Virtually Fat-Free Banana Bread!!!! YAY!

so I actually made this last week, and the boy loved it sooo much that it disappeared and I decided to make more! I tried to take pictures last time, but I forgot!
sooooo yeah...fat-free banana bread. doesn't sound right, does it? well, there is obviously fat in bananas....so its not completely fat-free. and the margarine I use has fat in it, but it is the lowest fat brand at the store (pictured under the Buffalo Chicken Pizza). But other than that, no fat! surprise! there is no fat in all-purpose flour! bet you didn't realize it!
and yes, the sour cream is fat free. do not make a disgusted face; it is really good. I do love sour cream as much as the next person, and the fat free kind is a great substitute. and when it comes to baking, it really is used for moisture, not taste. oooo but the taste is yummy and sour!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup margarine
• 1 cup sugar (splenda too, it's just a little price for my budget)
• 1/3 cup egg whites = 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking soda (not pictured)
  
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon (or adjust to your taste)
  
• 1 cup mashed bananas (roughly 2-3 bananas)
• 1/2 cup fat-free sour cream
  

***I used 1/2 tsp cinnamon and roughly 1/4 tsp cloves. I have cloves powder now because I made some kheer and decided it might be good in the banana bread***



Preheat oven to 350F, and grease a loaf pan. I use butter-flavored no-fat spray.


-cream margarine, sugar, egg whites and vanilla.


















-then add dry ingredients, then bananas, then sour cream.
-mix well.


















Then put in the loaf pan.
**I sliced half of a banana, free hand, over the top of the batter. Thought it might look cool**

















Bake for 1 hour.


Mangia!!

Buffalo Chicken Pizza

so this might not be the healthiest dish to make, but I used the "light" versions of some of the products. and I don't really care too much because I have been craving this, though I've never actually had buffalo chicken before. I also ventured out to make this because the local chains do not make this style pizza anymore :-( and I can adjust the fat content of it by making it at home.

-So get a 12-inch pizza crust (or dough). A whole wheat Boboli crust would be the best option. Sadly my favorite grocery around here does not sell Boboli (don't know why), and I bought a regular crust that the store makes.

-You will also need 1/2 lb cooked chicken, cubed or whatever shape you want (strips work too). I could tell you how to cook it, but that isn't too hard to do on your own.

-1/4 cup butter/margarine. I use the lowest cal/fat margarine as possible. No matter what the recipe calls for. Butter is super fattie and I refuse to use a lot. "Move Over Butter" is my favorite brand of recent.

-1/4 wing sauce. Frank's Wing Sauce is great, but I ran out and was being cheap so I used Louisiana Wing Sauce. Just as delicious.

-1/2 to 1 cup of Lite Chunky Blue Cheese (or ranch if you so desire). I use Marie's or Marzetti's. I ran out of Marie's in the process and luckily had some Marzetti's (was on sale). You will NOT find lite blue cheese in the regular salad dressing aisle. The lite blue cheese is sold in the produce aisle because it is a refrigerated product. Yes, it is more expensive, which could be the glass jar it comes in, but it is as delicious as regular blue cheese! It also has the good homemade taste and will save you some calories!

-around 2 cups of low-fat shredded mozzerella cheese. I bought the bag that has 1-3/4 cups, and that was plenty! But I have found out that the lower fat version of mozzerella is the 2% milk kind, not the part-skim. Skim made it so misleading!




1. Preheat the oven to 400F
2. Melt the butter(microwave) then combine with the wing sauce.
3. Toss/coat chicken with hot sauce mixture.
4. Spread blue cheese dressing on pizza crust.
5. Top with chicken.
6. Then top the pizza with the mozzerella cheese.
7. Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes or until cheese is a little brown. My nose alerted me before the timer! Smelled sooooo good!

Mangia!

Potato Salad

I don't know about you but I love potato! I actually really enjoy store bought kind: red potato salad and mashed potato salad(from Publix). No eggs in mine either....ew! But as we all know potato salad is seriously bad for you. Have you ever looked on the back of the containers....its about 300 calories per serving and that serving is not large either! Big no-no. This is what happens when you combine carby potatoes with lots and lots of mayo. I personally hate mayo, except in said salad, so trying to find a healthy alternative was a mission! I found a recipe on ilovenapa.com for a fat-free salad. It was the only one that made sense to me; I found some that involved cauliflower instead of potatoes...and also some that just called for low-fat mayo...ahem I want fat-free! So I've made it once before when the boy and I went away for the 4th, but I had some potatoes in the kitchen and decided, why not? It is super easy to make, too!

Fat-Free Potato Salad

-roughly 2lbs of potatoes (recipe calls for new, I use the pale fat-free potato. o and I free hand how much)
-5-6 green onions, finely chopped
-roughly 1/2 cup non-fat yogurt (greek would be best, but I'm too cheap. And i guesstimate on this too, because I might use more potatoes)
-2 tsp or more Dijon mustard (again, I use the cheap brand...and guesstimate because I like the taste of Dijon)
-handful of fresh herbs, finely chopped (recipe calls for basil, but my store never has it, so I use parsley. I think rosemary would be good as well because it pairs well with potatoes)
-salt and pepper, to taste


chop the potatoes into 1 inch or 1/2 inch cubes (um, I don't measure) and then cook them in boiling, salted water. You want to cook them until tender, but not falling apart. I made that mistake the first time I made the salad. I also leave the peels on, you don't have to.

Ok, so after that, we add the yogurt and scallions.

Then toss that gently together (I use a rubber spatula). After that add the chopped herbs, dijon mustard and salt & pepper. After adding that, toss again. Then taste to adjust the seasoning, either adding more salt & pepper or dijon, or yogurt...you get it. I also stopped taking pictures until it was done.
Then refrigerate for 1-2 hours and taste and adjust again.
Voila! Yummy, healthy deliciousness!

recipe courtesy of: http://ilovenapa.com/recipes/potato_salad.pdf

Hello!

Hi! So this is my first post, exciting!!!! I have never published a blog before and hoping all goes well. What I will be doing is reviewing the restaurants I go to in my own way, and I will also be posting healthy takes on fattening foods. I love bad food just as much as the next person but since I lost 25lbs roughly 3 years ago, I had to rethink how I eat and how I cook. With simple substitutions, the food tastes just as good but super good for you too!!!! But yes, there will be some seriously bad food on here!!!