Over the weekend, as we planned out our meals for the month (we meal planned for the entire month of January…what a relief to have that all done and in place!), we knew we wanted to include some make-ahead breakfast meals for the next month. They needed to be healthy, easy-to-make, and convenient to prepare during busy mornings when we often use fast food or something junky as our crutch. And I wanted to bake something so I could use my pretty bakeware.
Charles made a batch of breakfast burritos we can stick in the microwave on busy mornings. And I made these low-calorie Chocolate Banana breakfast bars (because healthy eating, in my opinion, should still include chocolate!).
They are, of course, easy to make! 🙂 Here’s how to make them, and also a few suggestions for making them even *more* diet-friendly.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups oats
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup chocolate chips (I just cut up a candy bar I had left over from Christmas because I don’t trust myself with an entire bag of chocolate chips!)
1 whisked egg
1 1/4 cups milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 small banana, cut into small pieces
Directions:
Heat the oven to 350. Mix all dry ingredients together (oats, salt, cinnamon, chocolate chips). In a bowl, whisk egg and mix in milk and vanilla. Combine all ingredients together and mix. It will be pretty wet! Gently fold in the banana.
Spray a small casserole dish with cooking spray and pour in mixture.
Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry.
Let cool and cut into 8 squares (or bars).
My non-official (but probably pretty accurate, because I used a calculator) calorie calculation puts these at right around 140 calories apiece.
You could make them even lower-calorie (and more Weight Watchers-friendly) by substituting the chocolate with blueberries and the whole milk with a low-fat milk.
You can wrap them individually so you’ll always have something to eat on-the-go!
You can find all the ingredients you need to make these at Market Street.
Happy shopping and healthy eating! 🙂
These looks delicious. I have all of the ingredients and plan on making them this week!!!
I hope you liked them! They were so easy to make.
These are looking super delicious! I am pinning for later. I am always looking for snacks to eat during the day – Ill have to try to make these 🙂
Trine they were so good!! We ate them allll.
These look amazing! I wonder if steel cut oats would work? Pinning and stumbling…nice and healthy too! Good work! (Send me some bakeware please?!)
I’m not sure if steel cut oats would work or not…? It was pretty easy to make so it wouldn’t hurt to try!
Oh my! This looks so amazing. Pinned and tweeted. Thank you so much for being a part of our party. We really appreciate you! I hope to see you on tonight at 7 pm. Happy Monday! Lou Lou Girls
This may be a silly question, but do these need to be refrigerated?
I don’t think they need to be refrigerated (I thought of them as kind of like banana bread). But…I *did* refrigerate them. I wrapped them individually and stuck them in the fridge because I only ate one or two a day and I wanted them to last.
Ooh lovely thanks – all my fave ingredients!
These look delicious and are perfect for my post-baby-get-healthy regime (in a few short weeks!). Pinning!
Congrats on a new baby! <3
Totally making these for my toddler! I love how easy this recipe is!
It’s SO easy…I hope you like it!
These look great and I agree you should have chocolate on a diet!
Pinning these.
Bev
ALWAYS have chocolate on a diet! 🙂
Thanks for sharing at the Inspiration Spotlight Party. Pinned & shared. Hope to see you again soon.
These look delicious! Thanks so much for sharing your yummy recipe on the Monday Funday Party!
Good flavor and nutritious. Chocolates are awesome to ease away some stress you have.
What would the 21 df container count be per bar?
I haven’t figured it out yet…I need to!
When you say casserole dish do you mean 9×13? How many bars do you get for your calorie count?
@Shannon, Yes. I would like to know the size too. A small casserole dish doesn’t sound like a 9×13. It sounds more like an 8×8. – Pam