Maple Banana Nut Butter Toast

Easy as pie! Or toast, as the case may be.

You can read the post about it here.

Ingredients:

-one slice whole-grain bread, toasted

-half a banana

-1 tbsp maple spread/butter or real maple syrup

-1 tbsp nut butter (almond, peanut, sunflower seed, etc…)

Spread your maple butter on the warm toast and let melt a little. Slice your banana half into three lengths vertically and lay on top of toast. Drizzle with your nut butter of choice. If you’re using maple syrup instead, spread your nut butter on the toast first, then top with banana and drizzle the syrup. YUM!

Almond Butter Bars

(from Ancient Grains for Modern Meals)

Andrew’s sister, Abigail, gave me this cookbook for Christmas one year and I discovered these bars while on a quest to find something to make with oatmeal. I’m an almond butter fan, but wasn’t sure Andrew would be as taken with the flavor, so I was surprised to hear he loved them! I’ve been making them in bulk ever since… You don’t even need the sugar; they’re plenty sweet on their own. Also, I decreased the puffed rice cereal from 1 C to 1/2 C.

1 C old-fashioned oats

¼ C slivered almonds

¼ C sunflower seeds

1 tbsp flax seeds

1 tbsp sesame seeds

1/2 C unsweetened puffed whole grain/rice cereal

¼ C currants

¼ C dried apricots

¼ C golden raisins

¼ C almond butter

¼ turbinado sugar (optional)

¼ C honey

½ tsp vanilla extract

¼ tsp sea salt

Toast oats, nuts and seeds (not cereal) on a baking sheet in the oven at 350 for 5-7 minutes, stirring once. Let cool.
Mix toasted oats and nuts, cereal and dried fruit in a large bowl.
Combine almond butter, sugar (if using), honey, vanilla and salt in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until mixture starts to bubble.
Immediately pour the warm sauce over the dry ingredients and, using an oiled hand, press into an 8 x 8 square pan.
Allow to chill for about 30 minutes. Cut into 12 bars. Store at room temp for one week, or in the freezer.

125 cal each (without sugar)

how do I top thee?

I made bread today. Well, my bread maker did while I was viewing online lectures for my summer class.

I chose whole wheat cinnamon bread with apples and raisins, a combo I’ve been thinking about for awhile now. To heck with the fact that it’s not ideal meat-and-cheese sandwich bread! Or is it? (I’m betting it’s fantastic, but then, I’m an adventurous eater surrounded by wimps. Humph.)

Andrew’s out biking in the sunshine, so I was in my own for dinner tonight. This is what happened:

My textbook (I couldn’t run the risk of cracking the third Hunger Games book open; I’m too close to the end to stop!), two slices of bread (I couldn’t bear to waste the heel after I cut myself a piece, so I decided I’d just eat it, too), and fruit and veggies with homemade ranch dip. I use ‘homemade’ loosely, since it’s just the last of the cream cheese and the last of the ranch dressing mixing together, but whatever.

My quandary? What do I put atop my bread? Will plain butter allow the bread’s own taste to shine best? What about the classic strawberry jam? Or my usual, a nut butter? And what about this craving for honey, I’m having…?

Here they are people, in order or appearance:

Strawberry jam, blueberry nut-flavored honey, crunchy almond butter, and plain butter.

The verdict? On toasted bread, I’m going to go with plain butter, and a pb&j sandwich would be excellent as well. The flavored honey was way too sweet, but the jam was nice.

Can’t wait for toast tomorrow!