This is a great recipe for the banana lover in your life. And let’s face it, everyone loves bananas. Even in the ancient times bananas were the fruit of choice among royalty. So do yourself a favor and give this a try. The recipe is fun to make, has an easy clean-up and tastes great. Ok, enough sales…just make it.

Ingredients
1/4 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2 (7.5 ounce) packages buttermilk biscuit dough, cut into quarters
2 ripe bananas, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup chopped pecans (or a nut of your choice)
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions
1. Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a loaf pan.

2. Shake the sugar and cinnamon together in a large plastic bag; add the biscuit dough, bananas, and pecans to the bag and shake to coat evenly. Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf pan.

3. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir the brown sugar into the melted butter until completely dissolved. Add the vanilla and stir well. Pour the mixture over the biscuit dough.

4. Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes. Allow to cool about 10 minutes before serving.

5. Enjoy!

Mostly for my benefit, I put together a list of my power foods.  These are foods that are healthy but at the same time enjoyable for me to eat.  I wanted to create this list to keep as a reference as I continue to work towards my health goals.  I started my current health kick on July 5th and as of today, August 12th…I’ve lost 20 pounds.  I still have some progress to reach my goal of 180.

In random order:

– 1/2 of a Brainy Bagel w/ Natural Peanut Butter

– Apple Walnut Flax Muffins

– Home made hummus with Pita Bread or Carrots

– 16oz Fruit Smoothie – I’ve developed some great approaches for making smoothies…will need to write about this in a separate post.

– 1 tsp of Natural Peanut Butter

– Sushi

– String Cheese

Side Note:  It’s not a food, but I try to drink at least 96 ounces of water each day.  I have a 24oz water bottle and keep track of how many times I fill it up.

Heidi just made some of this and it was certified authentic by the discerning Kathy Muts. Very good on pita bread, vegetables, pretzels, salads, or by the spoonful.

Ingredients
1 (19 ounce) can garbanzo beans, half the liquid reserved (for added fun and a better taste…use fresh garbanzo beans)
4 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons tahini
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
black pepper to taste (optional)
2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions
1. In a blender, chop the garlic. Pour garbanzo beans into blender, reserving about a tablespoon for garnish. Place lemon juice, tahini, chopped garlic and salt in blender. Blend until creamy and well mixed.

2. Transfer the mixture to a medium serving bowl. Sprinkle with pepper and pour olive oil over the top. Garnish with reserved garbanzo beans.

Notes and Ideas
You might like to try cumin instead of the black pepper. To adjust the texture between creamy and more solid (which is very good also) vary the amount of liquid you drain from the can. The more liquid the creamier. You can try using less salt. You can find Tahini at an international food store. Enjoy.

One word:  Wow.
Another three words:  Best Popcorn Ever.

Ingredients
1 cup butter
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5-7 quarts popped popcorn

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Place popcorn in a very large bowl or multiple bowls.

2. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in brown sugar, corn syrup and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil without stirring 4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in soda and vanilla. Pour in a thin stream over popcorn, stirring to coat.

3. Place in large shallow baking dishes and bake in preheated oven, stirring every 15 minutes, for 1 hour. Remove from oven and let cool completely before breaking into pieces.

4. Store in an air tight container and eat slowly over multiple days…or give to your skinny friends.

Estimated Nutritional Value
You don’t want to know…remember the two sticks of butter and two cups of sugar?  For something more healthy try my Apple Walnut Flax Muffins.