Earlier this month, my parents drove down to Southern California to visit my grandma and me for a couple of days. On their first full day, Mom and I decided to drive to Coronado for a late lunch.
We ended up at the Panera I had dined at a few weeks earlier, and after ordering fresh seasonal salads (we’re obsessed with the strawberry poppy seed one!), we snagged a table on the back patio. A short while later, our meals arrived, and we ate them outside while soaking up the beautiful warm spring weather.
After finishing, we walked a few blocks down the road to the beach. Mom had planned ahead and brought a blanket, so we spread it on the sand and watched the waves gently roll in and out, plenty of young children running in and out of them and building castles in the wet sand with their plastic buckets.
Feeling refreshed, we drove back home, visited with Dad and Grandma a bit, and then headed back out again that evening for dinner. Grandma generously treated us to a meal at a cute French-themed restaurant, where we sat outside again and enjoyed lots of delicious and gourmet dishes.
We started with their famous roasted Brussels sprouts, sprinkled with shaved Parmesan and a balsamic reduction. As the main course, I decided on an arugula and pomegranate salad topped with grilled shrimp, and we also ordered two flatbreads for the table, one with pears and cambozola and the other with short ribs and a horseradish cream sauce.
I thoroughly enjoyed every bite of those two restaurant meals, but by the time my parents left town, I ended up with one forlorn and forgotten about, very ripe, almost black banana on my counter from eating out so much. After a minute of thought, I held off tossing it in the trash and decided to turn it into…
These Healthy Small Batch Mini Banana Cupcakes with Strawberry Frosting! They’re supremely moist and tender with lots of naturally sweet banana flavor, and the creamy frosting is the perfect finishing touch.
What makes these cupcakes even better? They contain no eggs, refined flour or sugar! The frosting also has no butter, powdered sugar or food coloring. That gorgeous pink color is all from strawberries! And each little cupcake, including the frosting, is just 41 calories!
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