Peanut Butter and Bananas - and oats, and cinnamon, and sugar

Ok, so quite obviously I'm a bit banana obsessed and this time it involves peanut butter. Which, is one of my all time favorite combos and foods. I love to eat peanut butter and banana sandwiches with a little honey drizzled on them. Mmmmmmm, yum. I know what's for dinner tonight :)

So, what we have here now is a brainstorm of an idea for me to not have to make breakfast in the morning and now that I have time to relax in the AM instead of pop out of bed like a Pop Tart and begin my day with insane amounts of exercise I just want something I can grab and crawl back in bed while watching the news sleepily or talk on the phone with Mike, should he be at work that morning.

I searched the web, and for some reason I was thinking about oat bars, or oatmeal bars. That got me thinking that I wanted something healthy, simple and easy. Nothing pre-packaged but still not so complex it would take me a week to gather ingredients. I finally landed on Gingerbread Bagels blog thanks to Google.

I found her fabulously easy, simple and so very delicious recipe for Peanut Butter Banana Oat Squares, which she says to have gotten from Pinterest. Why I didn't see these I have no idea, since I have this multitude of things I want to try on my Pinterest.

Anyway, so I looked through the ingredients, checking them off as I went to make sure I had them and I did. Hooray for not having to go to the store! So I began, at 10pm. That seems to be normal for me, late night baking. But as they say----

Being proud of myself for buying rolled oats from Whole Foods and only spending $2 for this giant amount I decided that despite what the recipe called for (quick oats) I would use mine instead and hope for the best. As you can clearly see the brown sugar jar is empty, after using it up for these puppies.

I was pleasantly surprised at how easy and simple this recipe was, I decided to add a protein boost to mine by using some of the whey protein powder I had on hand. I used Naturade with 80 calories per 2 scoops, but you are welcome to use whatever you like, chocolate flavor may even taste good if you want something different.

I of course have now made this recipe twice since Tuesday and love love love it. This second batch I didn't add protein powder due to running out. Guess I should go pick up some more.

Now THAT is a banana,
and yes I have Hippo salt and pepper shakers

So here is the super simple recipe and the calories for the non protein version:

Peanut Butter Banana Oat Squares:

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups quick oats (I used rolled, they work fine)
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar (didn't pack mine and it tasted great)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp Kosher salt (I used iodized table salt)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract (I used imitation no alcohol kind)
1/2 cup milk (I used skim)
1 large egg, beaten lightly
1 large banana, mashed (obviously I found an EXTRA large banana)
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter (I used 365 (Whole Foods) Creamy PB as that is my current favorite)

Instructions:
Mix together the quick cooking oats, light brown sugar, baking powder, salt, and ground cinnamon.

Ad in the vanilla extract, milk, and egg. Mix the ingredients together.

Add in the mashed banana and peanut butter. Combine all ingredients well.

Pour mixture into a lightly greased 8x8 inch metal baking pan (or an 8-inch round cake pan, or a loaf pan). Bake at 350 F degrees for 20 minutes, or until center is no longer gooey.

Cut into square, triangle or slices and enjoy! (I topped mine with butter - YUM)

Now go out and cook!

Nutritional Info Per Above Recipe and it's Ingredients
141 calories
5.5g fat
0.5g saturate fat
0g trans fat
22.2mg cholesterol
279.4mg sodium
129.4mg potassium
16.8g total carbs
2.6g dietary fiber
4g sugar
6.1g protein

0.9% vitamin A
2.9% vitamin C
3.6% Calcium
5.6% Iron