My favorite dessert is baked bananas.  It’s quick and easy to make and it is easy on the waistband too at just under 150 calories per serving.

Baked Bananas

one large banana

1 teaspoon sugar

two tablespoons non-fat Cool Whip

Peel banana, cut in half and gently squeeze the banana.  The banana will split into thirds lengthwise, lay banana on baking tray and sprinkle with sugar.  I bake my bananas for ten minutes at 350 degrees but, they would probably be better broiled for a few minutes.  I just can’t keep a close enough eye on anything under the broiler, I always end up with charcoal bits.  I like to garnish the bananas with Cool Whip and a Maraschino cherry but a sprinkle of nuts or coconut would be a nice garnish too.

Do you Pinterest?  These green smoothies are all over Pinterest.  When I first realized why they are green I thought “Yuck!”.  I have since grown to love this smoothie!  Here is the recipe I came up with for mine.

1 cup frozen mixed fruit, 70 calories

2 cups raw spinach (the secret to the green color), 20 calories

1 tablespoon raw honey (can be purchased at health food stores), 60 calories

1 scoop protein powder (I am new to these powders but I got mine at the grocery store), 100 calories

Just throw everything in a blender and mix.  Add water until smoothie is a drinkable consistency.  I haven’t measured how much this yields, but it is a pretty big glass (More than pictured above.  I wanted to put some in a clear glass for the picture.) I make mine pretty thick so it takes a long time to drink.  It is very filling and it really does taste yummy.  Everyone swears that you can’t taste the spinach but I think you can.  It is faint and mild though.  To me it just adds a little more dimension to the flavors of the fruit, kinda an earthyness.  I can’t believe I’m saying this but this smoothie is more satisfying than the handful of Oreos that used to be my favorite snack.  Oh, who am I kidding, I ate two handfuls of Oreos.  So two handfuls of Oreos (say 10 cookies) is about 550 calories.  It would take me 10-15 minutes to eat them.  This smoothie is about 250 calories and takes me a half and hour to drink.  For those reasons alone I love this snack but throw in the fact that it is actually full of vitamins and fiber it comes out the winner.  (Full disclosure time now, I can’t eat Oreos anymore because they make my gall bladder act up.  You know what though, I wouldn’t go back to eating them even if I have my gall bladder removed.  I feel soooo much better now that I am eating healthful foods.  Not just the “I think I’m going to die”  feeling when my gall bladder reacts to some fatty food.  I mean the “Wow, I haven’t felt this kind of energy since my twenties” feeling.  So, do you think you’ll give this smmotie a try?  I double dog dare you!

This is the breakfast I have lived off of for the last couple of months.  I know last week I posted about eating grains for breakfast, and here I am talking about fruit, but as much as I love my steel-cut oats, I love my fruit and yogurt even better.  I still eat this breakfast a couple of times per week (I just eat my grains for snack instead).

This mango berry blend from Target is the tastiest frozen fruit I have found.   I have also tried just about every non-fat Greek yogurt out there and I think Yoplait is by far the yummiest.  Here’s how this breakfast breaks down.  Two cups of fruit, 140 calories.  One cup of yogurt, 150 calories and an 1/8 cup walnuts, 80 calories.  So for 370 calories you get a healthy, low-fat, and delicious breakfast.  I find that the addition of the protein packed Greek yogurt and just a sprinkling of healthy fat containing walnuts fills me up and gives me more energy than a bowl of cereal.  I truly believe that this breakfast is the reason behind my hair and nails growing faster and stronger. The best benefit of all, my complexion has gone from sallow to rosy.  Even if I end up having my gall bladder removed, I will not go back to my old eating habits.  I have found my own little fountain of youth in healthy eating.

Sometimes  I get tired of eating my salmon and quinoa every night so I look for other low-fat, low calories alteratives.  It’s always a bonus when I find something the rest of the family wants to eat too.  We all love tostadas.  I buy fat-free refried beans and  package of tostadas.  I usually have all the other toppings on hand.  We all like lettuce and tomatoes.  Everyone else adds cheese to theirs.  I add jalapeno to mine.  I really like jalapenos and I feel less deprived because I have my own special topping.  It is a satisfying meal too.  You get two fully loaded tostadas for around 300 calories.  Here’s the breakdown; tostadas 2 for 160 calories, non-fat refried beans 1/2 cup for 110 calories, lettuce 1 cup for 8 calories, 1 tomato for 22 calories, and 1/4 cup jalapeno peppers for 7 calories.

So, this is pretty much what I eat now.  I have my little salmon fillet (Gorton’s) and my 1/2 cup of quinoa every night.  I try to keep it from getting boring by being creative with the veggies (I know, I know, mangos and avocados aren’t veggies).  Anyway, I thought it looked pretty arranged this way.  I found that my meals feel more satisfying when I spend a couple of minutes making it look appealing.   At least it helps me feel less deprived when the rest of the family is eating lasagna (my favorite).