Dark Chocolate-Covered Frozen Bananas

Yesterday was a good day. I finally started feeling like my normal self again and I kicked butt on my healthy goals checklist (we’ll get to that at the end of the post).

I didn’t have a great sleep – once again, I was up all night . I finally passed out around 7am and got to sleep in ’til 2. When I woke up, I was super starving and immediately made myself this yummy turkey sandwich. Just looking at these pictures again is making my stomach grumble! There aren’t too many foods I love more than this guy right here…

In the sandwich went some Jennie O Shaved Turkey breast, a huge tomato slice, a leaf of romaine, topped with yellow mustard and lite mayo, all on FiberOne 100% Whole Wheat bread.

After lunch, I headed out to do some errands. I stopped at the pharmacy to pick up a prescription and to do a return, then I dropped by Walmart to get popsicle sticks so that I could make THESE!

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to snap a picture of the final product (it was a little messy!), but I can assure you that they came out great. A few weeks ago, I heard about Diana’s Bananas and bought a box for Brent. They were a little expensive (a box of six banana halves was $4.99), so I figured I would try to make them myself for a lower cost.

While it definitely was a super messy project, it was really fun and would be something great to do with kids. I had a little bit of trouble figuring out how to freeze them properly because our freezer is very small (and stuffed to the gills!). If you have room, the easiest way would probably be to lay them on a cookie sheet in the freezer.

I’m always looking for healthy dessert ideas and this is a great one! I love that it tastes like a decadent treat, but each one racks in at only 200 calories.

Dark Chocolate-Covered Frozen Bananas

(original recipe)

Ingredients:

3 bananas, not too ripe

5 oz. dark chocolate chips

6 short wooden craft sticks

Directions:

Fill a saucepan halfway with water and bring to a boil.

Meanwhile, chop the bananas in half and put the sticks in through the wider end; set aside

Place a microwave-safe bowl on top of the pan, creating a makeshift double-boiler.

Pour the chocolate chips in the bowl, stirring occasionally until fully melted.

Leaving the bowl on the hot pan, dip bananas in the chocolate until fully covered (use a spatula to help).

Place on a baking sheet and freeze immediately.

Once fully frozen, remove from sheet and store in a Ziploc freezer bag inside the freezer.

Enjoy!

Let’s see how I did yesterday on my goals!

Healthy Goals Checklist

1. At least 100g protein. Check! Wow, I got a whole 130.5 today. That definitely shows me that eating a lot of protein is a totally attainable goal. Just gotta make sure to get some in at every meal (and snacks too!).
2. At least 4 servings fruits/veggies. Check! I got 4.25 servings today. I’m starting to notice that, depending on the day, I’ll either blow the protein goal out of the park and get just barely enough veggies, or I’ll have tons of veggies and only the bare minimum of protein. It’s definitely hard to balance the two.
3. No more than one treat. Check! I “tested” the chocolate for the bananas with a few strawberries and had an Almond Joy (since both were small, I’m counting this as one).
4. Exercise and/or stretch. Check! I did a bunch of crunches, leg lifts, and supermans while watching TV this afternoon. I probably could’ve done a bit more, but right now I’m counting each and every effort as something to be proud of! It really is a struggle for me to exert energy by working out when just the everyday things in life are already so exhausting (due to my Heel Pad Syndrome). I don’t want to use my disability as an excuse, but I also want to reward myself for what I do manage to do.