Fit Friday! Skinnied up Cookies and the Joys of Real Food

Happy Fit Friday everyone! Ruthie is here from Whats Cooking with Ruthie with a skinnied up cookie recipe for those days when you just really need a yummy treat. After the yummy looking food keep reading to hear about why I love food....and not pills. Enjoy everyone!

Chocolate Chunk Banana Nut Cookies are they perfect way to use up those overripe bananas!
. Chocolate Chunk Banana Nut Cookies on www.cookingwithruthie.com are they perfect way to use up those overripe bananas! YUMMY.

 Chocolate Chunk Banana Nut Cookies are not exactly a "healthy" recipe but more of a "skinnied" recipe! Do. Not. Fear. They taste amazing and all things considered they're loaded with good for you ingredients like bananas, applesauce, oats, walnuts, and semi-sweet chocolate. You can replace the sugars with Truvia Baking Blend and Brown Sugar Baking Blends or even honey would work to cut down the sugars a bit if you'd like to. I replaced half the butter with applesauce, which works well in most baking recipes. Chocolate Chunk Banana Nut Cookies on www.cookingwithruthie.com are they perfect way to use up those overripe bananas! YUMMY.
 If you love Banana Nut Bread then you'll fall completely in love with these little guys... they're SO good. They freeze really well to so if you have some left hanging around throw them in a ziptop freezer baggie for a ready-to-eat, sweet treat when that sweet tooth gets to calling! Chocolate Chunk Banana Nut Cookies on www.cookingwithruthie.com are they perfect way to use up those overripe bananas! YUMMY. If you're not a nut person then go ahead and omit them or trade the walnuts for a different variety too. I like to Trader Joes brand of semi-ssweet chocolate chunks- they melt in your mouth and have a pretty high percentage of cocoa in them too- the more antioxidants, the better.
Chocolate Chunk Banana Nut Cookies
Recipe Type: Dessert
Author: Ruthie
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 36
Ingredients
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 cup butter, room temperature
  • 1/4 cup applesauce
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar or sugar replacer
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
  • 1 egg, room temperature
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 cup mashed overripe banana (approx 2)
  • 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks
  • 1 cup walnuts, chopped
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  2. Coat cookie sheet with cooking spray; set aside.
  3. In a small mixing bowl combine dry ingredients.
  4. In a large mixing bowl cream butter and sugars for 3-4 minutes until light and fluffy.
  5. Add egg, vanilla, applesauce, and bananas; mix well.
  6. Add dry ingredients and mix until 80% combined.
  7. Hand stir in chocolate chunks and walnuts.
  8. Using a large cookie scoop, drop onto prepared cookie sheet.
  9. Bake 9-10 minutes until edges are lightly golden, remove and allow to rest 1 minute on pan.
  10. Remove cookies to cooling rack.
  11. Enjoy!
Chocolate Chunk Banana Nut Cookies on www.cookingwithruthie.com are they perfect way to use up those overripe bananas! YUMMY.

Enjoy making our Chocolate Chunk Banana Nut Cookies with your kiddos this weekend and have a skinnier-delicious treat!


After all these weeks of fantastic recipes provided by Ruthie I wanted to talk about food, more specifically why food is the best way to get the nutrients your body needs. I realize that you can find a pill or some sort of "amazing" juice to get anything and everything your body could need, but is that ideal? NO! This is a discussion I get into a lot with my clients. I am often asked what supplements I take and what I would recommend. The looks I get when I explain that I don't take anything are priceless. The reality is our bodies know how to use food better than it knows how to use a pill. And we get a lot more from food than we do supplements. For example, there are hundreds of nutrients in an apple along with fiber and lots of essentials, way more than than the just the biggies. Part of the job of all the smaller nutrients in that apple is to work WITH the bigger nutrients, to assure that we are getting the full power of the bigger nutrients.

                                                                     
                                                                   Which one?


Now, don't get me wrong, I do believe that something is better than nothing. If you are just starting out on your healthy venture or you realistically know that your nutrition is never going to be all that great, sure add a good multivitamin. I also am a big believer in following doctor recommendations. If you are having health issues and your doctor tells you that you are low in vitamin D, absolutely add a good vitamin D to your morning ritual. 
So, how?
1) Get a variety of whole foods. We all have our favorites and our fall backs, but step away from the daily apple and have a pear today. Or go even further outside of that box and try something completely new. The key is a whole food, not try a different frozen dinner.
2) Read labels and learn what is in the food you consume. The more knowledge you have the better decisions you can make.
3) Lots of different fruits and veggies, different colors signify different nutrients.
These three little tips can go along way. And we are lucky enough to have Ruthie help with all three. Each week she gives us new recipes and new things to try. She is an awesome resource, so use what she gives us!

Good luck this week!
Happy Fit Friday!! We hope you have a wonderful weekend :)
 Much Love and Peace~ Nichole and Ruthie

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