Chocolate Peanut Butter and Banana Pancakes with Greek Yogurt

Since it's the weekend, it's typical I would come up with some type of pancake recipe. Since I had a banana, I knew the pancakes had to be banana of sorts. I decided they had to be chocolate of course as well, because well, as long as it's healthified, what's wrong with having chocolate for breakfast? And since I'm obsessed with Greek yogurt as of late, making them healthy was no problem. I couldn't find a recipe of exactly what I wanted. So I made it up, and the outcome was simply bliss. I must warn you though, if you don't like meaty pancakes, you won't enjoy these.

I don't ever really measure, but essentially, here's what I did:

1 cup of whole wheat flour (though next time I'd use less)

2 tbsp. cocoa powder (I recommend special dark - though being that my sister works at Mars, I can't condone Hershey's without a guilty conscience - you, on the other hand, feel free to use it.

1 egg

About 1/2 cup Greek yogurt, I used my current obsession: Fage Greek yogurt

1 tsp. baking powder

About a tbsp. of almond milk

1 large banana, mashed

Optional: peanut butter for spreading on top (not optional for me)

With the yogurt and almond milk, I really just used enough to make sure it was in dough form and that the dry ingredients were no longer dry. And voila you have pancakes with the two greatest ingredients (chocolate and peanut butter, obviously).

Healthy Banana Oatmeal Bread Bites

The perfect Saturday morning spent with God. All I needed was my Bible, a good book, my journal, peppermint mocha coffee and these little babies...



They're super easy to make and super delicious! I certainly have an appetite for healthy versions of recipes though :)

For those of you brave enough to try it -- here's what I did.

3 ripe bananas
2 c. oats
1/3 c. applesauce (you could use oil -- but I prefer applesauce and I think it makes them more moist)
1 tsp. vanilla (I had vanilla straight from Haiti -- it was my souvenir from my roommate, Liz -- and wow does that ever add great taste!)
Optional: 1 c. peanuts/chocolate chips/walnuts/raisins (use your imagination!)
Also optional (not optional for me): peanut butter for spreading on the bites (Skippy Natural Honey Roasted Chunky is one of my faves)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mash bananas in a bowl. Mix in all other ingredients and let sit for ~15 minutes or so.
Bake for ~18-20 minutes.

Enjoy :) Told you it was simple! ;)

it's a toss up

you asked for it. ok.. maybe you didn't, but i'll feed it to you regardless.

it's no secret i like peanut butter. in fact, i'm rather open and honest about my unhealthy addiction.

over the weekend i was at wal-mart picking up my skippy natural super chunk peanut butter when i noticed jif now makes chunky natural, whereas before they only made creamy; or maybe the chunky was just never available in the small towns i've lived in since natural became all the rage (which is highly likely). since i am a girl who loves her chunky peanut butter you can only imagine the elation that came over me. so as loyal of a customer as i am to skippy natural, i thought i'd give jif chunky natural a try to see which is better; since the ultimate reason skippy took precedence was because they did much better on having both chunky natural and most recently natural peanut butter with honey. yum times 3274389745. yet, they still don't make natural chunky with honey. that would be the ultimate. it's coming eventually.. and the day it does, i'll be one happy lady, and it's safe to say the first company to do it will probably have my heart for the rest of my life. and since i'm fairly confident i single-handedly eat as much peanut butter on my own in a week as the average person probably eats in several months, each company would do well to listen to my suggestions because it's safe to say i keep you in business (may be just a bit of a stretch).

anyway, let's compare the chunky naturals, shall we?

same amount of calories and protein; same amount of sugars (technically...)

Skippy: less carbs, just 5 ingredients, 15 oz (13 servings), typically about $2.10 a jar

Jif: less fat, more carbs (so essentially more sugars), 18 oz (15 servings) typically around $1.97 a jar, same 5 ingredients as Skippy, but throws in a little molasses too. peanuts are larger (hence the peanut butter is chunkier)

The verdict? I have to be honest, I went into this test pretty biased and in favor of Skippy. But the larger peanuts give this win to Jif. and as far as it tasting just a little better, i suppose it's the molasses.. Since I'm price-driven I gotta say the fact that Jif is cheaper (at 3 more oz. and less cost) and tastes better.. i'll allow it. but when I naturally (no pun intended) crave honey peanut butter, i suppose Skippy will have to do; unless Jif comes out with chunky peanut butter with honey first. just a thought..

emphasis on the full (circle)

so i tried a new cereal and i couldn't resist the urge to tell everyone how stellar it really is. i usually don't really care for bran flakes cereal, but Full Circle organic bran flakes doesn't have the typical bland taste. i can't really describe it.. all i really know is that it's delicious and you should try it. an added bonus? i felt satiated.. ALL morning! that never happens.. unless i eat peanut butter for breakfast. cereal never cuts it [or so i thought]. i'm usually ravenous by 10 (i'm at work at 8). so needless to say.. i'm pretty sure the protein is not lacking.

like a good neighbor. making my stomach happy.

so my last night in lynchburg i finally went to the neighbors place. wow i really wish i had discovered it before then. although a college student's tight budget doesn't really allow for it. hence the reason i took my mother ;) i had the ahi sesame seared tuna salad. phenomenal. the tuna was so good! and it was on a bed of spinach.. my staple food. with avocado on top! and i had a honey balsamic vinaigrette.

next time i visit lynchburg i will certainly be returning to try the chicken florentine i also wanted to try!

and of course i had to try the mocha mud pie because lynchburg living told me to ;) cookie crumb crust? check. chocolate? check. coffee flavored ice cream? check. caramel sauce? check. all equaling to a party in my mouth. definitely delicious!

although i could make an entire pie at home for about the cost of a slice. want the recipe? it's as easy as pie.. literally. you choose the ice cream.. (last time i made it i used edy's brand girl scout thin mint ice cream) let it soften and then spread it in an oreo cookie crust and freeze to let it set. yep.. that's it. and of course you can add all the toppings you want. go crazy with your imagination :)

red velvet. need i say more?

red velvet gelato. that's right. my first time at mountain frost creamery on my last day in the burg. i was told this gelato was like cake batter ice cream.. only red velvet. no more explanation needed. sold. and i got it in a chocolate chip cookie cone. talk about calorie-filled-but-worth-every-one dessert. go there and get it... now.

since i have made my own cake batter ice cream in the past i may just mix it up and try using red velvet cake mix. brilliant.

worth the wait.

so when deciding where to go for dinner tonight all i knew is that i wanted a really good sandwich with fresh ingredients. lauren told me it was my choice so when i thought sandwich.. automatically panera came to mind. but i wanted to eat at a local restaurant that is only found in lynchburg because i've been here for 4 years and haven't really tried many places. i decided on either magnolia foods or the fat tuna.. and then lauren suggested the new location of montana plains bakery. we ultimately decided on montana plains.. but when we got there we found out it closed in like 20 minutes.. not enough time to chat! so then we had to decide between the fat tuna and V&T cafe (i passed it on the way and remembered i had yet to try it). but we finally settled on trying the fat tuna. by the time we got there we were really hungry.. but like i said--worth the wait! i had the most perfect sandwich. just what i wanted! i had the 'made my way' sandwich. i chose the pita (but it was more of a flat bread) with turkey and i got to add all the veggies i wanted. and when i can do that.. i go all out and that alone makes me more than satisfied with a restaurant. it doesn't take much to please me.. just load up the veggies! and when i say that sandwich was loaded i mean it had.. romaine lettuce (so much better than iceberg!) onions, tomatoes, black olives, cucumbers, green peppers, alfalfa sprouts (yum!) and brown spicy mustard. did i mention i got feta cheese? feta cheese is basically the love of my life.

as if that wasn't enough to satisfy even the hungriest of girls. it came with a pickle (talk about yum!) and veggie chips! i grew up on veggie chips because my grandmother would always have them when i visited.. they remind me of my childhood and they are so de-lish! bonus: so much healthier than regular potato chips!

needless to say.. i'm glad i finally tried this place before i left.. and as i said before.. it was worth the wait and the trek around lynchburg.