Low Fat Chocolate Banana Bread

Low Fat Chocolate Banana Bread



This is a really yummy banana bread. It's great hot, right out of the oven and I love banana bread with butter on it. (not low fat anymore, but oh well!!) It would probably be good with walnuts added.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup applesauce
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp. baking soda
2 large mashed bananas
1/2 cup chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray the bottom of an 8-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray.

In a large bowl, beat the sugar, eggs, oil and applesauce at medium speed until mixed (use an electric mixer or stand mixer). Beat in vanilla. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa, and baking soda; beat into sugar mixture at low speed just until combined. Stir in bananas and chocolate chips.

3. Spoon batter into loaf pan. Bake 60-70 minutes. Cool 10 minutes then remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

Parmesan-Paprika Chicken

This is from allrecipes.com for the most part I stuck to the recipe I just spiced it up some. We both really liked it. Very easy and quick to make.

Parmesan-Paprika Chicken



INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons paprika

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

Sprinkle of cayenne pepper, however spicy you want
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons milk
Hot sauce
2 boneless chicken breasts, pounded thin
2 T. butter, melted

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Coat a shallow baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

Combine flour, Parmesan, paprika, garlic,cayenne, and pepper in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, hot sauce and milk.

Dip the chicken in the egg, then dredge in the flour mixture. Place in the baking dish, and pour the melted butter evenly over the chicken.

Bake for about 25-30min to an hour in the preheated oven, until the cheese has browned, and the chicken has cooked.

Almond-crusted chicken tender salad

This is one of the best tasting salads, ever! The sweetness and saltiness just compliment each other sooo well!

Next time, I will try baking the chicken tenders instead of frying them :) Also, I could not find Panko bread crumbs, so I just toasted whole wheat bread and then put in a food processor to make crumbs.

Almond-crusted chicken tender salad

Dressing ingedients
1/4 cup Kikkoman Teriyaki Marinade and Sauce
1/4 cup olive oil
2T honey
2T vinegar
1tsp freshly grated orange peel

Salad ingredients
1 lb chicken breast tenders
freshly ground black pepper
1 egg
1T kikkoman Teriyaki marinade and Sauce
1/2 cup all purpse flour
1/2 cup Kikkoman Panko bread crumbs
1/2 cup smoked almonds, finely chopped
3 T vegetable oil
6 cups mixed baby salad greens
2 oranges, peeled and cut into segments

Orange-teriyaki-honey dressing
Whisk together teriyaki sauce, olive oil, honey vinegar and orange peel.

Chicken salad
1. Season chicken tenders with pepper. Beat egg with teriyaki sauce in shallow bowl until well blended.
2. Place flour in shallow dish. Combine bread crumbs and almonds in another shallow dish.
3. Dust both sides of chicken with flour, then dip into egg mixture and finally coat with almond mixture.
4. In 12-inch skillet, heat 2 T oil over med-high heat. Add chicken and cook 6 to 7 minutes, or until no longer pink in center, turning over once and adding more oil as needed.
5. Divide salad greens among 4 dinner plates. Arrange chicken and orange segments on greens. Serve with teriyaki-honey dressing

Creamy Cajun Shrimp Linguine

Mmmmmm... we had this for dinner tonight, delish! Tastes like one of the bertoli's frozen dinners (that we love) but, without the 30 grams of fat, more than half of that saturated! It's very rare, to find a dish that I absolutely love and Ryan absolutely loves, and this is it. :) This will fix your craving for creamy pasta and not ruin your diet :) It's from cookinglight.com. I served it with lite garlic bread.

The only changes I made was I used small shrimp, ones that were frozen and already cooked. I used a yellow bell pepper. I cooked the vegetables with a tad bit of butter and set aside, than made the sauce(with a little bit more creamer) and after it had thickened added the vegetables. Next time, I will not add the parsley, I just can not make myself like the way it tastes!

Ingredients

1 cup water
1 (14-ounce) can fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
6 ounces uncooked linguine
1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
1 (8-ounce) package presliced mushrooms
1 large red bell pepper, cut into (1/4-inch-thick) slices
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning object2=">
2/3 cup half-and-half
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Preparation

Combine 1 cup water and broth in a Dutch oven; bring to a boil. Break pasta in half; add to pan. Bring mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 8 minutes. Add shrimp to pan. Cover and simmer for 3 minutes or until shrimp are done; drain.

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and pepper to pan; sauté 4 minutes or until moisture evaporates. Add flour and seasoning to pan; sauté 30 seconds. Stir in half-and-half; cook 1 minute or until thick, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add pasta mixture and parsley to pan; toss.

Yield

4 servings (serving size: 1 1/2 cups)

Nutritional Information

CALORIES 365(27% from fat); FAT 10.9g (sat 5.9g,mono 2.7g,poly 0.8g); PROTEIN 27.4g; CHOLESTEROL 194mg; CALCIUM 101mg; SODIUM 685mg; FIBER 2.2g; IRON 4.1mg; CARBOHYDRATE 38.1g

Southwestern Egg Rolls

These taste like the southwestern egg rolls that you get from chili's. Now, I've never had them, but that is what everyone tells me. Really good as an appetizer, or just as finger foods. I served them when we had some friends over and at our potluck dinner at church, everyone loved them. I do not deep fry them, I baked them the first time and pan fried them the second time. I prefer them baked at 350 until they are browned and crispy. I used montery jack cheese with jalapeños the second time and it added a bit of spice to it. The dip really pushes it over the top, it is so good! It works on tortilla chips also, I just had one!! Don't worry about freezing them, unless you are going to deep fry. I cut out all the oil and just used cooking spray and it worked fine.

Southwestern Egg Rolls

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 skinless, boneless chicken breast half
• 2 tablespoons minced green onion
• 2 tablespoons minced red bell pepper
• 1/3 cup frozen corn kernels
• 1/4 cup black beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 tablespoons frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
• 2 tablespoons diced jalapeno peppers
• 1/2 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/3 teaspoon salt
• 1 pinch ground cayenne pepper
• 3/4 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• 5 (6 inch) flour tortillas
• 1 quart oil for deep frying

DIRECTIONS

1. Rub 1 tablespoon vegetable oil over chicken breast. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, cook chicken approximately 5 minutes per side, until meat is no longer pink and juices run clear. Remove from heat and set aside.
2. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in green onion and red pepper. Cook and stir 5 minutes, until tender.
3. Dice chicken and mix into the pan with onion and red pepper. Mix in corn, black beans, spinach, jalapeno peppers, parsley, cumin, chili powder, salt and cayenne pepper. Cook and stir 5 minutes, until well blended and tender. Remove from heat and stir in Monterey Jack cheese so that it melts.
4. Wrap tortillas with a clean, lightly moist cloth. Microwave on high approximately 1 minute, or until hot and pliable.
5. Spoon even amounts of the mixture into each tortilla. Fold ends of tortillas, then roll tightly around mixture. Secure with toothpicks. Arrange in a medium dish, cover with plastic, and place in the freezer. Freeze at least 4 hours.
6. In a large, deep skillet, heat oil for deep frying to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Deep fry frozen, stuffed tortillas 10 minutes each, or until dark golden brown. Drain on paper towels before serving.

Cilantro Cream Sauce

• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 tablespoon sour cream
• 1 (7 ounce) can tomatillo salsa also called salsa verde
  
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 tsp salt
  
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine cream cheese, sour cream, salsa, pepper, celery salt, cumin, garlic powder, cilantro and lime juice in a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth and creamy. Place in a serving bowl.

I only added a little bit of cilantro, because that is not a flavor I am very fond of. Make the day before and refridgerate, it allows the flavors to blend and become spicy.

Praline Cheesecake

My first real cheesecake! *squeal* It was really good! I have dreams of cheesecake, it is my favorite dessert. If I could only have one food for the rest of my life...it would be cheesecake. So making this was a big deal. The only previous cheesecakes I have made are the ones that you don't bake. I didn't change anything except for the praline sauce. I added about 2 T of butter, to make it more praline like. The easy way to slice this is to use floss! Use the unflavored, waxed kind. Pull out a length long enough to wrap around your hands andpull tightly to slice through the cake, sawing back and forth slightly, when it is all the way through, pull out the other end, it crumbles the crust to pull it back up. Repeat, until you have as many as slices as you want!

Praline Cheesecake

Crust:
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
4 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) melted butter

Filling:
3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
5 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Topping:
1 1/2 cups sour cream
4 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Praline Sauce:
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup dark corn syrup
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

For the crust, stir together the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter. Pat this mixture into the bottom and sides of a 9-inch spring form pan.

Make the filling: In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese and granulated sugar. Beat in the eggs, 1 at a time, and then beat in the vanilla. Pour the filling into the crust and bake for 1 hour. Remove the cake from the oven and cool for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the topping: In a bowl, mix the sour cream, sugar, and vanilla until well blended. Spread this mixture over the warm cake and return to the oven for 4 minutes. Let the cake cool to room temperature in the pan, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight. At serving time, use a table knife to loosen the cake from the pan. Remove the sides of the pan and place the cake on a platter, leaving it on pan bottom. To make the praline sauce, in a small heavy saucepan stir together the brown sugar and cornstarch. Stir in the corn syrup and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thick. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the nuts and vanilla. Cool slightly. Serve the cheesecake, passing the sauce in a bowl with a small ladle. Store any leftovers in the refrigerator.

Fruit Kabobs

These made great finger foods for summertime. I used kiwi, oranges, bananas, canned pineapple, grapes, and strawberries. Also fabulous would of been watermelon, cantaloupe, mango, fresh pineapple... any fruits, really. The dip is so easy, it is 1 jar of marshmallow creme, 1 block of cream cheese, and 2 T. orange concentrate. Mix all together, using med speed and pour into a serving bowl. I used shish kabob sticks and broke/cut them in half.