Mama Food: CLEAN Strawberry Banana Yogurt Bread

Strawberry Banana Yogurt Bread

No matter how hardcore you are about eating clean and getting fit, there will always be that moment where your sweet tooth tries to take over. Days like today, where it’s not only the official first day of Fall, but the temps won’t reach 60, are those kinds of days.  We could suffice our sweet tooth with some fresh fruit or even a smoothie, but sometimes you want to channel your mama and have something amazing smelling that comes from your oven and you inevitably eat a slice too soon and burn your fingers and your mouth.  When we were kids, we’d end the experience with a swat from the wooden spoon since we were sneaking our bites of joy.  Now, as adults, we NEED a swat from the spoon to Step Away from the Baked Goods!

This bread, is a recipe that I found and slightly adapted from another blogger.  It’s very simple and other than agave nectar, has nothing that even a non-clean eater wouldn’t have in their cupboard.  Plus, since I had super ripe bananas and strawberries nearing the end of their life in my fridge, it was even more incentive to bake this.

Granted it’s not the BEST for you, but it is clean:  No High-Fructose Corn Syrup, No Preservatives, No white sugars, No Oils or Fats. And being as I’m a Nursin’ Mama, I can afford a few extra calories these days :)

Note, Let the loaf COMPLETELY COOL before attempting to eat, especially if you cut your strawberries into decent sized chunks.  they make like a jam and are super hot.  I no longer have a roof on my mouth..now where’s that wooden spoon, I need to get out of this kitchen!

{Greek Yogurt Strawberry Banana Bread}

Ingredients

1 ½ cup  Whole Wheat Pastry Flour

3 Tablespoons  Whole Wheat Pastry Flour ( for dusting the strawberries)

1 ½  teaspoon    Baking Powder

½  teaspoon kosher salt (optional)

¾ Cup Brown Sugar (or 1/3 cup agave nectar)

3  Large ripe bananas

2 Eggs

¾ Cup Fage 0% Greek Yogurt

1 cup Diced Strawberries

Splash of Vanilla

Instructions

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Start by combining flour, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl.

2.  In a separate bowl, mash bananas with a fork until they are gooey and liquid-like.

3.  Add eggs and sugar & Vanilla… mix thoroughly.

4.  Add greek yogurt

5.  Whisk until everything is well combined and there are no lumps.

6.  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and mix until just combined.

7.  Dice the Strawberries and coat with the 3 Tbls of WW Flour.  At this point, fold in the fresh strawberries to the batter

8. Pour batter into a greased loaf pan and distribute evenly.

9.  Put into the oven and bake for one hour, or until the top is golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.

10.  Transfer to a cooling rack and (try to) let the bread cool for at least ten minutes before slicing.

Yields 12 Slices

1/12 loaf  154cals  1 Kcal Fat  33g Carbs 5g Protein  159g Sodium  30mg Net Carbs 3g Fiber  17g Sugar

Singing, Dancing and Wiping the Tears Away: Our Nightly Routine

Everyday I’m amazed at how one little man can change the way we live our lives.  For every trying moment there is a peaceful moment of love that fills my heart with more joy than I could have ever imagined.  There will always be milestones in our lives:  First Dates, Engagement, Marriage and more.  None of them compare to when I’m sitting in the nursery rocking Timothy to sleep and he looks up at me with those big blue eyes, yawns his biggest yawn, then relinquishes himself to sleep in my arms.  It’s one of the most precious moments that I am blessed enough to experience daily.  Being a Radio DJ, all throughout pregnancy, Timothy experienced my 5-hour radio show and then some from the womb, and now he seems to be comforted by music.  So we rock and sing. Sometimes, we even dance around the livingroom.  Our playlist varies from day to day.  Lately, Edwin McCain’s “I Could Not Ask For More” is the song I sing softly to him. Of Course, I never make it through a full verse and chorus before there are tears streaming down my face and I have a smile that never ends.

…Looking in your eyes
Seeing all I need
Everything you are is everything to me
These are the moments
I know heaven must exist
These are the moments I know all I need is this
I have all I’ve waited for
And I could not ask for more …

I have been listening to Pandora alot lately and have a Joshua Kadison Station that also plays alot of Travis, Bryan Adams, Train, Jim Brickman and more.  It’s very coffeehouse-esc without the overly ecclectic.  It reminds me of my high school days.   Last night Charlie was dancing around the living room with Timothy in his arms to a little Bryan Adams “Heaven” then it came on; Edwin McCain.  I turn to Charlie and as I’m about to tell him that this is the very song I sing to Timothy each night, I hear Charlie softly singing it and there are tears streaming down his face.  I look down and I see our labrador, Addison, sitting at his feet looking up at them. It was a beautiful moment that to others might have appeared to only be a dad singing to his son, but to me it was the reason we are put here on this earth.  Those big blue eyes look to us for everything.  There is this enormous world out there and Charlie and I are here to be his everything til one day, Timothy will be grown and go into this world to start a family of his own.  A family that he will be able to share these quiet moments with and feel the amazing love and blessings that we do now.

 

Frozen Basil, Garlic & EVOO make cooking a breeze!

If you have never tried Clean Eating or even have heard of it.. here’s the scoop.  Clean Eating is simply eating foods that are as minimally processed if not completely UNprocessed.  So no high-fructose corn syrup, heavy salt, fats, no ingredients that you need a dictionary to figure out.  Just plain and simple: Food.

Everyone today thinks that gardening is the trendy thing to do and that it’s ok to eat out every night of the week and have a date night where you stay in.  Hey to each their own, but for me, I was taught from a young age to cook and that you eat at home so that date nights can be around someone else’s table.  Having said this, you would think that Clean Eating would be super easy for me since I already cook all the time.  Well, it can be easier.  Honestly there are so many processed foods these days, Clean Eating is more of a lifestyle you must learn.

One of the biggest culprits for those who struggle with Clean Eating is lack of preparation.  Well, with this new mama, everything is about pre-prep these days.  I found this great pin on Pinterest about freezing herbs and it’s worked great!

I bought two of the BEST Basil plants I’ve ever had at the St. Cloud Area Farmer’s Market this past spring.  I cannot believe how they have flourished, even in our 100 degree plus weather!  But, alas, summer weather is headin’ out and Fall weather’s a-comin. This means, I need to get the most of my plants now.

So first things first…

I cut myself a bunch of Basil from my plants, which was great since with Timothy’s arrival, I’ve been neglecting them a bit and they were getting a bit overgrown :/  I took all the leaves from the stems and put them in a food processor.

Then I whirred em up in the processor. As the processor was doing it’s magic I drizzled in the EVOO.  Now remember, these will be frozen so I can just toss them into a pan for a great starter or even added to pasta sauce, so there’s a pretty good amount of EVOO that goes in.

I could have left it at that, but opted to add minced garlic as well.

These are the Martha Stewart ones. I found them at Macy’s

Now, I spooned the mixture evenly into a silicon ice cube tray, placed it on a place, which I then put in a ziplock to keep the strong odors out of my freezer, and laid them flatt in the freezer!

Once Frozen, I popped each cube out and stored it in a ziplock :) Tada!  However..one note..the center cube didn’t freeze as well..so i may leave that one empty in the future.

Happy Clean Eating!