People often tell me they want to be healthy, but can’t seem make the leap to clean eating. Here are some of the most common lines that I hear:

• I don’t know what to make
• I don’t have time – preparing healthy food takes too long
• Healthy food never tastes as good

Are you guilty of dropping any of these excuses? I know I was, before I began experimenting with creating my own takes on traditionally unhealthy recipes. It took some time to adjust, but now I actually find it fun to come up with new recipes and get creative in the kitchen…which is how I ended up with one of my current favorite breakfasts – the Breakfast Banana Split!!

This is an extremely simple and customizable recipe that will crush all of these reasons!! The version I made packs a triple macro punch: healthy carbs from nutritious fruit, high-protein greek Yogurt, and healthy fats from almond butter.

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Add some zing to your usual morning routine with this dish that looks and feels fancy and will energize you for the day ahead. I mean seriously, what more could you want?!

Breakfast Banana Split:

• 1 banana (sliced in two the long way, as you would in a banana split)
• 1 cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt (Vegan version: sub almond/coconut yogurt or cashew cream)
• Toppings:
• Honey, maple syrup, agave nectar, coconut nectar (for added sweetness)
• Fresh, frozen, or dried fruit (unsweetened)
• Nuts or nut butters (almond, cashew, peanut)
• Cacao nibs
• Unsweetened coconut flakes
• Seeds (chia, ground flax, hemp, sunflower, pumpkin)
• Granola (watch the sugar!)

The possibilities are endless…get creative!

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Directions:

• Place the sliced banana on the sides of your serving dish and scoop the Greek yogurt in between
• Add your desired toppings and voila! So. Easy.

Here are some fun flavor ideas!

• (Pictured above) Frozen mixed berries, drizzled with almond butter…simple but delicious!
• Peanut butter, honey, and chia seeds
• Pear, cinnamon, and walnuts
• Orange, mint, cacao nibs, and pistachios
• Mango, avocado, and hemp seeds
• Pineapple, toasted unsweetened coconut flakes, and hazelnuts
• Dried chili mango and cashews (sounds crazy, but the spicy-sweet combo is on point!)

Tips/Notes:

• Want to turn this into a clean dessert? Throw a couple of frozen chopped bananas into a good blender (a powerful blender is key!) and blend until it becomes the consistency of ice cream and scoop that in between your sliced bananas instead of the yogurt. That’s some major bananaception right there. I recommend topping with fresh pineapple, strawberries, and cacao nibs for the full banana split experience!

It only takes talking to Malvika for a few minutes to find out just how much she loves dance. By day she works in Business Intelligence, but spends every other waking moment dancing or thinking about dance. She has trained in Bharatanatyam, a classical dance form of South India, since the age of 4 and has gone on to expand her dance repertoire to Bhangra, Raas/Garba, Bollywood, and pretty much anything that involves smiling and moving. Through BollyX, Malvika has not only discovered a way to share her love for South Asian dance, but has also developed a newfound passion for nutrition and healthy living and hopes to share this through her blog at www.dancingchai.wordpress.com!