The Next 41 Days

Forty-one days with one exception. Starting today, it is exactly forty-one days until my cousin’s christening.

You see Mama’s on a mission from now ‘til then- to wear her skinnies. I say whooohoo!!! Go Mom!!!

Then I realized it is up to me to help her. Here’s a little known fact, which I bet no one would ever suspect due to this little blog- I’m am very health-conscious. Would you ever believe that? It’s true. I love to exercise and eat as healthy as I can. Although, sometimes it can be a little difficult- Some days I feel like throwing my arms up in the air and saying, “to heck with this!” And I do. But it’s actually healthier to treat yourself once in a while, because you feel more satisfied and motivated afterwards. I say this because while I’m writing this post, I’m chewing on a Twizzler stick with Dolly Parton’s ‘9 to 5’ on my playlist. It’s a cloudy, miserable day where I am, and today I feel like ‘cheating.’

Now, I haven’t necessarily posted anything super unhealthy, but I can still bake healthier recipes. Which is what I’ll be doing for the next 41 days. The word ‘healthy’ is pretty scary to a baking blog- but I promise I will not post dry, dull recipes. I’m taking part in the global mission to give ‘healthy’ a whole new image.

There is only one problem- my birthday just happens to fall between now and May 1st- and I have this AWESOME Boston Cream Pie recipe up my sleeve. But like I said- you have to treat yourself once in a while and with the approval of Mama, I will be baking myself that cake! :)

Until then, today’s recipe is Banana Bread!

This recipe is a Weight Watchers original, but I added my own twist by substituting the canola oil with apple sauce, eliminating the salt, adding some additional dried cranberries and just a few chocolate chips.
Moist & Healthy Banana Bread
(Semi- Adapted from Weight Watchers Annual Recipes for Success, 2008)

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Tim: 25 minutes

For Banana Bread you will need:
1 cup AP flour
1 cup regular oats
½ cup sugar
¼ cup wheat germ
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
3 very ripe bananas
1/3 cup reduced-fat sour cream
1 large egg
4 ounces apple sauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and butter bread pan.

In a large bowl combine flour, oats, sugar, wheat germ, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.

In mixing bowl with paddle attachment, beat bananas, sour cream, egg, apple sauce and vanilla extract. Add dry ingredients and stir until moist. Add in cranberries and chocolate chips. Spoon batter into the bread pan and bake for 25 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.

Remove and let cool partially. Serve warm.

(Guilty- I drizzled some leftover chocolate icing from my previous post!)

xx,
Tammy