4 Delicious Recipes for Ripe Bananas

One of my least favorite things is when you're at the end of the week and your bananas are too ripe. You don't want to throw them away but you also don't want to eat them plain. (Does anyone else hate the texture of over-ripe bananas?!) I have a few recipes to save the day and your bananas!

1. Bananas with cinnamon and honey! Adding cinnamon and honey makes the banana sweeter and masks the mushier texture of an over-ripened banana. I love this combo so much! I especially love this combo on a piece of peanut butter toast! *perfection*

2. Banana oat chocolate chip cookies - These cookies are SO easy to make! I usually mix together a banana or two, oats, chocolate chips, and cinnamon. You can also halve the recipe if you only have 1 over-ripened banana! Trust me, the cookies will be gone after a few minutes because they are so stinking delicious! It's totally okay to eat 6 at a time because they're healthy, right?! ;)




3. Smoothies - I love adding an over-ripened banana to a smoothie because it makes the smoothie taste extra sweet and adds extra fruit! You can read about my favorite smoothie recipe here!

4. The easiest banana bread - This is the most delicious banana bread I've ever tasted, and it is so easy! You only need bananas, eggs, yellow cake mix, and chocolate chips. It may not be the healthiest banana bread but every time I make it, people immediately get seconds!!


Do you have a special recipe you make with over-ripened bananas? Comment below :)

Thanks for reading!
  

Scarves and Sweets

Easy and Delicious Quiche

Anyone who knows me can attest to the fact that I take forever five-ever to pick out groceries, clothes, toiletries, medicine, really any item where I have to spend money. I want to weigh all my options, which ends up taking way too long and drives all my friends and family crazy. The other day my sister and I were at the grocery store and my sister was starting to get stir crazy from me weighing the pro's and con's of every type of lettuce (There were mixed greens, spinach, romaine, the possibilities were seriously endless!). We were both exhausted from a long day and weren't thrilled about having to come home and cook dinner. Suddenly my sister spotted the pre-made pie crust and suggested making a quiche. I jumped at the idea because it's easy, healthy, delicious, and pretty cheap to make. Get ready to for one of the best quiche recipes in the world, handed down from hundreds of quiche-making experiments from my lovely dad!

Total time: 50 mins
Prep time: 30 mins
Bake time: 20 mins
Serves: 8 slices

Ingredients:
-1 store-bought pie crust
-1 spritz of no-stick spray
-1 tablespoon of olive oil
-1 bag of frozen spinach*
-3/4 of a white onion
-1 teaspoon garlic powder
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-1/2 teaspoon pepper
-4 eggs
-1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
-2 teaspoons of sour cream

Directions:
1.Take the pie crust out of the plastic container but do not unroll it. Let the rolled up pie crust sit on the counter for 15 minutes.**
2. Preheat oven to 350°F.
3. Add no-stick spray to pan and then unroll pie crust. Place pie crust in the dish and poke it with a fork to make holes all around the pie crust.
4. Bake pie crust at 350°F for 8 minutes.***
5. Dice onion. Add olive oil and onions to a pan and sauté for about 5 minutes. Add spinach and stir until spinach is cooked, about 10 minutes. Stir in garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
6. Crack and beat eggs. Add sour cream to eggs and stir until incorporated.
7. Add veggies to pie dish and place a layer of cheese on top. Add the eggs, followed by a second layer of cheese.
8. Bake at 350°F for about 20 minutes, or until firm.


*You can switch out spinach for broccoli or asparagus but I love how it tastes with spinach!
**The pie crust comes from the refrigerator and will tear if it isn't at room temperature. Letting it warm up to room temperature will allow it to be more supple and less likely to tear when you're placing it on the pie dish.
***This makes the crust extra flaky and delicious!

Thanks for reading!

Scarves and Sweets

Healthy Pizza Recipe//A Slice of Heaven

What?! "Healthy" and "pizza" in the same name?! Crazy, I know! This is the real deal, though. My sister made this recipe a lot growing up and it is beyond delicious. It tastes better than any restaurant-made or store-bought pizza and it is very simple to make. If you're like me and you love thick crusted pizza with lots of veggies, this is a slice of heaven (see what I did there :D)?

I like to use red, yellow, and green bell peppers to add color, but you can use whichever type of bell pepper you want. The recipe calls for 1 1/2 bell peppers, so I like to slice the left over bell pepper  and save it for later in the week to eat as a snack with hummus. Below I served my pizza with a side salad of mixed greens, cucumber, fresh blueberries, and oil and vinegar dressing.

Total time: 45 mins
Prep time: 20 mins
Bake time: 25 mins
Serves: 6 thick slices*

Ingredients:
-1 bag of store-bought white pizza dough**
-1 1/2 bell peppers
-1/2 onion
-6 oz of shredded mozzarella cheese
-1 small can of tomato sauce (~4 oz)
-1 tbsp basil
-No-stick spray
-optional: crushed red pepper

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Clean and slice bell peppers and dice onion.
4. Add no-stick spray to a pan. Remove dough from plastic and stretch it out with your hands. Place dough onto the pan, and make sure you spread it out as much as possible. Do not worry about it being too thin in certain places because the dough will rise in the oven!
5. Add tomato sauce to the dough, and then add 1/2 of the mozzarella cheese.
6. Spread veggies onto pizza and top with the second 1/2 of the cheese.
7. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of basil on top, and crushed red pepper if you chose.
8. Bake for 25 mins at 400°F.


*I usually eat this with a salad on the side, so 1 slice is plenty for me! We keep any leftovers in aluminum foil or in Tupperware in the fridge and it will last another 2-3 days.

**You can use wheat dough, but it is much thicker and harder to spread on the pan.

Thanks for reading!

Scarves and Sweets