Becky's Banana Bread

Anyone who knows me understands I have a fascination with banana's and anything banana related, so I continue to search for the tasty banana bread recipe that won't cause me to go up a pant size everytime I make it. While I continue to make slight changes to my recipe, I still think this one is worthy of a post, so here we are. Some of the measurements are assumed since I add a dash of this, a little more than, and so on - but this should get you started none the less.

INGREDIENTS:

3/4 C sugar
1/4 C butter, softened
2 1/4 C ripe banana (or about 4 banana's)
1/4 C skim milk
1/4 C reduced fat cour cream
2 eggs whites
1 tsp vanilla
2 C flour
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Cooking spray

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix sugar and butter on medium until fully blended. Add banana, milk, sour cream, egg whites and vanilla. Set aside.

Combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt. Add to banana mixture and beat until well blended.

Spray pan with cooking spray and coat with a layer of cinnamon and sugar (similar to flouring a pan). Add batter and bake for 60 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool and top with powdered sugar.

Enjoy!

Simple Fish Tacos

After spending my graduate school time in San Diego, where the seafood was considerably fresh and tasty, I was able to improve my taste from fish sticks and shrimp cocktail to actual seafood an adult would eat. One of the dishes I feel in love with was fish taco's, although my recipe differs from the one's I enjoyed in Southern California since I do not batter and fry them. Sure the crunch can be nice, but when you work sitting at a computer and don't spend nearly as much time being active as you did in college, your hips appreciate the lack of fried food calories.

INGREDIENTS:

3 Tbl taco seasoning
Juice from 1 lime and 1 orange
1 pound of white fish (mahimahi, tilapia, etc)
2 Tbl vegetable oil
1/2 head of red cabbage, chopped
1/2 C green onions, chopped
3/4 C low fat sour cream
2 Tbl fresh cilantro, chopped
1/2 tsp Hot sauce (Sriachi, etc)
8 corn tortillas
1 lime, cut into wedges

DIRECTIONS:

Combine taco seasoning, lime, and orange juice. Cut fish into bite size pieces, add to juice mixture, and toss to coat. Marinate for 30 minutes.

Heat oil in large skillet over medium high heat. Add fish and saute until fish is done, usually abut 5-10 minutes.

Mix cabbage, green onions, and cilantro. Combine sour cream and hot sauce, then coat cabbage mixture.

Warm tortilla's according to package. Fill with fish and cabbage mixture and garnish with lime wedge. (Squeeze juice onto taco before eating - delish!)

Serving size is 2 tacos and they have about 175 calories for each taco.