Some Recipes

I've tried several new recipes this week and they've all turned out really good. We're trying to a little better around here and cut down on the amount of processed food we eat.
The first recipe was for Breakfast Cookies. I thought these would be perfect for the boys to snack on and it was easy to make.

Breakfast Cookies
Ingredients-
1.5 cups of oats
2-3 super rippened bananas
1 cup of unsweetened applesauce
handful of craisins to taste (I used raisins)
cinnamon
just throw everything together, mix it up well, throw it on a baking sheet at 350 for about 35 minutes

The second recipe was No Bake Energy Bites. These are perfect if you just want a little something. I think they taste like a cross between a granola bar and cookie dough.

No-Bake Energy Bites
Ingredients:

• 1 cup dry old-fashioned oats
• 2/3 cup coconut flakes
• 1/2 cup peanut butter (I used sunflower butter)
• 1/2 cup ground flaxseed
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (I used sugar free chocolate chips)
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Method:
Stir all ingredients together in a medium bowl until thoroughly mixed. Let chill in the refrigerator for half an hour. Once chilled, roll into balls of whatever size you would like.  Store in an airtight container and keep refrigerated for up to 1 week.
Makes about 20-25 balls.

The next recipe I tried this week was Overnight Oats. I had two big bags of oats that I bought at Yoder's and tried to find recipes that I wanted to try and didn't have to buy a whole lot of ingredients.

Overnight Oats Adapted from Gina's Skinny Recipes
Ingredients:

1/4 cup quick oats
1/2 cup skim milk
1/4 medium banana, sliced
1/2 cup blueberries
4-5 drops honey
pinch cinnamon

Directions:
Place all the ingredient in a jar, shake, cover and refrigerate overnight. Add your favorite crunchy toppings such as nuts, granola, etc and enjoy the next day. (I ate mine plain)

The last recipe I tried this week was Banana Blueberry Bread with Greek Yogurt. We always have bananas on hand and I'm also always buying the boys fun, flavored breads at the store, so I decided to try and make my own. There's another version of this where you add strawberries instead of blueberries and I plan to try that next week. Everybody really liked this bread, the flavor was really good and it was so moist. I was a little nervous about the greek yogurt because I'm not really a big fan, but you couldn't even taste it.

Greek Yogurt Banana Blueberry Bread


Ingredients
1 1⁄2 cup Whole Wheat Flour
3 tablespoons Whole Wheat Flour
1 1⁄2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1⁄2 cup Brown Sugar
3 Large ripe bananas
2 Eggs
6 ounces Chobani Blueberry Greek Yogurt
1 cup blueberries (frozen or fresh)

Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Start by combining flour, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl.
In a separate bowl, mash bananas with a fork until they are gooey and liquid-like.(I used my Kitchin Aid stand mixer to mix the bananas and all the wet ingredients.
Add eggs and sugar… mix thoroughly.
Add greek yogurt
Whisk until everything is well combined and there are no lumps.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and mix until just combined. At this point, fold in the fresh Blueberries!
Pour batter into a greased loaf pan and distribute evenly.
Put into the oven and bake for one hour, or until the top is golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.
Transfer to a cooling rack and (try to) let the bread cool for at least ten minutes before slicing