Fried Bananas, Batman!

So I'm trying to write more posts more often...so this morning, I decided to make fried bananas for breakfast. I don't really like bananas but fried anything is amazing! It was really easy, required very few ingredients and turned out delicious!






I fried the bananas on each side for about a minute in coconut oil for added flavor. Besides adding a delicious coconuty flavor, coconut oil has the good kind of fat and has also been known to stave off infections and heart disease. I highly recommend substituting coconut oil for butter or vegetable/canola oil when frying sweet things.

The banana slices cook very quickly so you need to make sure that you watch them the entire time. If you cook them too long, the sugar in the bananas breaks down from the heat and they can burn very easily.

After the banana slices cooked on both sides, I poured a small amount of honey mixed with a little hot water over them and then sprinkled with ground cinnamon. You don't need a lot of the honey because they are already very sweet.

Let them cool for a couple minutes before eating because they will be very hot. I kind of wish these weren't so easy to make because now I think I'll make them all the time...

I'm gonna put a shortened version of this recipe down below :)




Fried Bananas with Honey Drizzle 

• banana(s)
• coconut oil (use as needed)
• honey
• hot water
• ground cinnamon

1. Melt 1-2 tablespoons of coconut oil in the pan and spread so it covers the pan. 
2. Slice banana into 1/2 inch pieces and place in the frying pan. 
3. Cook for about a minute or until they are dark brown on both sides.
4. Mix a little hot water into a few tablespoons of honey and drizzle over fried bananas.
5. Serve sprinkled with ground cinnamon. 

Pollotarian, pescatarian, vegetarian, vegan...what am I?!

When I first started cooking my own food when I moved away to college, I was introduced to all the different kinds of diets in regards to meat and animal by-product consumption...pollotarian, pescatarian, vegetarian, and vegan. Most people haven't heard of pollotarian or pecatarian even though they might identify with those eating habits. I had a friend in college who called herself a pollotarian when I first met her, became vegetarian shortly after, and a couple years later went vegan. Because of the nature of the vegan diet, it was difficult for her to get the protein that she needed so she has since gone back to simply being a vegetarian.

So...not that I've used all these different words, let me define them for you.

A pollotarian is someone who eats poultry i.e. chicken, duck, turkey, etc. Some have used this term to mean someone who eats both poultry and fish but technically one would not consume any fish.
A pescatarian is someone who eats fish i.e. cod, salmon, swordfish, shrimp, etc.
A vegetarian is someone who doesn't eat any kind of meat but eats animal by-products i.e. eggs, dairy products, honey, etc. You can even break this category down more into two more categories:

1. ovo-vegetarian, someone who eats eggs
2. lacto-vegetarian, someone who eats dairy products

A vegan is someone who doesn't eat any kind of meat and won't eat any animal by-products.

I haven't done a whole lot of research on these different eating habits and lifestyle decisions other than what I learned in the general nutrition class I took in college and from the many friends I have who have either tried out one or more of these options or who are have been eating one of these diets long term. For short periods of time, I have only eaten fish and poultry but never for very long. For me, I hate to say it but rather than being about animal rights, my diet is much more about nutrition.

I have threatened to become a vegetarian many times in the last 10 months but every time, my boyfriend has talked me out of it and convinced me to simply have more moderation in my consumption of beef and pork. Personally, I think that all diets are about moderation...cutting something  you love out of your diet can make you want to binge on something else thats unhealthy. It's easier to eat healthy when you treat yourself a little bit as a reward for eating well.

Thoughts? Comments? Criticism?

Cilantro

There's nothing quite as flavorful or mouth watering as a pile of minced cilantro...
Recently, I've been experimenting with it by putting it in salads and it really adds a whole new dimension to an otherwise mediocre spinach salad. My boyfriend tried the salad and couldn't quite put his finger on it but said that it was the most flavorful salad he had ever eaten...I don't think he was just trying to flatter me, I think he really enjoyed the cilantro flavor in the salad.

I love the way my hands smell after I tear the cilantro leaves off the stem!