Banana

Banana leaves gracefully cover cocoa beans in their fermenting bins where the beans develop their extraordinary flavor. Roadside farm stands in chocolate’s growing regions offer a jumble of bananas, cinnamon sticks, plantains, cacao pods, walnuts, vanilla beans, and coconuts, all from trees of the tropics. For that extra earth-friendly touch, use muffin or cupcake liners made with unbleached, eco-friendly paper.

Have a nutritious start to your morning when you add oatmeal and whole-wheat flour to your pancakes. Topped with granola, bananas, and maple syrup, they’re amazing!

Get up and go with this satisfying breakfast drink. For a frosty presentation, put empty glasses in the freezer for just a few minutes while you are preparing the drink.

Okay, this recipe is simple, but last year when I told a friend I was going to write this book he said I had to include it. I’d never heard of doing this, nor had a number of my friends. In fact, though I found many friends who made a version including marshmallows over a campfire as a kid, I didn’t find one other person who’d actually made this. So I’m guessing that most folks won’t have had it before. Trust me; if you like bananas and chocolate, you’ll wish you’d tried it sooner!

Kids will definitely go for these logs. Make them for breakfast or even as an after-school snack. They’re so delicious, the kids won’t balk at eating fruit. If you have them, feel free to use corn-on-the-cob holders to assist in coating the bananas. You don’t absolutely need them, but they’ll help keep the peanut butter where it belongs—on the bananas.

This sandwich was actually the brainchild of my trainer, Brian, who eats it all the time. Make it for your kids before school, or for yourself when you want to add a little decadence to your morning. Heck, it’s not only super tasty, it’s trainer-approved.

My weakness for ice cream is well known, and the name of this drink says it all.

Gina: These delicious waffles are crispy, full of flavor, and loaded with crunchy pecans. You can serve them the traditional way, with syrup and butter, or jazz them up with sautéed bananas and/or fresh strawberry sauce. Either way, it’s an unforgettable way to begin the day.

Pat: French toast is one of my greatest loves. I like mine made with thick slices of white bread and a rich egg-and-milk batter with a kiss of cinnamon, and topped with lots of maple syrup. I also love to have a couple of over-easy eggs alongside. Gina is always saying to me, “Why you gotta fry eggs? There are eggs in the batter!” Gina: I’m not sure if the French were the ones who made this toast famous, but I’m sure they would love what I’ve done to it: turned it into a sandwich! Everyone knows two pieces of French toast are better than one, and the only thing better than two pieces of French toast is two pieces with something sweet sandwiched in between! How about bananas? Then you take the whole thing and cook it on a panini press. The hot grill makes for an irresistibly crispy version of a morning classic, and it creates grooves that collect plenty of butter and maple syrup. You love peanut butter? Consider making a peanut-butter-banana French-toast sandwich. (Peanut butter was my protein staple during both my pregnancies.) The possibilities, girl, are endless. Bread that is a day or two old works best for this recipe, because it holds up better on the grill.

Pat: There was a time after college when my brother Gaelin lived with Momma Daisy, and I think he moved in just so he could enjoy this dessert on a regular basis. I can’t blame him: Momma Daisy’s Banana Pudding is a Neely family favorite. In her recipe, homemade vanilla pudding is layered with sliced bananas and vanilla-wafer cookies (the store-bought kind) and finished with whipped cream, to create a creamy, comforting Southern classic. Once you prepare the pudding, it can be layered with the other ingredients and chilled for up to 4 hours in advance. Then all you need to do is garnish it with the whipped cream and crumbled wafers just before serving. We like to use fresh whipped cream, but Momma Daisy used a store bought “French vanilla” whipped topping (you can also use Cool Whip).

We love the dark, rich flavors of the classic dessert bananas Foster. One time when we had an overabundance of bananas we decided that creating a bread featuring these flavors would be ideal. We used muscovado sugar, an intensely flavored sweetener, to help mimic the caramelized notes of the original dish. We combined baking powder and baking soda to maximize our leavening and ensure a light, tender bread. It’s darned good all on its own, but we’ve also used it for French toast and bread pudding with fabulous results. Leftover bread can be toasted or grilled and slathered with butter for an excellent breakfast or snack.

For this delicately scented fruit salad, have a mix of fruit chosen from three or four of the following: peaches, nectarines, apricots, bananas, plums, grapes, apples, pears, strawberries, mangoes, melon, pineapple, dates, pomegranate seeds.

Making parfaits is easy, and they are such a healthful, elegant dessert or snack. Make sure to use lush, ripe fruit and a good, creamy low-fat yogurt. I prefer vanilla, but if you’d like, experiment with lemon- or orange-flavored yogurts. I also like to use two different fruits for the visual appeal, but if you’d like to stick with one, that works as well. Try your own fruit combinations in addition to the ones given here.

I don’t know a man, woman, or child who doesn’t love a fluffy stack of pancakes. You can substitute anything for the pecans and the banana: strawberry and almond, blueberry and orange, honey and ricotta.

Cooked bananas are a relative rarity, the New Orleans classic Bananas Foster being one exception. The caramel sauce is simple to make by just boiling the sugar and the sauce can be made hours in advance. The bananas are best served hot from the oven. If macadamia nuts are a bit rich for you, just leave them out, although they are a great embellishment.

Whenever bananas get a bit too ripe, I bake banana nut bread and keep a few loaves in the freezer. Whole wheat flour enhances the nuttiness of the loaves. Baking time in the convection oven is reduced by 10 to 15 minutes for either size loaf.

THE GOODS Boasting 36 percent of your RDA for potassium, this fruity, chocolaty breakfast blend is a big-time bloat buster with only 276 calories per serving.

Adapted from The Daily Scoop, Barrington, RI You'll be hard pressed to find two foods creamier than ripe, sweet bananas and peanut butter; when they're combined in this ice cream it's sensational.

Chef Dale Van Sky's healthful version of the classic cuts out butter and adds fruit for a sweet, crunchy start to the morning (or afternoon, if that's more your style).

Keep in mind that these waffles will cook a little bit faster than a flour waffle because of the honey in the batter. If you don't have a waffle iron, try using the batter for pancakes.

Cajeta is a goat's-milk caramel popular in Mexico where it's made into candies or drizzled over ice cream and other desserts. The word cajeta is Spanish for "small box," named for the containers the caramel was traditionally packed in.
Making your own cajeta is worth the extra bit of work, but you can also buy it or substitute its South American cousin, dulce de leche.