leftover bananas

Over ripe bananas are one of my favorite things. Banana bread is one of my favorite things...but with how fast bananas go bad...I can only make so many loaves of banana bread.

So I did what anybody would do...I surfed leftover banana recipes on Pinterest for a few hours!

I settled on Fudgy Banana Bars with Browned Butter Vanilla Bean Icing and Banana Oatmeal Muffins.

The first of which is a sweet decadent treat and the latter a better-for-you breakfast or snack which I thought balanced each other out nicely. I can eat the "healthy" snack and not feel so bad about indulging in the "dessert" afterwards. 

I took these to a little breakfast get together at a friends house, yeah you can eat dessert for breakfast...And they disappeared! Just happy I didn't end up taking many home. 

If you have any leftover bananas sitting on your counter top...make these!

enjoy! XO

Peanut Butter Banana Protein Pancakes

These are so hearty, filing and delicious! They are perfect to start your morning or as a post workout pick-me-up. They are made without butter, sugar and all that stuff that's not so great for you, and give you a little extra with whole grain oats, whole wheat flour, peanut butter and bananas! PLUS; these are only about 250 calories for two pancakes! (Compared to Bisquick pancakes, for example, where there is around 900 calories in two cups of the mix alone- yikes!)

This is the original recipe, I think I found it on Pinterest once upon a time and it appears to originally be out of a magazine. I adapted it a little bit :-)

I only make half of the recipe, so this yields 3-4 medium sized pancakes!

3/4 cup skim milk (or soy milk or almond milk)

1/2 cup rolled oats

1 banana

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 Tbsp baking powder

1 Tbsp peanut butter

1. Blend milk and rolled oats in a food processor until mostly smooth.

2. Add banana and peanut butter, continue to blend until smooth.

3. Stir in flour and baking powder.

4. Heat a non-stick skillet on medium heat.

5. Spoon about 1/2 cup batter into hot skillet and cook until crisp and brown. Flip and repeat. 

  

These are not your traditional, light, fluffy, super sweet buttermilk pancakes. They have a thicker, heavier texture that is intended to really fill your belly. I spread a little more peanut butter on top of mine, add some sliced banana, and just a little bit of sugar free maple syrup. They are so good, and good for you!