Janna's delicious banana cakes

Here's one of my favorite recipes I concocted while on
my last contest diet -- banana cakes. This recipe
makes a pretty small batch -- enough for one person.

This recipe is fast, healthy and makes a great snack for the road, for kids in between classes, or at your desk for a mid-afternoon pick-me-up. The potassium in the banana will give you energy and help with exercise recovery, the protein in the egg will satisfy you, and the slow-burning carbs in the oatmeal will keep you going and keep your blood sugar steady until dinnertime.

1/2 ripe banana
1/4 cup quick-cooking Irish oats (regular oats work
too), dry
1 egg (or 2 whites, if you're really being strict)
pure vanilla extract to taste
cinnamon to taste
optional -- teaspoon raisins + chopped walnuts
optional -- 1/4c. cooked sweet potato (adds a lot of
flavor and nutrition)
optional -- dash of salt

Mash ingredients together with a fork and cook like
silver dollar-size pancakes, with Pam over medium
heat. These will not be super-sweet -- you can add a
little Splenda if you're a sugar phobe, or top with
fruit spread or honey. These are sooooo good!

An awesome, lighting-fast dinner dish

Andrew and I had the idea to make a "pasta-less pasta" dish tonight for dinner, so I could enjoy some of those flavors without breaking my anti-inflammation diet. So we made what could be a pasta sauce, sans the pasta, and we added butter beans. The beans were a perfect substitute for pasta, and we agreed that we didn't miss it. This dish, from prepping the veggies to on-couch-in-jammies with hot plates in front of us, took 15 minutes -- no joke.

We got all of the ingredients at Trader Joe's.

About 1 1/2c. grape tomatoes, halved
About 2c. broccoli florets
1c. or so mushrooms, cut into quarters
4 cloves of garlic, minced, separated in half
few Tbsp. olive oil, 1/2 T. unsalted butter, for cooking
1 can butter beans, rinsed and drained (you can find some beans in organic, without any added salt ... these did have added salt, but we rinsed a lot of it out)
juice of half a fresh lemon (or bottled lemon juice, if it's all you have)
1 bag TJ's frozen jumbo shrimp
Sea salt, pepper, dry basil (you can use fresh basil, but you'd add it in the end)

Sautee veggies, except for tomatoes, along with half the garlic, salt and dry basil in heated olive oil in one pan until they're still a bit crunchy but fork tender. At the same time in another pan, heat oil and then add butter. Turn down heat and add garlic, stirring to infuse the oil. Add shrimp and stir to coat. Shrimp cooks in about five minutes.

In the first pan, add tomatoes near the end of cooking for the other veggies, just to heat. Add cooked shrimp and lemon juice, and stir. When you're back on dairy, you could add some parmesan-romano cheese at the end.

Delicious, super healthy, and fast. We remarked how much cheaper this was to make than if we got it at a certain local Italian restaurant, and how much more shrimp and veggies we got making it ourselves. Andrew said if we wanted it to taste like that restaurant's food, we could just add a bunch more butter and oil. Word!

Yes, you can cook fish.

I can't tell you the number of clients who have told me they don't know how to prepare fish, or that they just hate it. I have two answers to those statements:
1) Yes, you can.
2) You might not have eaten really good, fresh fish!

Let's put it this way -- fish should never taste fishy. I've been argued with on this point, by at least one person who said it depends on the fish. I would disagree. But unfortunately, most of the fish available in our region isn't very fresh at all, even if we get it frozen -- thaw it out, and it still might be fishy.

That's why I recommend you find a good, reliable fish market that has its product flown in fresh throughout the week. It's important to be picky -- good fish tastes great and is an important part of a healthy diet.

If that's not enough incentive, then consider this: if you substitute at least one or two meat-based meals a week with a lean fish, such as tilapia, orange roughy or cod, you're going to help yourself lose weight faster. Try it and see.

Here's my simple method for baking orange roughy, one of my favorite fish.

-Preheat oven to 375
-Tear off a piece of aluminum foil for each fillet
-Place each 6-8oz fillet on a large square of foil, and fold the thinner part of the fillet under itself to make the thickness consistent
-Spray the fillet with cooking spray, or brush lightly with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and any other seasoning, such as dill, or a seasoning blend
-Close the foil to make an easy-to-open packet around the fish
-Place packets on a baking sheet, and bake for about 15 minutes (or until the fish flakes with a fork -- the rule of thumb is 10 minutes per inch of thickness, measured at the thickest part of the fillet, plus 5 if it's wrapped in foil).

I made some of these in my toaster oven/broiler this week, and they turned out great. Couldn't be easier!

Sneaky veggies

This has got to be one of the most clever ways I've ever heard to sneak a vegetable into a kid-friendly favorite, mac n' cheese, which is usually the last thing one should feed to children. And yes, this isn't exactly diet food, but when you crave comfort food, this is a much healthier version than store-bought. I would bump up the nutrition by using FiberWise pasta, which is high in fiber and protein, available in most grocery stores (bright red box with yellow print), and easy to fool family members with -- it's hard to tell it's a "healthy" pasta. Jewel carries FiberWise in spaghetti, penne and spiral shapes.

This recipe is from the show "Healthy Appetite with Ellie Krieger," which airs on Food Network on Saturdays at 8:30am. I would recommend this show to anyone who wants some great tips, straight from a nutritionist, on how to make healthy food taste good.

View the recipe here

Summer salads get creative/ Greek salad

When you're trying to watch what you eat, salad may seem like an old standby, and maybe a little boring. But it doesn't have to be! The following article offers some great ideas on how to make your salads more interesting and more nutritious at the same time.

Here's my personal favorite -- it's basically a blend of my favorite things in a Greek-style salad and a Caprese salad. It's colorful, full of nutrients, and the best part -- flavorful and filling.

Romaine hearts, chopped

Spring mix, fresh herb salad mix, or your choice

Roasted red pepper, in water solution, not oil, preferably

Tomato slices (Camparis are delicious right now!)

Artichoke hearts, in water solution, not oil

Sliced red onion

Kalamata olives (one or two, chopped)

Fresh mozzarella cheese (use very sparingly!)

Toss ingredients with salt and pepper, along with 2T. balsamic vinegar. You can sprinkle a small amount of extra-virgin olive oil as well, unless you're really watching your calorie intake -- in that case, leave it out.

View salad article HERE

Most yogurt sucks -- here's why

It seems like many women I talk to think of yogurt as a good health or diet food. Guess what? Most yogurts aren't all that good for you.

Yes, we do need calcium for healthy bones. And dairy products are a great source of protein. Yogurt also carries the added benefit of containing healthy probiotic cultures that promote good digestion, which are especially necessary if you or your children have taken antibiotics recently.

Unfortunately, many of the commercial yogurts are either loaded with sugar or sweetened with aspartame, neither of which is very good for you. A cup of Dannon's regular yogurt contains as much as 30 grams of sugar -- way more than a healthy snack should include. Even worse, much of that sugar comes in the form of high fructose corn syrup.

So, should you just skip the yogurt altogether? Not necessarily.

I've been recommending Greek-style Fage yogurt to my clients lately, because it's got the benefits of regular yogurt, and then some, without the sugar. Just be sure to get the fat free or 2 percent, as full-fat Greek-style yogurt has a lot more fat than regular yogurt. Greek style has tons of protein -- 20g in a cup! I like to get the plain, and add a tablespoon of 100% fruit spread or organic honey, with a few almonds and maybe a few raisins. Delicious, pretty low in sugar, low in fat, and high in protein and nutrition.

My favorite, fast post-workout recovery drink

I know that many of you have little ones tugging at you during most moments of the day, or if not, we're all busy. I have this drink immediately after my workouts, whether I did cardiovascular or strength training, to provide immediate fuel for recovery.
Regardless of what your goals are, even if you are trying to lose weight, getting post-exercise nutrients is a must. It doesn't take much, and you don't even have to get out your blender. The goal is to consume a small amount of protein, fast-absorbing sugar, amino acids, and fluids. Here are a couple I like, both of which can just be poured in a glass and stirred up:

Orange & cream:
1/2 c. 100% orange juice
1/2 - 3/4 c. unsweetened soy milk or lowfat milk
1 teaspoon lemon juice (helps cleanse the body, and you don't really taste it)
1 teaspoon glutamine powder (this is key! Ask me if you don't know where to get it)

Chocolate milk:
3/4 c. unsweetened soy milk or lowfat milk
1/2 scoop (10g protein) chocolate whey protein powder
1 teaspoon organic honey or pure maple syrup (yep! adds B vitamins and fast-absorbing sugars)
1 teaspoon glutamine

I love both of these drinks because they are super fast, and don't really constitute a full meal. So I can still eat something within the next hour, but I got those important nutrients in right away, when the body needs them most. Try your own variations on these, and e-mail me any tastier versions!