Posts Tagged by banana
My Go-To Pre Race Breakfast
| February 6, 2015 |
One question I always get from new runners is “what should I eat for breakfast on race day?” So I wanted to share my go-to pre-race breakfast with you: PB&J toast + banana + hydration
Technically speaking, I eat an AB&J (almond butter and jelly). And I guess if you want to get even more technical. I don’t own a toaster oven so I don’t actually eat toast unless I want to turn on the oven.
On average, one slice of whole wheat bread is around 12 grams of carbs. You can choose whatever bread you like but my favorites are the earthy nutty breads like Ezekiel bread. Adding the almond butter and jelly aid in flavor as well as providing a little bit of protein for muscle repair and extra sugar for additional carbs.
A banana is a good fruit option pre and post race because it’s a good source of potassium, B6, and magnesium. Potassium for me is very important. I am very prone to muscle cramps, especially in my toes due to my flat feet. With proper shoes, socks, and stretching I’ve been able to alleviate most of the problems I’ve come across during races, but I still struggle with the cramps from time to time and potassium is known to help prevent cramping. B6 is involved in transporting oxygen to the cells. This is vital for any athlete. Finally, magnesium helps to maintain healthy bones. With the prolonged pounding on your joints from running, magnesium is important if you plan to continue running through your 60s.
Last but not least, hydrate. If it’s race morning and you didn’t hydrate enough the past 2 weeks, this is not the time to make up for slacking off on your hydration routine. You don’t want a tidal wave swooshing in your stomach as you run. I like to drink about 1 bottle of water before the race depending on how much time I have from the moment I get up to the race start. I also like to add Nuun to my water. I’m a sucker for any flavored drink since I gave up soda and Nuun has added electrolytes – great for an athlete! Then I rely on the aid stations to provide my water along the course.
One big mistake you don’t want to make is trying something new on race day. What I shared with you above is what I personally do. But everyone is different and I am not a nutritionist. You’re training plan should have some long runs scheduled in. Plan to do your long runs at the same time of day that your race will start, that way you can get to know your own body and what it craves early in the morning.
… But let’s be honest. My race breakfast does NOT look like the photos above. It looks more like this. Packed the night before in a ziplock bag and a banana on the side.
It was freezing outside so I ate in my car with the heater at full blast until it was time to head to the start. This was before the Citrus Heritage Half Marathon. I did it last year for the inaugural event and had to come back for the 2nd annual race. It’s a beautiful run through the historic orange groves in Riverside and the sunrise was breathtaking! As I ran, I could smell the sweet citrus growing along the course.
Avocado Chocolate Banana Pudding
| September 16, 2013 |
So this recipe I actually created as one of the first recipes for my blog, but I came across the issue of not having a high speed blender OR a food processor. If you aren’t sure if you have a high speed blender versus a regular blender, generally the question to ask yourself is, “does my blender work as well or better than a food processor.” Ok, well that may not be the official question to ask yourself but I sure asked myself that one.
The first time I tried making this I put the avocado and banana in a blender with the almond milk, thinking that it might blend like I was making a smoothie and I would add all the other ingredients after. FAIL! There was not enough liquid so it barely blended and there were still chunks of avocado and banana. I ended up pouring it into a bowl and trying to mash it by hand and then I whisked the ingredients together. I ended up with chunky pudding, and no one wants chunks of avocado in their pudding. It was gross. So if you get chunky pudding, you might not have a high speed blender.
But after all said and done, I am finally sharing my recipe (and it tasted good this time) because I finally got my kitchen essentials. I got a food processor as a house warming present from a friend and this Summer I bought a Vitamix at the OC Fair. So giving it another whirl, my recipe really was good once the chunks were no longer in the equation. Enjoy 🙂
PS – I promise you that you can’t taste the avocado. It’s my secret ingredient … it adds the creaminess to the pudding without any dairy products.
Avocado Banana Chocolate Pudding
- 1 ripe avocado (pitted & peeled)
- 1 overripe banana
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup raw honey
- 1/4 cup almond milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
Directions
Combine all ingredients in a high speed blender or food processor. Store in an airtight container in the fridge if you can’t eat it all in one sitting. It should serve two for a snack or one for a full meal. Feel free to garnish with an extra banana cut into slices (to get a similar look to my photos).
If you are like me and add protein powder to everything: Reduce the honey to 2 tbsp and hold the cocoa powder. Add a scoop of chocolate protein powder to the blender or food processor. Then add raw cocoa to taste. You probably wouldn’t be adding any more than a few tablespoons max. Most flavored protein powders will have enough chocolate to flavor your pudding. Also, they usually have added sweeteners which is where the decrease in honey comes in. Of course if it’s not sweet enough for you, you can add more honey.
As for using the raw honey – You don’t have to use raw, I just prefer raw because it’s less processed. Easy 1:1 conversion for raw versus regular honey if you don’t have raw. Although I suggest you try raw honey at some point. It tastes amazing!!!
Look how beautiful the pudding looks in my Vitamix … it’s a swirl!!!
St. Patty’s Pancakes
| March 12, 2013 |
If you follow me on Instagram, you might have seen my photo a while back of my fatal attempt at making paleo pancakes. Once I tried to make the “just add water” Bisquick pancakes, let’s just say they were inedible. Every time I tried to make pancakes on my own, I failed miserably. But I really wanted to make green pancakes for St. Patrick’s Day so I volunteered the time of my handy dandy boyfriend, let’s call him the Pancake King for now, to help me out with this recipe.
My first attempt was just like any other. My pancakes would never end up on someone’s breakfast plate. The Pancake King told me I had two big problems: 1. my batter was too liquidy 2. my flame was too high. So I modified the recipe and lowered my flame and voila! The magic happened. It’s amazing what a little guidance can do!
Spinach Banana Pancakes for St. Patty’s Day
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 2 overripe bananas
- 4 cups fresh spinach
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
- 1/2 cup almond milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 2 scoops vanilla protein powder
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp baking powder
Directions
Add the oats to a food processor or high speed blender until the oats are finely chopped – borderline powder. Then add the banana and spinach to the food processor until the banana and spinach have blended evenly into each other and there are no more chunks of anything. Then add all the liquid ingredients and blend. Next, all the dry ingredients. You can easily do this with a stand mixer as well. However, the oats, banana and spinach need a blender or food processor to get the right texture and I prefer to only get one appliance messy. My food processor did the job just fine.
Then use your choice of oil, butter, or non-stick cooking spray to coat your pan. Bring flame to medium-high heat. Once the pan is hot, pour the batter in the center to make your desired pancake size.
Here’s where the Pancake King comes back in. I had no idea when to flip a normal pancake let alone a green one. A little tip on the flipping green pancakes, you can’t judge it by the golden edges because the green doesn’t really change color the way a normal pancake would. It’s best to watch for bubbles. When you see bubbles form on the top, flip!
If you don’t allow them to cook all the way through, they will be mushy. This was the other hard part to judge. I did it by taste testing the first one. Then I knew for sure the right timing for the right consistency.
This batch made about a dozen pancakes for me. It’s very easy to cut the recipe ingredients in half if you only want to cook enough for 2. You can top it with whatever floats your boat. Photographed, I topped it with fat-free whip cream and sprinkles. The Pancake King chose to top it with peanut butter. The options are endless.
Vegan Oatmeal Protein Cookies
| March 7, 2013 |
So not long ago, my boyfriend and I moved in together. A lot of people asked things like “is it everything you thought it would be?” and “how are you adjusting to living?” Well, the funny part of all this is, my boyfriend’s answer when people asked him what it was like moving in with me, he said “I moved in with a personal chef.”
I’ll admit I’m a kitchen hog. I like to do all the cooking. I made these breakfast cookies with protein in them for those times when I need a quick grab-n-go option. While my boyfriend has liked all my healthy cooking thus far (he didn’t drink the healthy Koolaid like me), I can’t lie – when he ate my breakfast cookies, he told me he’d rather stick to the unhealthy stuff… but I thought these were great, so I am sure you will like them too. They taste like breakfast … in a cookie!
Vegan Oatmeal Protein Cookies
- 3 spotted bananas (overripe = spotted)
- 2 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup coconut oil (melted, measure it in liquid form)
- 2 cups of rolled oats
- 1/3 cup of wheat bran
- 2 scoops of vanilla protein powder
- 2/3 cup chopped almonds
- 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp salt (I used sea salt because it’s all I keep in my kitchen)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 cup carob chips (you can use chocolate chips if you prefer)
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries
Directions
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Mush the bananas using a fork until smooth. Add all the vanilla and oil and whisk together.
In another bowl, mix the dry ingredients together (aka everything else). I used a food processor to chop the almonds to make things easy. Fold the dry ingredients into the banana mixture.
Roll the mixture into round balls. Place them on a baking sheet lined with a silplat mat or parchment paper. Press the round ball flat onto the sheet to make the shape of a cookie. They don’t change shape during baking so your basically sculpting what your cookie’s gonna look like.
Bake in the oven for 15min. If they aren’t cooked all the way, the will fall apart when you take a bite. So it’s OK to eat one to test it 🙂
Note: You can add more or less protein if you choose to. This batch made 2 dozen cookies for me, and with the protein I used it totaled to 40 grams a batch (average 1.5 grams of protein a cookie). I used whey protein which isn’t vegan, but if you’re looking for a good vegan friendly powder option, try SunWarrior.
I bagged the cookies into snack size servings and meal servings. Four cookies and fruit for breakfast or two cookies plain as a pre-workout snack. I go straight from work to the gym so I often don’t eat dinner until 8:30pm after my workout. I have a snack around 5:30 to hold me over so I need a good snack that will keep me full and energized.
Cinnamon Banana Smoothie
| February 7, 2013 |
Ok, many of you have been asking about the perfected smoothie recipe I included on my 2012 recap photo, so here it is! I LOVE this recipe. Bananas are always in the house because I can’t seem to get enough of them.
Bananas are also great if you’re craving something sweet. Only 110 calories each and has about 3 grams of fiber helping you feel full. Cinnamon is rich in antioxidants, and possesses antibacterial, antifungal and antimicrobial properties. Combine these two ingredients with a little extra whey protein and you got a power smoothie in your hands!
Cinnamon Banana Smoothie
- 2 spotted bananas
- 1/2 cup ice
- 3/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 scoop vanilla whey protein powder
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
Directions
Add all the ingredients into the blender and blend till smooth. Garnish with a pinch of cinnamon on top or some chia if you like. For an extra vanilla punch, add the optional 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract. When I’m running out the door I usually don’t add it but when I have the time, it really does add some extra vanilla flavor which compliments the drink.
Tip: For thicker smoothies, freeze the fruit and skip the ice. This works with any smoothie recipe. Just be sure that your blender can handle the frozen fruits. Strawberries and a few other fruits are very tough when they’re frozen and could send your blender to it’s death bed if it’s not build for high intensity blending.
Sources: Livestrong.com – “Top Ten Health Benefits of Bananas” and “Benefits of Cinnamon”
Banana Sweet Potato Souffle
| November 5, 2012 |
While it may not seem like fall in SoCal these days (it was 100 degrees today), it doesn’t mean I’m not enjoying the wonderful flavors of autumn. My favorite fall flavor, hands-down, is CINNAMON! I have been adding it to everything. And it adds flavor without extra calories. Just wait for all my cinnamon recipes coming up! I’m so excited to share.
But my recipe below does have added sugar, so if you’re watching your sugar intake, as we all should be doing, just take note of the amount of sugar. And I guess you could always not add the sugar and it will still taste pretty good, but I personally like the added sweet. What harm is a dessert every here and there? Maybe you should try replacing the pie at Thanksgiving with this! I promise it’s healthier than most pies out there.
Banana Sweet Potato Souffle
- 2 sweet potatoes
- 3 overripe bananas
- 3 eggs
- 3 tbsp raw sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp all spice
- optional: 1/2 tbsp ground flax (it’s good for you!)
Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Pierce sweet potatoes, wrap in foil and bake for 50 minutes or until tender. Place sliced (peeled) bananas and baked sweet potatoes (with the skin, we all know that’s where all the nutrients are) in a food processor until the mixture is somewhat smooth. Then add the rest of the ingredients starting with the eggs and working your way down the ingredient list until all have been added.
Spray your ramekins (or bowls or mugs, whatever you choose) with non-stick cooking spray. Fill your ramekins 80% of the way. They will rise a little but not like a cake would. Bake 35 minutes or so until bake is heated all the way through and the top of the souffles have a golden color to them (like my picture). Let cool and serve.
Tastes great with ice cream, but that defeats the purpose of it being a healthier dessert 😉
**You might need to cook your’s more or less depending on the size of your containers. This recipe filled 4 of my bowls and 40 minutes seem to do the trick. If this recipe fills 6 of your ramekins, then you might need to decrease your baking time.
