This Vs. That

Every healthy website has guides on how to make healthyswaps in order to cutout some of the fat and calories in recipes.  I thought I'dtry a new piece that shows you MY personal favorite swaps.  As I've told youbefore I'm a total peanut butter addict.  A bowl of peanut butter with a few scoops of jelly was not an uncommon lunch for me.  I didn't realize that besides having roughly 860 calories it also had over 48 grams of fat and atleast 40 grams of sugar!

Recently I came to a realization.  Jelly is fruit {kinda.}  Why don't I put REAL fruit on my peanut butter PB2 sandwiches instead of jelly or jam?

Real fruit is so much more beneficial than jelly, jam and preserves.  

1 cup of sliced strawberries

Calories: 54

Fat: 0.5

Sodium:  2 mg

Potassium:  254 

Carbs:  13

Fiber:  3.3

Sugar:  8

Protein: 1.1

1 Tablespoon Smuckers Seedless Strawberry Jam

Calories: 50

Fat: 0

Sodium:  0 mg

Potassium:  0 

Carbs:  13

Fiber:  0

Sugar:  12

Protein: 0

I know what you're thinking. "But the jam is pureed and the strawberries are sliced."  Okay, let's look at another set of numbers

1 cup of strawberry puree

Calories: 76

Fat: 0.7

Sodium:  2 mg

Potassium:  355 

Carbs:  18

Fiber:  4.6

Sugar:  11

Protein: 1.6

So see that??  A cup of puree is healthier than 2 tablespoons of jam.  The calories, sugar and carbs are significantly lower, and you'll get in some extra fiber and protein.  You'll be doing your body a major favor by swapping your jelly for fruit.

The trick is to make sure that your fruit is super ripe and sweet.  And don't limit yourself to just strawberries!  Any fruit will do.  I've put almost every different type of fruit on my sandwiches.  I actually haven't found one I DON'T like.  And doesn't this look delicious???

What do you like on your peanut butter sandwiches?

Recipe Redux -- No Bake Banana Bites

So I had my first blogger vs mommy internal debate while making these.  But my debate went something like this.

Sunny -- "Mommy, can I help you?"
Mommy Brain -- "Of course you can help!"
Blogger Brain -- "No!  These are for Recipe Redux!  They have to look perfect!"
Mommy Brain -- "These are perfect for Sunny to help with.  Nothing too hard and they're simple."
Blogger Brain -- "But I have to take a photo of them.  They have to be pretty."
Mommy Brain -- "We haven't done our weekly baking project.  She'll be content making these."
Blogger Brain -- "Pretty pictures!!  Perfection!!"

And as you will be able to tell from the photo, Mommy brain won the battle.  Funny thing is, I ended up putting too much yogurt in the first batch so, I had to go back and redo them.  But, I'm still using Sunny's for the photos since she is so proud of them.

The Recipe Redux this month was No-Cook Desserts.  These delicious banana sandwiches take about 5 minutes to prepare.  Waiting for them to freeze is the difficult part.  They are addictive.  You could also add about 1/2 a tablespoon of cocoa powder to make them even more addictive.  Or, if you're not too worried about fat, dip them in chocolate.  

Frozen Banana Rounds
4 servings

Ingredients
4 medium ripe bananas
2 T PB2 
2 oz. yogurt

Directions

1. In a food processor, or with a fork mash 1 banana and yogurt then stir in the PB2.
2. Slice the bananas into rounds and put a small dollop of the yogurt mixture onto half of the bananas.
3. Freeze for about 2 hours

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

Homemade Protein Smoothie

 Don't you wish that all protein shakes looked like this?

I'm all about getting my necessary protein.  It's kind of hard for me because the foods I normally eat don't have much in them.  I have a ton of go-to protein sources that are very low fat or nonfat.  I love protein powder because it's only around 200 calories, has about 20 grams of protein and it's fat free.  Spiru-tein is my personal favorite.  You can find it at most health food stores.  Click Here to check them out.  They come in all different flavors.  Banana, cherries jubilee, chocolate chunk, cookies and cream, peanut butter.....the list is so long!  

But the thing I DON'T like about protein powders is the cost.  They seriously take a chunk out of my bank account.  I don't buy them very often due to that fact.  I came up with my own protein shake for at home though.  It comes in at 250 calories, 3.5 grams of fat and 25 grams of protein.  You can customize it as you'd like too.  The only downside is that it isn't portable like the protein powders.

Homemade Protein Shake/Smoothie 
1 cup (227 g) Nonfat, plain Greek Yogurt
2 T PB2
1 T Cocoa Powder (optional)
.75 - 1 cup Light Soymilk (I like Vanilla)

Directions

1. Place everything in a blender and blend until smooth.

Quick, simple, easy!