Healthy Recipe: Sweet Bananas

    I’m taking the opportunity to thank my sweet husband this week. Even when I make the most peculiar dishes, Joe never hesitates to be the taste-tester. He also kindly grants my requests to try out the weirdest restaurants I can possibly find. For instance, when we were on our road trip this past December, he drove all the way from Las Vegas to Los Angeles to take me to an all raw, sugar-free & vegan café before heading to the West Coast. Did I mention that Joe rides bulls? He walked into this vegan café wearing his ProRodeo vest and every head turned. I’m almost positive that there were some members of PETA in the café and they shot some pretty rude glares our way… let’s just say it is good that looks don’t kill! Joe and I were completely out of our element, but we had such a great time trying new foods and laughing over the experience together. I have pictures of the experience on my blog at www.racheleatsalot.wordpress.com. 

    Because Joe is always such a sport, I thought it would be fun to surprise him on a date night to Texas de Brazil. I had heard wonders about the salad bar, but was completely sold when I heard that men walked around with skewers of different hunks of meat. It sounded like the perfect place to take Joe. Imagine my surprise, when at the end of the night, I asked Joe what his favorite food was at the restaurant and he said the fried bananas! Apparently, the restaurant places 2 fried bananas coated with cinnamon on the table to “cleanse the palate” between tasting the different cuts of meat. Instead of using them as a palate-cleansing tool, Joe enjoyed the bananas as a side dish. Luckily for us, we can afford to make replicas of those bananas a lot more than we can going out to eat a specialty-meat restaurants, so when he has a sweet banana craving, I make them for him right in the comfort of our own home..  

Serves 2

• 2 small bananas (6 inches)

• 1 Tbsp. Unsalted Butter

• 1 Tbsp. Cane Syrup

• ½ tsp. Cinnamon, or to taste

    Heat a small skillet over medium heat. Peel the bananas and quarter them by cutting in half first and then cutting a long strip down the middle lengthwise. Set aside. Place butter on skillet and allow to melt. Add cinnamon and cane syrup and mix together over medium heat until combined. Place the bananas in (whatever side you would like first) and allows them to soften and caramelize, about 2-3 minutes. Flip over and allow other side to caramelize as well. When done, give the cane syrup & butter mixture a good stir in order to coat the entire banana. And you’re already done!

    1 sweet banana is roughly 165 kcal. If you toast 1 slice of reduced kcal bread (Sara Lee or Sandwich Rounds) and top with 1 Tbsp. Natural Peanut Butter and 1 banana, you have a very well-balanced and sweet breakfast for roughly 315 kcal! Sounds good to me!