Chocolate Banana Peanut Butter Pancakes

Some mornings I cannot figure out what to eat.  If I grab something like yogurt or an apple, I am always (and reasonably) hungry about an hour later.  So I wanted to make something that I can grab on my way out the door and it will keep me full, for at least the next 3 hours.  These pancakes are sweetened mostly with bananas.  There is minimal added sugar per pancake.  The combination of white and whole wheat flour adds a little fiber and protein without changing the texture too much.  The peanut butter help increase the protein and healthy fats.  Depending on how large you make the pancakes, 2 or 3 might be a good meal size.

These would be great for Easter brunch, served with fresh fruit.

What you'll need:
- 2 bananas (ripe)
- 2 tbsp peanut butter
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup white flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 cup nonfat milk, plus 2 tbsp
- 1/8 tsp fine salt
- dark chocolate morsels

What to do:
1.  Mash bananas.  Mix in peanut butter, sugar, and egg, until mixture is smooth.  Add in both flours, vanilla, milk, and salt.

2.  Heat a flat pan over medium heat, or use a griddle.

3.  Make pancakes using ~ 1/4 cup mixture.  When the tops of the pancakes start to bubble, add 3 or 4 chocolate morsels per pancake.  Wait until the bottoms are golden brown to flip.

Healthy Vegetarian Fried Rice

This dish has quite a few colors in it: orange, red, light green, dark green.  Different colored vegetables contain different vitamins and minerals.  So this dish is packed with healthy essential vitamins and minerals.  Because of the the veggies, it also has a lot of fiber.  Combine that with the protein from the eggs, egg whites, and soy beans, to make a really filling (yes still low-calorie) meal!

If you don't love brown rice, try doing 50% white rice and 50% brown rice.  Using leftover rice work perfectly fine for this recipe.  Just make sure to add the water in Step 3, and cover with a lid for 2 minutes.

This dish is not spicy, just has a mild kick.  For more spice, add a little more chili-garlic sauce, or add in a teaspoon of hot sauce.

What you'll need:
- 1 tbsp peanut oil
- 1/3 cup chopped white onion
- 1/4 cup chopped carrot
- 1/3 cup chopped red bell pepper
- 1/2 a zucchini, cut into 1" long strips
- 2/3 cup edamame, shelled (soy beans)
- 1 tbsp chili-garlic sauce
- 2 eggs
- 2 egg whites
- 3 cups cooked brown rice
- 3 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp Mirin (sweetened sake)


What to do:
1.  Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add onion, carrot, and bell pepper.  Cook 6 minutes.  Add zucchini and cook 4 minutes.  Reduce heat to low.  Add edamame (soy beans) and chili-garlic sauce and cook 1 minutes.

2.  In a small skillet, scramble the 2 egg and 2 egg whites.  Add cooked egg to the cooked vegetables.

3.  Add cooked rice, mirin, and soy sauce to cooked vegetables and stir.  (If using leftover rice, add 2 tbsp water, then cover for 2 minutes.)  Turn up the heat to medium and cook 3 minutes, stirring constantly.

Baked Hoisin Pork with Asian Slaw

I made hoisin pork sandwiches many many years ago.  Ever since, I have wanted to try another kind of hoisin recipe.  Here, I used hoisin sauce on the pork and in the slaw.  I try not to use too much because it does contain a good amount of added sugar.  You can make your own hoisin sauce at home, but since I had never done that I did not want to wing it this night.

This recipe is pretty easy.  After you're done chopping, there isn't much more to do but wait.

What you'll need:
Pork:
- 2 pork tenderloin, fat trimmed
- 1 tbsp Hoisin Sauce
- 1/8 tsp ground pepper

Asian Slaw:
- 1/4 head cabbage, thinly sliced
- 1/2 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
- 1 large carrot
- 1 package ramen noodles, raw, crushed
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 1/4 cup rice vinegar
- 2 1/2 tsp garlic-chili sauce
- 2 1/2 tbsp hoisin sauce

What to do:
1.  Peel carrot.  Using the peeler, peel shavings off of as much of the carrot as possible.  Add to chopped cabbage and bell pepper.  Mix with ramen noodles, and the rest of the ingredients.  Stir to coat.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

2.  Preheat oven to 350*F.  Spray a rimmed baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.  Place tenderloins on baking sheet.  Sprinkle with pepper. Top with 1/4 tbsp hoisin sauce on each.  Bake 15 minutes, then flip the tenderloins.  Coat tops with the remaining hoisin sauce.  Continue baking for 12 minutes, or until temperature reaches 160*F.  Let rest for 3-5 minutes after removing from the oven.  Recipe makes 2 servings.

Crab and Mushroom Pizza with Truffle Oil

To anything that has truffle oil as an ingredient, I say 'YUM!'  It has such an amazing fragrance and taste.  It is a strong taste, so you don't need to use much.  That's good, since its more expensive than other oils.  The combination of mushrooms, crab, pecorino cheese, and truffle oil is to die for.

This recipe is moderate on the healthy scale.  There isn't much cheese, but it does have some half and half.  It does contain some fiber from the mushrooms, onions, and arugula, and protein from the crab. So it is pretty filling, which helps to save some calories.

This recipe uses a dough recipe from The Italian Baker, which is a fabulous cookbook.    I made 1 1/2 times the recipe (written below) because I was making 3 medium pizzas.  For one large pizza or two small/medium, make half the recipe written below.  If you don't want to make dough, you can always buy store-made.

Crab Mushroom Mixture:
1/2 cup chopped baby Bella mushrooms
1/3 cup chopped Shitake mushrooms
1/4 cup finely diced yellow onion
1 cup shredded crab meat
1/4 tbsp butter
1/2 tbsp flour
1/4 cup half & half
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup shredded Pecorino-Romano cheese
1 tsp truffle oil
1/2 cup chopped arugula

Dough:
5 2/3 cup
2 1/4 tsp salt
1 3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp warm water
2 tsp active dry yeast
pinch of sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp olive oil

Directions:
To make the dough using a mixer:
In a bowl, mix together the flour and salt.  In the mixer bowl, combine warm water, yeast, and sugar.  Stir, then let rest for 5 minutes.  Stir in oil using a paddle attachment.

Gradually add in flour (still using paddle attachment).  After adding most of the flour, switch attachment to the hook. Add the rest of the flour.  Continue to mix until all flour is incorporated, then mix another 3 minutes.  Finish kneading dough on lightly floured surface. Cover with plastic wrap in a bowl.  Let rise at room temp for 1 hour.

Cook mushrooms over medium high heat in a large pan. Cook 6 minutes.  Add onion and cook 3 minutes.  Add crab and butter, stir.  Add flour and stir 2 minutes until flour is cooked.  Add half and half, truffle oil, and 2 tbsp cheese,  and stir until mixture has thickened, about 1 - 2 minutes.  Turn off heat and set aside.

Roll out in a circle about 1/4 - 1/2 inch thick. Spread the crab mixture over the dough, leaving a half inch border.  Lightly coat the edge (crust) with olive oil.  Bake on parchment paper or on a cornmeal-covered surface.  Bake at 400* for about 12 minutes, until the edges turn golden brown.  Top with chopped arugula and remaining cheese.