bananas for dessert?

Maybe it's because my mileage is increasing. Maybe it's the time of the month. I've been craving sweet things like crazy. We'll blame it on the hormones. 

There was a time where I would be raiding the candy aisle, adding gummy bears to the brownies and ice cream that was already in my basket. 

I'm still a sugar girl but now I tend to crave naturally sweetened foods. Don't get me wrong though - I don't want something that tastes "healthy." Just something that wont leave me raiding the kitchen for more sugar an hour later. 

Enter the humble banana. I'm sure you're already familiar with the health benefits - so I won't bore you with facts. Besides, we're here to exploit it's sweetness. Add heat and the sugars intensify. Freeze then blend and you have nature's ice cream. Ever tried caramelizing slices of bananas in a little butter or coconut oil? You should.

My 3 go to banana based desserts:

s'mores banana boat <- these have become a stable summertime dessert. The best part - it can be made on the grill, over a campfire or in the oven. 

skinny rocky road banana soft serve <- I made this Monday night. Decadently sweet and secretly healthy :-) PS. mango soft serve is a good idea too. Or strawberry. I add a little almond or full fat coconut milk to get things moving.

white chocolate, coconut and banana s’more bars <- okay, these bars are a little more decadent than the other two banana desserts. The past 2 Valentine's Days I've whipped up a batch. It didn't last long. You've been warned. 

What's you favourite healthy sweet treat?

bone building smoothie

I've started tracking my food again. Not for calories this time but to make sure I'm giving my body all the nutrition it needs. Since having to give up dairy I really need to pay attention to ensure I'm getting enough calcium in my diet. Variety is key to avoid relying on copious amounts of almonds milk.

If you read nutrition labels on food you'll notice calcium is usually recorded in daily % value. Calcium rich foods have 10% DV per serving. I aim for 8 servings a day with the remaining 20% coming from the rest of my food.

Great sources of calcium:
1c fortified almond or coconut milk
1/4c almonds
21-30g goat's cheese
50g figs
1T tahini or sesame seeds
1c dark green vegetables, cooked (kale, broccoli, arugula, collards, bok choy)
1T chia seeds
100g tofu/tempeh
1c rhubarb (who knew?)

Do you get enough?

Lately I've been starting my day with a calcium rich smoothie, just to give myself a boost. I have a base recipe that I follow and then jazz it up with different fruit/veg combos. The possibilities are endless!

Base for Strong Bones
1-2 cups almond milk
1 cup spinach leaves
1/2 banana
1 scoop protein powder

tip: if your blender doesn't handle greens well blend them with the milk first, then incorporate everything else

We just go a new blender so I've gone a little smoothie crazy, lol. So far I've whipped up:

• My Current Obsession = cantaloupe + ginger (I like to grate my ginger then squeeze the pulp through a fine mesh sieve)
• Summertime = mango + raspberry
• Classic = orange +  strawberry (or try peach!)
• Sun Tan = orange + mango + carrot
• Pina "Kale"ada = pineapple + kale + coconut flavour
• Creamsicle = orange + pineapple
• Green = kale + apple + celery