Whole Grain Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Whole Grain Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

I buy bunches and bunches of bananas for smoothies every week, a breakfast staple during the school year. Sometimes, I buy extra bananas just so I'll have enough to make banana bread or these Whole Grain Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins as a special breakfast treat or after-school snack. 

I am thrilled that my recipe for these Whole Grain Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins is being featured on iVillage.com today! So hop on over and read my post on 10 Kid-Approved Recipes with Whole Grains to get the recipe along with some easy tips to get kids to try whole grains.

I would love to hear your tips and tricks on getting your kids to eat whole grains.


More Whole Grain Muffin Recipes:

Gluten/Dairy/Egg-Free Carrot Coconut Pineapple Muffins from Jeanette's Healthy Living 
Ginger Peach Muffins from White On Rice Couple
Whole Wheat Apple Muffins from Smitten Kitchen 
Whole Wheat Pumpkin Muffins with Toasted Almonds from Cookin' Canuck
Blackberry Cobbler Muffins from Manifest Vegan
Oatmeal Blueberry Applesauce Muffins from Joy the Baker
Peaches and Coconut Cream Muffins from Food for My Family
Gluten-Free Whole Grain Strawberry Muffins from Gluten-Free Goddess
100% Whole Grain Ginger Pear Bran Muffins from Farmgirl Fare
Kim Boyce's Whole Wheat Sweet Potato Muffins from The Wednesday Chef 
Banana Oatmeal Muffins from Guilty Kitchen

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Easy Caramelized Baked Chicken with Green Olives and Prunes Recipe - 50 Women Game Changers In Food - Clotilde Dusoulier

I make a lot of chicken during the week for my kids. Every night, they ask "what's for dinner?" and on many days, the answer is simply ..."chicken." Of course, that begs the next question, "But what kind, Mom?" Fortunately, there are so many easy ways to cook chicken, that rarely do they complain once they sit down at the dinner table. Sometimes I stir fry chicken with vegetables, other times I poach it, and often, I bake chicken - there's less fuss and cleanup involved. 

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Gluten-Free Dark Chocolate Brownies {Adopt-A-Gluten-Free Blogger}

Gluten-Free Dark Chocolate Brownies

Oh my, can you believe these deep chocolatey brownies are gluten-free? I couldn't, and my little guy was over the moon about these brownies. Even my skeptical boys who are not on a gluten-free diet thought these were amazing.

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Thai Chicken Skewers - 50 Women Game Changers In Food - Dorothy Hamilton

Thai Chicken Skewers Served With Millet and Baby Bok Choy

Quick and easy weeknight dinners are a must for our family during the school year, and since we've been having an Indian Summer this past week, I decided to uncover the grill and throw some Thai Chicken Skewers on. My kids love anything on skewers - they're fun to eat and quick to cook. I've been trying to plan our dinners ahead of time for the week ahead to make it easier to fit our busy schedule. There are some days when I feed the kids at 4PM, and other days, when I serve dinner after an hour of driving my kids around, so planning meals ahead of time helps a ton.

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Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers with Millet Black Bean Pilaf and Roasted Red Pepper Sauce {Bob's Red Mill Giveaway}

Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers with Millet Black Bean Pilaf

The last few weeks, my CSA Box has been overflowing with red peppers, and I've been trying to figure out what to do with all of them...that's how these Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers with Millet Black Bean Pilaf came about. I've been thinking of making stuffed peppers with whole grains for a while, so this was the perfect excuse to try them.

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Whole Grain Recipe Roundup - Whole Grains Month

Quinoa Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

If you've been following along this month, I've written lots of posts on whole grains the last several weeks, trying to take the mystery out of adding more whole grains to the everyday diet throughout the day.

We've had lots of fantastic feedback, as well as active reader participation, sharing recipes and ideas on how to add more whole grains to meals.

Today, I'd like to share some fabulous whole grain recipes I've been drooling over from some of my favorite food bloggers. I've been inspired by these healthy whole grain recipes and wanted to share them with you. Take a look and I hope you'll be inspired too.

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Roasted Red Pepper Carrot Pesto {MagNoodles Pasta Giveaway}

 

Whole Grain Pasta with Roasted Red Pepper Carrot Pesto, Roasted Broccoli and Cherry Tomatoes

A while back, I wrote a post called "Super Sauces" that included a recipe for Spinach Basil Pesto and Roasted Red Pepper Sauce.  Since then, I've made a few other sauces that deserve to be included in this category of Super Sauces -- Basil Garlic Scape Pesto, Swiss Chard Garlic Scape Pesto, and Warm Roasted Garlic and Artichoke Spread.  Today, I have a new Super Sauce to add to this collection -- Roasted Red Pepper Carrot Pesto.

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The Health Benefits of Honey - Jennifer Spaide Guest Post {Honey Contest}

Not only is September Whole Grains Month, but it is National Honey Month too! I didn't want the month to get away without sharing the health benefits of honey.

To help us better understand the the connection between honey and health, I am excited to introduce you all to Jennifer Spaide from Simplicious as a guest blogger today. I met Jennifer on the soccer field a few years ago when her cutie son was on the same team as my little guy. Sideline conversations always seemed to come back to food, and modest as she is, I discovered that Jennifer is not just a soccer mom, but a nutritionist and chef who cooks up healthy and easy to prepare recipes in her kitchen. 

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Oatmeal Peanut Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe - 50 Women Game Changers In Food - Maida Heatter

Oatmeal Peanut Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sometimes I just need an excuse to make cookies. Believe it or not, my kids actually are not huge sweet eaters (although they do love their ice cream), but they do appreciate good home baked cookies once in a while, especially chocolate chip cookies (but only if they're soft and fresh out of the oven...I know...they are so picky!). 

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Whole Grain Pumpkin Streusel Muffin Recipe {King Arthur Flour Giveaway}

Whole Grain Pumpkin Streusel Muffins

Now that school is back in full swing and fall is in the air, whole grain muffins have made their way back into my boys' breakfasts, as has hot oatmeal. Along with a fruit smoothie, these whole grain choices provide a quick and healthy breakfast, enough to tide them over until lunchtime. 

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Spiced Vegetarian Lentil Soup Recipe {Secret Recipe Club}

Spiced Vegetarian Red Lentil Soup

Today is "reveal day" for Group B of the Secret Recipe Club, created by Amanda of Amanda's Cookin. So far, everything I've tried for the Secret Recipe Club has come out really well, including Baked Portobello Mushroom Fries, Anzac Cookies, and Seven-Layer Dip. This club has grown so rapidly that Amanda has created four different groups that have a different reveal day during each month. I am part of Group B, hosted by Tina of Moms Crazy Cooking. The idea behind the Secret Recipe Club is to give bloggers the chance to try each other's recipes without the other bloggers knowing it until everyone posts their results.

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50 Women Game Changers in Food - Sheila Lukins & Julee Rosso - Pasta Puttanesca

Puttanesca Sauce Served On Whole Grain Spelt Pasta

This is our first full week back at school, having been delayed a week due to Hurricane Irene passing through. It's been quite an adjustment so far as my oldest son is off to college this fall, and he was a huge help driving one of my other sons home everyday from school last year. I used to have dinner ready the minute they walked in the door. Now, every day, I am picking my son up right around dinner time (with over an hour commute) and often shuttling him or his other two brothers around in between, so getting dinner on the table has become a lot trickier. There are days when I start driving at 2PM and don't get settled at home until near 10PM (as I'm sure many of you are as well!). So, quick and easy dinners are essential for those busy nights.

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Vita Spelt Pasta Giveaway

As many of you know by now, September is Whole Grains Month and I've been celebrating so far by sharing some Fast and Healthy Recipe Ideas. One of the easiest ways to transition to whole grains is by substituting whole grain pasta for white pasta.

Over the years, I've gradually switched my kids over to whole grain pastas. At first, they were turned off by the darker color, but as I found some brands that were milder in flavor, and matched these heartier pastas with more robust sauces like Puttanesca Sauce, they learned to enjoy them. They know that whole grain pastas are better for them and will keep them satisfied longer.

I am thrilled to announce a super giveaway for Vita Spelt Pasta, made with 100% spelt flour - I served Puttanesca Sauce over Vita Spelt Spaghetti Pasta and my kids enjoyed it thoroughly.

Giveaway Details: (this Giveaway is now closed)

I have an extremely generous giveaway package from Purity Foods, whose products include Vita Spelt organic whole grain pastas, granola and snacks made with spelt. 10 winners will receive 6 boxes of organic whole grain spelt pasta of their choice (choose among spaghetti, angel hair, rotini, shells, elbows and lasagna).

How To Enter:

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment sharing a quick and easy whole grain recipe idea (links are welcome), a quick and easy healthy pasta sauce (again, links are welcome), or how you plan on adding more whole grains to your daily diet. The deadline for entering this giveaway is 9/22/11, 12 midnight EST. TEN winners will be chosen using random.org and will have 4 days to respond or a new winner will be selected (please be sure to include your email address in your comment). For U.S. residents only.

You can earn additional entries by doing any of the following. Be sure to leave a separate comment for each additional entry so I know you did it:

1. Tweet this giveaway, being sure to include my Twitter handle (@JeanettesHealth).
2. Sign up for my Email or RSS Feeds
3. 'Like' VitaSpelt on Facebook
4. Follow me @JeanettesHealth on Stumbleupon
5. Follow @JeanettesHealth on Twitter

Disclosure: Purity Foods offered this Vita Spelt Pasta giveaway as part of Whole Grains Month, to help encourage all of us to add more whole grains to our daily meals :)

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Whole Grains - Fast and Healthy Recipe Ideas {Cookiehead and Alvarado Street Bakery Giveaway}

These Anzac Cookies are full of Whole Grain Goodness..

September is Whole Grains Month and we're kicking it off with some simple, fast ways to incorporate healthy whole grains into our everyday diet. If you've never tried whole grains or if you're just starting out, adding more whole grains to your meals might seem intimidating.  But once you start keeping an eye out for whole grain alternatives to your favorite foods, it becomes easier.

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September 11 Remembrance - Chicken Noodle Soup For The Soul

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup For The Soul

Today as we mark the 10th anniversary of the most devastating terrorist attack in America's history, like so many people, I am experiencing a wide range of emotions...sadness, anxiety, shock, fear, uncertainty, and hope. The images conjured up by that day, 9-11-01, will be forever engraved in the minds of Americans.

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50 Women Game Changers In Food - Elizabeth David - Farinata, Socca or Chickpea Pizza Recipe

Socca, Farinata, Cecina, Faina, or as I like to call it, Chickpea Pizza

Ever since my youngest son was found to be allergic to wheat among other foods, I find myself constantly looking for gluten-free recipes that might remind him of something tasty he used to enjoy. Call it comfort food. One of the recipes I've been wanting to try for a while is Socca, Farinata, or as I call it Chickpea Pizza (although there's no cheese or tomato sauce involved). This Chickpea Pizza goes by many names. In Nice, it is called "Socca," in Tuscany "Cecina," and in Argentina "Faina." Whether you want to call it Farinata, Socca or Faina, this dish is made simply from chickpea flour, water and olive oil.

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Gluten-Free Ratio Rally - Gluten-Free Baked Pumpkin Spice Donuts {Vegan}

Gluten-Free Baked Pumpkin Spice Donuts

I am so pleased to be participating in this month's Gluten Free Ratio Rally, founded by Shauna from the Gluten Free Girl, and hosted this month by Meg of GF Boulangerie.

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Hot Black Bean Salsa Dip {Dr. Kracker Giveaway}

Hot Black Bean Salsa Dip 

With football season starting up, I will be making "football snacks" every weekend, a tradition in our house since my boys were young. Although football snacks are notoriously greasy and unhealthy, I've been trying to "healthify" our weekend snack fare the past several seasons while keeping them tasty and satisfying.

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Steamed Ginger Peaches with Greek Yogurt {Vegan}

Steamed Ginger Peaches with So Delicious Dairy-Free Greek Yogurt

Although fall is around the corner, there is still plenty of time to enjoy summer peaches. There's nothing like a juicy summer peach, eaten out of hand, or cut up and eaten with yogurt for breakfast. But, what about dessert? Sure, there are peach crisps, peach pies and peach crumbles and cobblers that are summertime favorites, but what if you want something lighter, perhaps a healthier version of peaches and cream for dessert? This is what I pondered as I stared at a bowl of fresh peaches I had picked up from our local farmer's market.

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50 Women Game-Changers In Food - Rachel Ray - Tuna Marinara with Pasta

Tuna Marinara Sauce with Gluten-Free Pasta

Love her or hate her, Rachel Ray has skyrocketed from a no name to a well known brand name across all channels of media over the last decade.  According to Rachel Ray, she grew up on food, with her first vivid memory watching her mom in a restaurant kitchen. Not only has Rachel Ray hosted three Food Network series, but she has also syndicated her own talk and lifestyle show, Rachel Ray, authored 19 cookbooks, is the Founder and Editorial Director of her own lifestyle magazine, and founded the Yum-o! organization (a nonprofit organization to "empower kids and their families to develop healthy relationships with food and cooking." Her Rachel Ray television show has won two Daytime Emmy Awards.

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