Relaxing Sunday (Pineapple/Banana Bread)

Today has been an extremely relaxing day and I have been cleaning! I feel like cleaning CAN be relaxing - especially if you are taking your time and dont have that much to do. After spending all morning cleaning up around the house and doing some laundry - lunch was a new, healthier version of a chicken parm sub.

I took soft whole wheat bread and toasted it for few minutes with some light whipped butter. Meanwhile, I mixed together grilled chicken (sliced and torn apart), tomato sauce, oregano, and garlic/parsley mix. I pulled the toast out of the toaster, placed it on my baking stone, and topped with my chicken mixture and mozzarella cheese. I had pre-heated the oven at 400 degrees and then baked the chicken parm open-faced sandwiches for about 10 mins.

These toasts were great! Also had some raw zucchini "fries" and carrots with hummus on the side. This was a very filling lunch.Later this afternoon I tried this new yogurt, Chocolate Underground, which was vanilla yogurt with chocolate sauce on the bottom. I mixed it all together with some sliced almonds and it was soooo good. A great healthy alternative to satisfy the chocolate cravings.I was feeling ambitious and had 5 overripe (rotten) bananas, so I decided to try and make a healthy version of banana bread. Basically, I kept everything the same in my normal recipe, except I substituted crushed pineapple for the butter. It came out great - extremely moist, but definitely more of a pineapple/banana bread flavor! Here is the recipe below:

Pineapple-Banana Bread

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all purpose flour (could probably substitute wheat, but I didnt have any)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 8oz can crushed pineapple (orig. recipe called for 1/2 cup butter)
  
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 1/2 cups mashed overripe banana
• optional: 1 cup chopped nuts (i didnt have any)

Pre-heat oven to 350. Mix flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together. Mix pineapple, sugar together in separate bowl. Add eggs and banana to pineapple/brown sugar mixture. Pour wet ingredients into flour mixture and mix well. Spray 9x5 inch loaf pan lightly with PAM and then pour in batter. Bake 60-65 mins or until toothpick comes out clean. ENJOY!