Banana Almond Muffins

Clearly there's too many bananas in my house... I think I need a banana intervention. But they make everything taste so good! Today I have an awesome banana honey almond muffin recipe. These are healthy, yummy, and perfect for an on-the-go snack. For an autumn twist, you could probably add pumpkin puree instead of banana and pecans instead of almonds. Obviously, I can't vouch for this flavor, as I haven't tried it. Next time I'm at the grocery store, I'll pick up some pumpkin and try it out! On to the recipe...

Ingredients
3/4 cup wheat bran
2 scoops your choice of protein powder
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup almond milk
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp honey (or more, depending on your sweet tooth, or in my case, lack thereof!)
2 tbsp chopped almonds
2 tbsp almond meal/flour
1 packet stevia
1/2 dropper liquid vanilla flavored stevia
1/2 tsp baking powder
3 bananas, lightly mashed (about 1.5 cups)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly mix all ingredients together. Muffins tend to get gummy, or dense if the batter is over-mixed, so make sure not to. Disperse evenly amongst 12 greased or lined muffin tins. Bake for around 25-30 minutes.

Question of the day: What's your favourite flavor?
I would have to say cake batter! I cannot get enough. 2 of my favourite cake batter recipes are Chocolate Covered Katie's "Cake Batter Energy Bars" and her "Cake Batter Milkshake". They are so yummy! 

Picture Courtesy of Chocolate Covered Katie

That's all for today! Hope you guys like this recipe. Let me know in the comments what you think. Also, if you have any questions, shoot them my way! Enjoy your long weekend :)

Grandma's Banana Bread: Healthified

Warm banana bread, fresh out of the oven. Soft centre, crispy outside... Could it get any better? Oh yes it can! This is my version of Grandma's banana bread & it's completely guilt-free. Not to mention delicious! The resident banana bread monster My little brother ate six pieces. Yes, the same brother mentioned here. Again, I conveniently forgot to mention this was healthy... Until he scarfed down the aforementioned 6 pieces. He didn't believe me. Neither did my mum. Nor my dad. I really want to curl up with tea and this banana bread in front of the fireplace. Unfortunately, I can't do that. Because there is no more banana bread left. I guess I'll just have to make some more. Oh, and yes, I just started a sentence with "because". See what two and a half months away from school does to me?

Ingredients 

2 1/4 cups flour (I used whole wheat)

2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup coconut sugar 

1/3 cup maple syrup

2 flax eggs (soak 2 tbsp flax in 6 tbsp water for 2 minutes. Equivalent to 2 eggs)

1/2 cup Earth Balance or similar "butter"

1 tsp vanilla

3 bananas, mashed

2 tbsp water

Preheat oven to 350°F. Cream together "butter", sugar, maple syrup & flax eggs. Slowly add dry ingredients to mixture & stir to incorporate. Pour into a loaf pan (or you can do muffins) and place in the oven for 45-60 minutes (if making muffins, decrease bake time to around 18-20 minutes). Enjoy!

Question of the day: What's your favourite food?

Mine would probably be peanut butter or cashew butter. They are both addicting. And cashew butter makes stuff taste like cake batter. Yes, you heard me, cake batter. And you can't go wrong with peanut butter. But only the all natural kind. I really don't like the taste of Kraft. It tastes so fake! Peanut butter snob :)

  

YUM!

Hope you like this recipe as much as my family & I did! Let me know in the comments if you make the recipe or have any additions/changes.

Best Healthy/Vegan Peanut Butter Carob Chip Cookies

These. Are. Incredible... And I'm not just being bias. My little brother (who HATES healthy food) ate 4 of these. Four. I didn't tell him they were sugarless though. That's just between me and you :) When no one believed that these were healthy, I knew we had a game-winner on our hands. She shoots, she scores! For example: at 2pm, there were 20 of these. By 4pm that same day, there were 6. I'm gonna stop boasting now and just get to the recipe.

Ingredients

1 cup flour 

1 cup oats

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup agave syrup

2 tbsp milk of choice (I used almond)

1 tsp vanilla 

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup carob chips

Preheat oven to 400°F. Stir together all ingredients, starting with dry ingredients & ending with wet. Make sure to put in the carob chips very last. Take a few (or 10, in my case) nibbles, just to make sure it's safe. Form into ball-shapes & place onto cookie sheet. Flatten each cookie with a fork & bake for 8-10 minutes. Let cool for about 10 minutes. Most importantly, enjoy! 

Question of the day: What's your favourite kind of cookie dough? 

Mine was always the Pillsbury chocolate chip cookie dough. You know, the kind that comes already made and all you have to do is bake them? My parents always wondered where the cookie dough went. Upon finding out it was me, they always told me I was going to get worms in my belly, but somehow cookie dough still magically disappeared ;)

That's all for today. Hope you like this recipe, & let me know in the comments below if you have any recipe requests or changes you made to this recipe.  

Vegan Hot Chocolate Oatmeal

I know, I know; another oatmeal recipe. You'll forgive me once you try this one out... It takes exactly like hot chocolate. No joke! It gets better though. Not only are these oats completely guilt-free, but they are also vegan. I would recommend using a high quality cocoa powder, such as Hershey's or Ghirardelli. If you want an even greater resemblance to hot chocolate you could use whip cream (vegan or otherwise). Another recommendation, adding cocoa powder to the whip cream... Chocolate whip cream! I personally haven't tried the above variations, so I can't vouch for the flavor. I can, however, vouch for the flavor of the original oatmeal, which is yum-tastic! Let me know if you try any of the variations & how they taste.

Ingredients

1/3 cup oats

1 1/4 cup liquid (I used 1/2 cup almond milk, 3/4 cup water)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp carob chips 

1 tbsp cocoa powder, unsweetened 

1.5 tbsp water

stevia, or other sweetener to taste (I used 5 packets Krisda stevia) 

In a small saucepan on high heat, combine the first 3 ingredients (oats, liquid & vanilla). While the oats are cooking, combine carob chips, cocoa powder & water in a small bowl. Stir until thick, saucey consistency is reached. Add in half of your chosen sweetener. When oats are cooked (almost all liquid absorbed) pour into a separate, larger bowl. Stir in the chocolate mixture from earlier, and the remaining half of sweetener. Enjoy! 

Variations:
Peanut butter hot chocolate: Add 1 tbsp of peanut butter

Coconut hot chocolate: Add 1-2 tbsp flaked or shredded coconut 

Strawberry hot chocolate: Add 1/2 cup chopped strawberries

Banana hot chocolate: Add 1/2 banana broken into 2 segments. Chop 1 segment into fourths and mash the other.

Fudgey Brownie Bites

Yummm... Like eating a fluffy chocolate cloud. Fudgey, gooey, chocolatey (is that a word? According to spell check it is) brownie bites. Or buttons. Or mini chocolate dreams. Call them what you want, I call them delicious! I'm sure if you omitted some of the liquid, you could make chocolate brownie cupcakes. I'll tackle those another day. For now, I'll stuff- I mean delicately place- these into my mouth!

Ingredients

1 cup flour of choice (I used white whole wheat)

2 tsp baking powder 

15 packets Stevia (I use either SweetLeaf or Krisda brand)

4 tbsp sugar (I used 2 tbsp coconut sugar + 2 tbsp brown sugar)

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3 tbsp oil (I used softened coconut oil)

1 cup preferred liquid (I used 1/2 cup almond milk + 1/2 cup water- you may need more or less, if you find yourself with a thicker/thinner batter)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Pour all ingredients into a bowl (or you can do dry in one bowl, wet in another & pour wet into dry to combine). Stir until a smooth consistency is reached. Place batter into muffin tin & fill about 1/3 full. Cook for 20-25 minutes. They may appear slightly undercooked when you take them out of the oven, but that is what gives you the gooey texture!

Hope you all enjoyed this recipe. Please leave suggestions or recipe requests in the comments... I'm up for turning ANYTHING healthy! (Yes, even Grandma's chocolate chip cookies;)

Today's Brekkie: Gooey Banana Bread Oatmeal

Let's be real here; who in their right mind doesn't like banana bread. I mean really! What's not to like? Besides of course the lengthy cook time. But wait, if you make banana bread oatmeal, who get all the banana flavour in 1/4 of the time. Oh, this isn't an infomercial? Sorry, it's a food blog. Signing off...

Ingredients

1/3 cup oatmeal

1 1/4 cup liquid (I used 1/2 cup almond milk + 3/4 cup water)

1/2 of a ripe or overripe banana, sliced into 2 equal segments

1/4 tsp banana extract

1/4 tsp vanilla extract 

1 tbsp cashew butter

Sweetener, to taste (I used about 3 packets Stevia but you could also use sugar, agave, honey, the possibilities are endless)

Measure out the 1/3 cup oatmeal & 1 1/4 cups liquid and pour into a small saucepan on the second highest heat. Chop up 1 segment of the banana into fourths & mash the other. Place in saucepan. Add the banana & vanilla extracts to the mixture. Cook until creamy texture is reached & almost all liquid is absorbed (it will set up in seconds after removed from the heat). Pour oatmeal into a bowl. Add the cashew butter, as well as the sweetener, & stir to combine. Simple as that!

Hope you all enjoyed this recipe... I sure did! Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Basic, Versatile Buttercream Frosting

I wanted to share my favourite buttercream frosting recipe. It's fluffy, easy, versatile & most importantly, delicious! I'll share, as well, a few of my favourite variations of this recipe. This is a great, classic topping for your favourite cake or cupcake recipe. I wouldn't recommend storing it in the fridge, as the butter will harden the icing. I do, however, strongly recommend storing it in your belly ;)

Ingredients
1 cup soft/room temperature butter
2 cups icing sugar

Cream together butter & icing sugar until a "frosting-like" consistency is reached, about 3 minutes in my KitchenAid stand-up mixer. Time is approximate & may vary depending on brand of mixer, or method used.

Variations
Classic Vanilla Buttercream: Simply add in 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract & mix.

Salted Caramel Buttercream: Stir in 4-5 tablespoons Smuckers Caramel Sauce, along with salt, to taste (I find 1/4 teaspoon suffices, but you may want more or less).

Earl Grey Buttercream: Pour in 2-3 opened earl grey tea bags (depending on desired strength) to the frosting until combined.

Frost your cupcakes/cake as you usually would and enjoy!

Pumpkin Protein Bars

For my very first blog post, I wanted to share my favourite go-to recipe for pumpkin protein bars. My favourite part of these bars is their texture; a dense, spongey cake consistency once cooked. Instead of using flour, my recipe uses protein powder. If you prefer, you can use flour. Just know, that I can't vouch for the results if flour is used, as I haven't tried it that way before. I've tried replacing the pumpkin in this with mashed banana before & it was absolutely delicious! Feel free to use whatever you want if you dislike/don't have/can't find pureed pumpkin. Get creative! Let me know in the comments what your favourite pumpkin replacement is...

Ingredients

*Makes 8 bars

-1 Cup Vanilla Whey Protein Powder

-4 Teaspoons Cinnamon

-1/2 Teaspoon Nutmeg

-1 Teaspoon baking powder

-Pinch Salt

-Stevia, to taste *Optional (depends on your sweet tooth, I prefer it with 3 packets of Krisda stevia)

-3 Egg Whites

-1/2 Cup Almond Milk

-1 Cup Pumpkin Puree

-1 1/2 Teaspoons Vanilla

 

Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine vanilla protein powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, salt & stevia (if using) in a medium size bowl. In a separate bowl (or measuring cup), stir together egg whites & almond milk. Pour egg white/almond milk mixture into dry ingredients. Next, slowly add in pumpkin puree & follow with vanilla. Give the batter a good mix, & transfer into greased/sprayed 8x8 pan. Place the pan in pre-heated oven for 30 minutes.

Serving Size: 1 bar

Servings per recipe: 8

Calories: 70

Total Fat: 1.25g

Sodium: 83.13mg

Total Carbohydrate: 4.25g

Dietary Fiber: 3.35g

Sugars: 0.89g

Protein: 20g