Foodie

My friday started out with a smoothie and steel cut oats and half a banana and pb.

To save some time since we have a busy saturday of just "saturday stuff"- I am just going to highlight a few things...

I had Steamed Brussel Sprouts with green cabbage and some goddess dressing- Let me say, this was SO delicious! I actually had another bowl of this with some cheese on top!


I made another version of blondies based off on Veggie Girl's Fig Almond Blondies and also inspired by my not so greatest -latest version of Bourbon Blondies.

This batch came out very very tasty and very cake like. Here is the recipe I used:

** Adapted from Veggie Girl's Fig-Almond Blondies ( click to get her recipe)

(** which she had brilliantly adapted from the Raspberry-Almond Blondies recipe from Martha Stewart's cooking website**)

• 6 ounces nonfat greek yogurt (I used Trader Joes)
• 1/4 cup Smart Balance Oil
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon maple syrup ( I don't have molasses but it is in the brown sugar so I decreased the maple)
• 1.5 cups flour (I used Organic Whole Grain All Purpose Flour)
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup almonds, finely-sliced
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup rolled oats
  • Milk of choice, added to the batter as needed
  
  Get-It-Made:
  
  Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Lightly coat an 8x8 baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.
  
  In a large bowl, add in the yogurt, oil, sugar, vanilla extract, and syrup. Mix well.
  
  In the same bowl, add in the flour, baking soda, sliced/slivered almonds, chocolate chips, and oats. As the mixture starts to thicken up/combine, add as much of the milk as you need (I used less than 1/4 cup) so that the batter is mixable.
  
  Pour mixture into the pan ( I used an 8 x 8 , coated generously with nonstick cooking spray).
  
  Bake for about 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the blondies comes out clean.
  
  The result:
  

I really liked this version but they did remind me more of coffee-cake. Still fabulously delicious, and yummy, but worth more experimenting to get to more of a blondie-texture....


Saturday Morning Breakfast:
Banana's Foster French Toast!

I had a comment ( Thanks Dori!) about this when I made it quite some time ago, you can check it out here at Banana's Foster Stuffed French Toast , so I remembered how good that was, and definitely was inspired to make it this morning.

Two slices with leftover egg mix scrambled. The "stuffing" is just a little Cabot Cottage cheese and cinnamon and bananas.

For "Banana's Foster" or also on here I refer to them as "fry pan bananas": I slice up the banana into a pan heated to medium. That is it- flip em after about 2 minutes. If the bananas are ripe enough ( not green at all, some brown spots)- Their sugars are more readily available. Thus, when you slice it into the pan- those sugars caramelize on the sides of the banana. You could of course add brown sugar and some rum to do a true "banana's foster". I prefer without because you get all that flavor and sweetness in a little bit healthier way.



Off to enjoy the weekend- Hope everyone has a great weekend and STAYS WARM!! It is 24* here! brrrr, but much better than -10 !