Healthy Banana Walnut Bread

     Good morning friends! I hope you all have outdoor plans for this GORGEOUS weekend we have ahead of us! I wanted to be able to stay in bed a little longer today, so I decided to make breakfast last night... ;)
     Traditionally banana bread is packed with butter, white sugar, and bleached white flour... These ingredients pretty much give your body nothing to work with except basic energy. For my banana bread, though, I swapped the butter with coconut oil, the sugar with Truvia baking blend and honey, and the refined flour for whole wheat flour plus flax seed.
    I'm not going to say I was worried about how it was going to turn out, but I was definitely curious. I kinda just threw a bunch of things together that I knew would rise well... And I got the most amazing banana bread. It's naturally sweet, not overwhelming, so it's perfect for breakfast. The fat content is from coconut oil, so naturally your body burns through it very quickly. The Truvia baking blend is 75% Truvia, which is a NATURAL zero calorie sweetener, and 25% white sugar, so you're not losing any of that great taste. PLUS its 1/4 of the calories! Honey is so good for you, too, especially if you use local honey. The bees collect their pollen from flowers in your surrounding area and if you ingest their honey, you can gain immunity to those plant's allergens. Not to mention the awesome anti-microbial properties of honey. Firstly, it never goes bad, simply because bacteria cannot grow in it. Secondly, it can kill bacteria in your body... Like the common cold :) For those of you who do not know the difference, white flour is made from the wheat plant, but unlike whole wheat flour, all of the parts of the wheat plant that would be good for you (the germ and bran) are removed. All that is left is the endosperm, which sadly, does not carry much nutritional value. This is done to promote a longer shelf life. And flax seed is just an awesome source of fiber, but you already knew that :)
    So here we go...

BETTER FOR YOU BANANA NUT BREAD
*makes one loaf

Ingredients:
-3 very ripe bananas
-juice from 1 lemon
-1/3 c. Truvia baking blend (found in the baking aisle at HEB)
-3 Tbsp. LOCAL honey
-2 eggs
-4 tbsp. melted coconut oil (only takes like 10 seconds to melt in microwave)
-1/3 c. almond milk (I use unsweetened vanilla)
-1 tbsp. vanilla extract
-1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
-1/4 c. ground flax seed
-1/2 c. chopped walnuts
-1/2 tsp. salt
-1/2 tsp. cinnamon
-1/4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
-3/4 tsp. baking powder
-3/4 tsp. baking soda

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2) Grease a loaf pan
3) In a large mixing bowl mash your bananas and whisk in the lemon juice
4) add Truvia, coconut oil, & honey
5) Whisk in eggs, almond milk, & vanilla extract
6) In a separate mixing bowl, stir together flour, flax seed, salt, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, & baking soda
7) Using 1/2 c. increments, slowly fold the flour mixture into the banana mixture
8) Stir in walnuts
9) Pour mixture into greased loaf pan and bake for 45 min - 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean from the CENTER of the bread

    I promise, even though it seems like all of the "yummy stuff" has been replaced with "healthy stuff", you will not be disappointed. In fact, like me, you might even enjoy it more than the traditional Banana bread recipe!

Fun fact: Over-ripened bananas, while in the ripening process lose some value, gain others... Ripened bananas with dark spots can aid in reducing the number of cancerous cells in the body!!!!!!! So awesome! As normal oxidation of a bananas natural enzymes occurs in the ripening process, a substance called TNF (Tumor Necrosis Factor) has shown to increase dramatically. This factor is used in many cancer fighting agents :)

Broiled Pesto Salmon with Veggie Pasta

     First off, I would like to congratulate Mason and myself for eating dinner before 9 pm for once!!! It's amazing! Secondly, I would like to dedicate this post to my aunt Caroline and cousins Elizabeth and Zach for gifting me such AWESOME cooking ingredients. Seriously, y'all, you have no idea how excited I am! Thank you!!! Check it out...

So these are infused extra virgin olive oils

...and these are the awesome flavors

Wild Mushroom Sage

Cilantro and Roasted Onion

Basil

and they make like 20 other different kinds

They also got me this amazing home made pasta

Spinach Basil and Garlic Linguine

This pasta is 100% vegan and the ingredients are incredibly straight up

100% whole durum wheat, spinach, fresh garlic, dried basil, & freshly ground black pepper

THAT'S IT!

Contact me if you're interested in where to find these ingredients :)

Onto the good stuff...

     We all know how much I love pesto and I think we all can agree that the pesto pasta I made was pretty much the most amazing dish ever... but I think this is better. If you are a salmon lover this dish is for you. This is probably the best salmon recipe I've ever had. So here we go....

BROILED PESTO SALMON
*serves 4

Ingredients: 
-1 lb. fresh salmon
-1 lemon
-1 tub Butolli prepared pesto
-cooking spray

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to low broil
2. Using foil on a baking sheet, create a little tin "pool" for your salmon
3. Grease this :)
4. Place salmon skin side down on the pan and squeeze whole lemon over the top
5. Let sit for 15 minutes
6. Spread a thick layer of pesto over the top of the salmon

7. Broil for 12 minutes or until fish is flakey and the flesh is opaque

    For the veggie pasta I just sauteed a bunch of beautiful fresh veggies in a little of my infused olive oil (I used the cilantro onion one!), threw in a little salt and pepper and added my boiled pasta. I sprinkled some grated Parmesan cheese over the top for a little extra somethin'!

     Okay I'm going to go into a clean food coma now. Love y'all!

Maude