Warm Banana and Coconut Bowl

So Christmas is over and the Pinterest boards and Yahoo articles and advertisements are filling up with exercise routines and weight loss challenges and work out clothes. It kind of makes my head spin--like we're a bunch of schizo lunatics on some trippy joy ride. Hey--Let's eat too much chocolate and ham until our stomachs bloat and our fingers swell and we feel kind of like crap. But we won't stop. Well, not until we decide to do the four-day juice fast and choose (of all body parts?) to focus on the intense exercising of our inner thighs. And then we'll give up whole food groups at a time or adapt recipes made with sugar to recipes made with...wait for it...maple syrup. This lunacy continues on to about February when everyone either has yoyo-ed back to a normal weight or given up. I sound kinda judge-y, don't I? I don't mean to. Honestly, I don't. It's just that I've driven to crazy town and back a time or two in my life. I did not eat any fat in all my high school years except for these occasional "binge days" when I would eat all and everything I wanted. In college I did a couple of sugar free years (better than the no-fat thing, I think, but still a focus on restriction that employed many fake sugars so I could get an occasional sweet fix). And this type of disordered eating--it's just not the place I think we should all be aiming for (and pinning) right now (or ever). So I'm trying to be helpful, not judge-y, and to speak from the voice of experience--of past disordered eating. Please forgive me if I've missed the mark there and come off sounding like a total jerk (at least I could try to sound like a funny jerk, right).

Ironically, the recipe today is Paleo, Vegetarian, Void of refined sugar, and involves plenty of Coconut. People, it's positively righteous. But I'm not posting it for those reasons. I'm posting it because it tastes good. And it's wicked quick (like, 60 seconds) to make. Easy. One bowl. One serving (but can be made for more). And it tastes good. And, yes, it does leave you feeling better after eating than you did before. That, I suppose, is the goal I'm shooting for. Most wholesome food gets us there, and occasionally a really good treat.

The truth is that I actually discovered this little snack/meal in December one super busy Saturday night when I came home from singing at a nativity exhibit, then shopping for presents (in heels--oh the agony; how do women do it) and then hurrying home to rush my son and his friends over to the church to clean up from the nativity exhibit. I was starving, but already running late and I had three tweenage boys waiting for their ride. This meal was like heaven--satisfying, healthy, but light enough to eat at 7:00 pm without regretting it. It can be an instant breakfast as well, or healthy dessert, or a post workout snack. It can be anything you want it to be (maybe it should move to Vegas).

So try it. I hope you like it. Also--don't let the whole "warm banana thing" frighten to you. They're very lightly warmed--just enough to bring out a bit of sweet comfort-food-ness, not warm enough to be, like, you know banana mush.

Warm Banana and Coconut Bowl
adapted from Fast Paleo
serves: 1
prep time: 60 seconds
Cost: $.75
banana: .15, coconut milk: .25, pecans: .25, coconut: .10

1 ripe banana (yes, ripe)--cut into "coins"
1/4 C coconut milk (canned or other)
2 Tbsp pecans
1-2 Tbsp shredded coconut (unsweetened works just fine)
a drizzle of maple syrup (optional) (you could also use a sprinkle of any sugar of your choice)

Combine all of this (except maple syrup) in a bowl. Nuke it for 30 seconds. Stir it. Add the maple syrup if it's not sweet enough for you, although taste it first because you might be surprised.

PRINTABLE RECIPE