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Whole-Wheat Banana Bread

Our typical uses of bananas include oatmeal, yogurt parfaits, and in peanut butter sandwiches. However, sometimes things come up or other meals fulfill us, and we are left with browning bananas. Do we throw them out? Absolutely not! How dare you suggest such blasphemy. There is so much you can do with bananas: you can make cookies, muffins, or…bread! You can still keep it healthy, even though you’re baking. This whole-wheat banana bread recipe is simple, quick, and delicious. The prep time is basically nothing, but you do have to wait in front of the oven like a starving kitten. 

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Honey Spiced Cookies

Does it bother me that maybe there should be a hyphen in the title? Kinda. But I actually purposefully left it out to keep it vague and free. Anyhow. I bring you Honey Spiced Cookies based on the Honey Biscuits recipe from A Feast of Ice and Fire (aka Game of Thrones cookbook for those of you who *scoff* didn’t read the books). This is an incredible cookbook! I can’t recommend enough. It’s all based on foods that George RR Martin wrote into the books, and it splits the recipes into the different regions of Westeros. I’ve made several recipes from this cookbook such as applecakes and bread (both recipes serving the faithful Night’s Watch at the Wall). This recipe comes from the South from Lord Caswell’s kitchen. 

These honey spiced cookies are warm, soft, and wonderfully potent with spices like pumpkin and ginger. The recipe takes under fifteen minutes and does not have a long ingredient list (honestly, if it’s too complicated, I don’t even want to make it). This recipe is probably best suited for warmer months due to its fall/winter-like spices, but I made this in a California heat wave (90 degrees F, ya’ll), and we still finished all of them in 1.5 sittings between the two of us. I mean, who says no to cookies based on the season?! Get real. 

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banana bars

Whole-Wheat Chocolate Chip Banana Bars

What do you do when you have over-ripe bananas to be used? Bake, of course! But what to bake? Normally I would make these sweet banana cookies, but we are all out of oats! So I browsed the internet hard to find me something on the healthier side that featured bananas. And…drum roll, please…I came up with whole-wheat chocolate chip banana bars (found it from a great blogger’s site)! Banana bars? Sound weird? They’re not. It’s basically brownie-shaped banana bread with chocolate chips. Yeah, they’re good. Hungry brought them to work and he got major points from his coworkers. 

The texture of the banana bars are cake-like rather than brownie-like, light and fluffy. Some hybrid of banana bread and cake. It’s yum. What makes this recipe healthier? Whole-wheat flour, no butter, and not too much sugar. Yeah, there are chocolate chips in it, but I mean, you got to live a little. Some baking recipes are complicated. This one is not. It’s basically mix together, put into sheet pan, and bake. And you know I love easy recipes. Alright, let’s make these delicious banana bars. 

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Not-So-Fit Lemon Bars

We are Hungry & Fit…we eat a lot and we work out a lot. We love to embrace the concept called moderation. It’s one of our favorite things. So yeah, you’re allowed a donut here and there as long as you’re not throwing one back every day. I mean, really, you can do whatever you want, but if you are trying to be moderate, be moderate. Don’t kill yourself exercising so that you injure yourself (lookin’ at you, Hungry) and don’t binge every night. To us, life is all about balance and moderation. Add gratitude, and we think it’s the key to a full, happy life. In a way, you can have your cake and eat it too through moderation! Hungry and I chow down but still manage to keep fit. Thus, I present to you the Not-So-Fit Lemon Bars

I based this recipe off of Genius Kitchen’s lemon bars. Even though I wouldn’t call my recipe healthy, I certainly “healthized” (it’s a word, trust me) it up from its original state. This recipe has much less sugar and way more lemon–I prefer a tart dessert over a sweet one. I love lemon bars because of that tartness. It’s that tang that first hits you and then the sweetness melts you over. Mmm! These Not-So-Fit Lemon Bars are very easy to make and are sure to impress. 

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4th of July Dessert: Cannoli Dip

Independence Day (or July 4th…or 4th of July) is TOMORROW! Do you have something that you’re going to bring to that BBQ or party? No?! Well good thing you found us because I have a 4th of July-themed dessert that takes under ten minutes (perhaps under five minutes if you don’t diddle daddle in the kitchen like me). Who doesn’t love a cannoli? You know, the Italian dessert of creamy middle surrounded by pastry? It kind of looks like a rounded dessert taco. Anyhow, it’s one of our favorite desserts here at Hungry & Fit. However, we don’t have the time to make the dough, cook the pastry in its perfect shape, and then pipe the filling in. Let’s just skip to the good stuff–the filling!

I was watching The Kitchen one day on Food Network and the Sandwich King (Jeff Mauro) made this recipe. I changed it up a little bit and subtracted some sugar so that you can have a sweet treat for this 4th of July. Feel free to get creative with the toppings. I made it as red, white, blue as I could!

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5 Desserts That You Have to Make Her

We’re still always so humbled when we see our material shared. Recently, we saw one of our favorite dessert recipes shared by a random woman and she tagged her husband on the post and wrote “…” after it. We can only imagine that she wants him to make that dessert for her. Now, if you know us well, you’ll know that Hungry does most of the cooking and Fit does most of the baking, and we think that might be the case in many other couples. 

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We Baked a Cake for Optimum Nutrition!

How long have we been talking about this, seriously? We know it’s been quite some time since we first told you, but the footage is finally here. Juan Esguerra from Iron Fortitude filmed and edited everything to come up with this full-length release. In this video, you’ll find out some key tips on how to bake at home, specifically with some healthy ingredients such as protein

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Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie

One of many delicious recipes to come from our Thanksgiving feast...pumpkin cheescake pie! Two beautiful things in one: pumpkin pie and cheesecake. I feel like pumpkin is the quintessential Fall food and I was more than happy to have stumbled upon this recipe from smitten kitchen! This may not be the most fit recipe, but I tried to healthify it a little by trimming down the sugar. I cannot explain or describe how wonderful this pie was. I’m usually not a huge pumpkin pie person, but I was eating this for every meal (yes, breakfast too). I just couldn’t control myself! Thebeautiful smoothness of the pumpkin with a cheesecake marble on top was too much for me to handle. A perfect dessert that isn’t cloyingly sweet. 

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