Try Something New Tuesday: Frozen Chocolate Banana Bites

For awhile now, I've seen different recipes floating around Pinterest for frozen chocolate-covered chunks of banana. As you all well know by now, I love chocolate! So these really piqued my interest. And since I have a mammoth-sized stockpile of chocolate chips from my couponing extravaganza last Christmas, and bananas are a staple here anyway, it seemed like the stars were aligning for me to give these a try.

After reading several recipes, I decided to try these a couple of different ways. Here's what I used.

 First, I cut the bananas up into bite-sized pieces...about 1/2 inch each.

 Then, I melted 1/2 cup of chocolate chips.

 At first, I tried dipping the bananas into the melted chocolate with a fork.

This worked well at first, but the cool temperature of the bananas caused the chocolate to thicken making it increasingly more difficult. So then I tried just dumping a spoonful of chocolate over the banana pieces.

This worked okay, but it was difficult to make sure the bananas were evenly coated. And they weren't very pretty. Really I don't care how pretty my chocolate is, but since it was going on the blog that was kind of a bummer. Since I'm sure you have all been wowed by my cooking abilities thus far, I want to maintain my place on that pedestal. Ha!

I ended up using the entire half cup of chocolate chips on just one banana! So, for the next batch I added peanut butter. I melted 1/2 cup of chocolate chips with 1/4 cup peanut butter. This mixture was much easier to work with than the chocolate chips alone! I was able to go back to my fork dipping method, and it worked beautifully! I coated 2 bananas worth of bites in the chocolate/peanut butter mixture.

I put all the chocolate-covered bananas on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper.

Then I stuck them in the freezer for a couple of hours. Here's the finished product.

I let the kids sample them with me. They loved both varieties, although they had a slight preference for the plain chocolate. I think that's mostly because the chocolate was thicker which meant there was more chocolate on each bite. For the record, I think it's best to let these sit out for about 5 minutes before serving.

I thoroughly enjoyed them too. Oh, frozen chocolate-covered bite of deliciousness!

Definitely a keeper! 

Question of the Day:

What's your favorite fruit to cover with chocolate?

Try Something New Tuesday: No-Bake Cookies Edition

I've decided to do a little series on my blog I like to call "Try Something New Tuesday." It has a certain ring to it, don't you think? Every Tuesday I hope to post about a new recipe I've tried. First up is no-bake cookies!

My husband loves those no-bake cookies that you make on the stove. You know, the ones with a cup of peanut butter, a whole stick of butter and 2 cups of sugar??? So, when I saw this recipe on Pinterest last week, I knew I had to try it. A healthier version of his favorite cookie?!? Yes, please!

Here's what you'll need.

Essentially we're cutting the sugar and peanut butter in half and substituting a banana for the butter. To get things started, mash the banana well. This totally took me back to my baby food making days.

Next, you're going to combine all your ingredients except the oats and vanilla into a saucepan.

Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat. Honestly, it took a looonngg time for me to get this to boil. And it seemed to smoke a lot more than its less healthy counterpart...especially when I stirred it. Which reminds me, you'll want to stir this often while it's on the stove so it doesn't scorch.

Let the mixture boil for 1 minute. Then remove it from the heat and add the oats and vanilla.

The original recipe said to drop these by the teaspoonful onto wax paper. Teaspoon?? Really?!?! If I'm going to eat a cookie, I want one bigger than a nickel. So, I dropped them by the tablespoonful instead.

Since I used a tablespoon instead of a teaspoon, I got 28 cookies from the recipe. Allow the cookies to cool completely.

Based on the 28 cookies I made, I calculated them as having 95 calories, almost 3g of protein, and 1.5g of fiber each. Not bad. But the real question is, did the family like them....

The kids all loved them! Jeff...well he is always leery anytime I try to make anything "healthier." I shouldn't have even told him they were any different. I liked them, too. I could definitely taste a banana flavor, but I thought that made them even better. The kids didn't notice the banana at all until I told them it was there.

These cookies did not harden up like I had hoped. They stayed pretty gooey. That was the most disappointing part to me. I tried storing them in the refrigerator, but that didn't seem to make any difference in their consistency. Maybe I should have boiled them longer? Even though they're gooey, I have been able to pack them in the kids' lunch boxes this week. They do keep their form, so that's something.

I do think I would make this recipe again. I loved that I had all the ingredients on hand, and it was a fun treat for the kids.

Healthier No-Bake Cookies

• 1 ripe banana, mashed well
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup cocoa
• 1/2 cup skim milk
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• pinch of salt
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 3 cups oats (I used old-fashioned)

~Place all the ingredients except the vanilla and oats in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring often. Let the mixture boil 1 minute. Remove from heat and let the mixture cool for 1 minute. Add the vanilla and oats, stirring well to combine. Drop by tablespoonful onto waxed paper and cool to room temperature.