bake for 55-60 minutes.

This bread tasted better after a night in the fridge. I think the bananas needed time to really mesh with the coconut. Brian said this is a keeper. It was good, but not my ABSOLUTE favorite I have ever had. I think next time I will try using riper bananas, and pre toasting the coconut before putting it in the bread. Sorry for the lack of picture, I am just too freaking lazy.

EDIT: COCONUT BANANA BREAD FRENCH TOAST!! I always hate the ends of the banana bread because they are always drier and get cooked more thn the soft middle pieces. So one night I decided to make french toast with them. DELICIOUS. You can make french toast with other pieces too if you leave them out over night to get a little stale. I used egg, coconut milk, cinnamon and stevia and dredged the banana bread pieces in them. It was so decadent, yet healthy!

Cinnamon Rolls and Kale Salad

I spent the entire day working on these delicious beauties:
Cinnamon Rolls with Maple Frosting from the Pioneer Woman. I halved the recipe since the original quantity is for 50 people. They came out delicious. I let them rise in the fridge for 4 hours which made them easier to work with. I made them for my bf's co-worker's birthday tomorrow. I'll take any excuse to bake. They were sweet, gooey, soft and PERFECT. I'm freezing the leftovers so that we can have cinnamon rolls on weekend mornings without having to do all the work.

Recipe: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/cinammon_rolls_/

For dinner, I had smoked salmon, dry-rubbed ribs, and a Karena's colorful kale salad. I massaged the kale to make sure that the dressing soaked into the leaves, and let it marinate for 6 hours. It was SO GOOD! Creaminess from the feta, nuttiness from the pine nuts, sweetness from the cranberries, and plenty of fresh crunch. I just adore those Tone It Up girls. I added cucumbers, almonds and bell peppers to this recipe, and doubled the kale.

Here is the recipe: http://toneitup.com/blog.php?Karena-s-Kale-Salad-and-Three-Bean-Side-Dish-Recipes-5177

Today's workout consisted of biceps, triceps, abs and cardio from Live Fit Day 32. My poor triceps hate me. I was watching Greys on the treadmill at the gym, and I started crying when I saw O'Malley. I am a complete psycho. I just hate when characters I like die, for example: 007, Mufasa, the kid from Alpha Dog, Marley (the dog, but I guess the singer too?.. ) I'm just a big cry baby. I need to suck it up if I'm ever going to be a nurse.