Healthy Baking: Ginger Snaps and Blueberry Pancakes

Afternoon,

The other day I had the brilliant idea to attempt to cook two recipes that I've wanted to cook for a while now.

I tried my luck at two healthy recipes - Blueberry Pancakes and Ginger Snaps.  Both recipes are off my two favourite blogs Ittybitsofbalance.com and nourish-and-flourish.net.

My "Lightened Up Wheat-free Ginger Snaps"

Ginger Snaps close up

Brittany's Ginger Snaps ( http://ittybitsofbalance.com/2011/12/20/lightened-up-wheat-free-gingersnaps/ )

To my disappointment both recipes were a complete fail.  The ginger snaps were wheat-free and tasted slightly odd, they tasted pretty much like brown rice flour and water.  I'm sad that these didn't work for me as they looked so cute on Brittany's blog.

Sara's Blueberry Pancakes ( http://nourish-and-flourish.net/2012/06/wiaw-blueberry-cheesecake-pancakes/ )

As for the blueberry pancakes this was an awesome recipe!  The recipe is so healthy and the pancake batter is super tasty the problem is that because they contain almost zero fat you need to cook them in an awesome non-stick frying pan.

I attempted the recipe twice - the first time the whole mixture stuck to my horrible pan and I ended up just throwing the whole thing out.  The second time instead of frying the batter I baked it in a ramekin.  It came out awesome and so pretty.  Because I'm still getting use to taking pictures of everything I cook/bake I don't have a picture for my baked pancakes (sorry) but take it from me it looked sooo tasty and colourful.

What I'm Currently Doing

Baking the above Banana Bread from Sara'a blog - http://nourish-and-flourish.net/my-favorite-banana-bread/.

It's close to midnight and I have to wake up at 4am for the journey back home to see my madre before her operation.  I still have to wash the clothes that I plan on taking with me and then pack those same clothes.

Instead of packing and making sure I have everything I need I'm baking yummy Banana Bread and G/F Pumpkin Muffins....typical of who I am really.  I take such a relaxed not fazed approach while everyone stresses out panicking that I wont be ready on time I make it with minutes to spare,  much to their amazement.

Fingers crossed my bread tastes good as my kitchen currently smells amazing!  The beautiful aromas of cinnamon,  vanilla and sweet bananas are filling every nook and cranny of my house.

I changed Sara's recipe slightly by replacing the butter with olive oil and using splenda instead of real sugar.  I also added cinnamon by mistake as I was baking my g/f pumpkin muffins at the same time and cinnamon went in the banana bread instead of the muffins (oops).


Banana Bread

2 cups oat flour (or whole wheat pastry flour)

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar (Splenda granular and Truvia work well too)

1/4 cup butter, softened

2 large eggs

1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)

1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt (2% or 0%)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cooking spray

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt.

3. Place sugar and butter in a large bowl, and beat with a mixer at medium speed
until well blended (about 1 minute). Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating
after each addition. Add banana, yogurt, and vanilla; beat until
blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist. Spoon
batter into a bread loaf pan (or muffin pan) coated with cooking spray.

4. Bake at 350° for 1 hour (for bread), or 20 minutes (for muffins), or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes
out clean.

Serves 14.

Nutrition per serving: Calories: 187; Fat: 4.3 grams; Protein: 3.9 grams;

Nutrition with Splenda: Calories: 136; Fat: 4.3 grams; Protein: 3.9 grams