Nutritious And Refreshing Breakfast Banana Split

Our first Meatless Monday was a little comical and you can see that story and recipe in my Rhode Island Johnny Cakes And Sweet Maple Brussels Sprouts post. Last night we didn't make anything special, we just had leftover Rotelle, or wagon wheels as we like to call them, with marinara, tuna, and black olives.  I wasn't sure if tuna should be considered meat. After giving the mission of Meatless Monday some thought, particularly about reducing our carbon footprint relative to meat consumption, I think fish should fall within the definition of animals here.  But for last night, at least, it was a leftover dish and I wasn't buying more fish or meat.


Here's a recipe for a refreshing breakfast, lunch, or snack idea that we had last week. More of our Meatless Monday recipes, like Cauliflower Spinach Lasagne and Rotini with Zucchini and Parsley Walnut Pesto to come soon!

Breakfast Banana Splits
We actually had these for an after school snack. My daughter loves to snack on cottage cheese so I thought she'd really enjoy this and she did. My son wasn't crazy about it. If you're lactose intolerant like me, use lactose-free cottage cheese and enjoy a calcium packed snack without the side effects.

Clean Eating Recipe: 4 medium bananas, 2 cups 1% cottage cheese, 6 tbsp all-fruit strawberry jam, 1/4 cup roasted peanuts, chopped, 1/8 ts sea salt.

Method (reworded)
For 4 servings: peel and halve a banana and place in a shallow dish or bowl and scoop a half cup of cottage cheese on top, then drop 1 1/2 tablespoons of jam. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of peanuts all around and a pinch of salt. Do the same with the remaining 3 bananas.

My changes:
I altered the recipe a little and used fresh strawberries with honey instead of jam. I placed sliced strawberries in a bowl and mixed in some honey and let it sit while I got the bananas and other ingredients ready. Then I put some of the strawberries over only half a banana, used a little less cheese and excluded the salt (I think the cottage cheese is salty enough). I used all organic ingredients and unsalted peanuts.

This recipe is in Clean Eating's March 2011 so it's not available on the website yet.

Enjoy!

Whole Grain French Toast Casserole

I made this wholesome French toast casserole yesterday.  I modified the recipe from the Best Casserole Cookbook because we didn't have half-and-half and substituted whole grain bread and added bananas, which, I think, gave it a rich creaminess.

Use your favorite French toast casserole recipe and substitute whole grain bread, or try this:

Ingredients

Eight thick slices of whole grain bread (from the supermarket's bakery)
2 bananas
8 eggs
2 cups milk
1 ts cinnamon
2 tbs sugar
1 ts pure vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
Butter
1/4 cup chopped pecans/1 ts sugar
Preheat oven to 350 and bake for 30-40  minutes

French toast casserole recipes always say to prepare the dish the night before.  I didn't plan ahead but wanted to make French toast casserole so I wouldn't have to stand at the griddle all morning.  I went forward with this recipe and after the bread absorbed the mixture, which took about 30 minutes (actually, I should have let it sit a little longer), I baked it and it tasted great.

In bowl, whisk eggs, milk, cinnamon, sugar, salt and vanilla.  Generously butter bottom of a casserole dish, layer whole grain bread slices and top with sliced bananas:

Add second layer of bread.  Slowly pour mixture over top letting top layer absorb some of the mixture before reaching the bottom.  (I noticed that, after pouring, the bottom layer was absorbing a lot more of the mixture, so when mixture was half-way absorbed I flipped the sections over with a skinny spatula so the top slices would absorb more.)  When mixture is fully absorbed, dot with butter and place in preheated oven. And bake according to recipe.

While the French toast is baking, chop about a 1/4 cup of pecans, add 1 teaspoon of sugar, and mash until finely mixed. This topping is modified from the cookbook's recipe to reduce the sugar. Blend in1 tablespoon of softened butter. Butter is optional. Spread pecan mixture over top about half way through baking:

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