plant-based eats and treats
Sometimes I think I could live off of potatoes and bananas and things to dip them in. Seriously. I eat both pretty much every day and never tire of them. The best.
One of my favorite ways to eat bananas is sliced up, topped with cinnamon, hemp hearts, oodles of nut butter, and/or granola. My sister coined this creation “banachos” and the name just stuck (at least in our circle).
This is less of a recipe and more of an idea. I want you to make banachos with whatever you like to eat bananas with.
This title of this recipe should come as no surprise to those who know me. I love bananas. I love oatmeal. Boom: it’s a Banana Bread Oatmeal Bake for One. YUM.
Prep Time: 2 minutes
Bake Time: 18-25 minutes
Level: easy
serves one, easily doubled
Ingredients:
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 F. In a small bowl, combine oats, oat flour, baking soda, and cinnamon. Mix.
2. Cut banana in half. Mash half of the banana and add to the bowl. Add nut butter or coconut oil and non-dairy liquid. Mix well.
3. Transfer to an oven-safe ramekin or dish. Slice remaining half of banana on top of oatmeal mixture. Place in the oven for 18-25 minutes, until fluffy, browned, and liquid has all absorbed. Serve with almond or other non-diary milk, non-dairy yogurt, and syrup or honey as desired.
Another easy-peasy recipe for your enjoyment! Allow me to introduce you to these lovely Banana Muffins with a Peanut Butter Crumb Topping! Kind of a fun spin on classic crumb muffins but super easy, quick and nutritious, all made with things you most likely have around your kitchen. I wrote this recipe for Spoon University in a partnership with JC Penny, to help demonstrate great ways to use this blender for college students. Thus, this recipe is minimal ingredients, minimal prep, and still super duper delicious. The muffins themselves have no added sugar or oil, as bananas and peanut butter add plenty of natural sweetness and tenderness. The crumb topping has a little bit of sugar, but that never hurt no body. Other than that these are 100% whole grain, vegan, and legitimately tasty.
I actually totally did use the blender to make these muffins and I must say – that thing is nice! It can do anything a blender could ~ and more ! It could easily be used for smoothies and even has to-go cups/lids, and can also function as a food processor and slice, dice, and grind! It even came with shaker top lids for things like cheese and breadcrumbs. How nifty! Check out the original post here, and/or make the muffins from the recipe below.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Servings: 8 muffins
Ingredients – Muffins:
2 1/2 cups rolled oats
2 very ripe bananas
1/4 cup peanut butter or other nut butter
3/4 cup almond milk or milk
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
dash salt
optional: 1/2 cup nuts or chocolate chips
Ingredients – Crumb Topping:
1/2 cups rolled oats
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup sugar
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Place 1 1/2 cups rolled oats into blender and blend on high until a fine powder forms. This is your oatflour. Place oatflour in a bowl and add remaining 1 cup rolled oats. Add baking soda and salt. Mix well with a spoon.
3. Peel bananas, break into pieces, and place the pieces into blender, along with peanut butter and almond milk. Blend on high speed until liquified. Remove from blender, pour into bowl of dry ingredients, and mix gently. Add in nuts and/or chocolate if desired.
4. Pour batter into a lined or lightly greased muffin tray, filling each muffin cup about 3/4 of the way full.
5. Assemble crumb topping in a small bowl by combining the 1/2 cup oats, 1/3 cup peanut butter, and 1/4 cup sugar. Mix with a fork or form crumbs with fingers.
6. Sprinkle crumb topping on top of each muffin and place in the oven. Bake for 30 minutes or until lightly brown and fragrant and a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin is clean upon removal. Enjoy!
So. How do you explain this situation: you are standing outside at 6:55am wearing an oversized NYU hoodie and periwinkle blue leggings, accented by mismatched socks peeping through 6-year-old Birkenstocks, with a plate full of breakfast cookies before you, and your giant camera, simultaneously eating the cookies while taking pictures of them, when suddenly the lawn service guy who is roughly your age comes around with a weed whacker and scares the daylights out of you???
Answer: you don’t. You do not even try to explain the situation. You and your camera, dangling from your neck, run back inside and feel super awkward. Then you realize 2 minutes later you don’t care and go back outside and continue taking photos in peace, totally ignoring the weed whacking going on within your 4 foot radius. You finish the cookies and you head back inside, settling upon the fact that there is no quality explanation of this behavior, and that life is going to go on as usual because you have delicious breakfast cookies to eat.
COOKIES FIX EVERYTHING! And these babies are simply scrumptious. It’s no secret that I’m crazy about oatmeal (in fact, my first EVER food-related article was written about a restaurant called OatMeals in NYC) and it’s also no secret that I love cookies. Lastly, it’s kind of fun for me to make baked goods that are normally not-so-nutrious good for you. Like these. Packed with whole grains and fiber, the cookies are great on their own or enhanced with a yogurt-based ganache (easily made vegan or not)- which is honestly as creamy and thick and rich and delicious tasting as any frosting you come across without being so nasty. The cocoa powder adds thickness and chocolatelyness because that’s what cocoa powder does. #foodsciencelessonoftheday
Overall, these babies make for a satisfying breakfast, snack, or even dessert. They are nice and chewy. And also hearty with chunks of nuts. And sweet, but not too sweet. All things, I personally, look for when I’m in the mood for a specifically healthy-but-sweet-tasting-chewy craving. But most importantly, Millie approves. She even got a lil fiesty begging for these. Look at that sass. She just loves food. So do I. Sometimes, I swear we’re actually related. #family
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Bake Time: 10-12 minutes
Level: Easy
Ingredients:
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Meanwhile, place dates in a bowl of water and allow to soften for about 10 minutes.
2. Take one cup rolled oats and whirl in a food processor until a fine powder forms. This is your oat flour. Empty it from the food processor and set aside in a large mixing bowl. Add remaining 1 cup rolled oats.
3. Place softened dates into the food processor along with the mashed, ripe banana and 1/4 cup of the almonds into the food processor. Blend until a play-dough like paste forms. Remove from the food processor and add to the large mixing bowl with oat mixtures.
4. Add cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt to the large mixing bowl. Mix all until well combined.
5. Chop remaining 1/4 cup almonds and 1/4 cup dried cherries and add to the bowl. Mix again.
6. Scoop golf-ball sized balls of cookie dough from the bowl onto a nonstick baking sheet. Press the cookies down slightly with your palm to flatten a bit, and bake for about 10-12 minutes, until the oats begin to brown.
7. Remove cookies from baking sheets and allow to cool completely. While the cookies are cooling, assemble the ganache: mix yogurt, cocoa powder, and sugar to taste in a small bowl. You can play with the amounts of chocolate and sugar you use in the ganache. The more cocoa powder you add, the thicker it will be. You can also make the ganache as sweet as you desire by adding more cocoa powder.
8. Using a knife, spread 3 tablespoons of the ganache on each cookie. Eat cookie. Or assemble two cookies with some ganache into a nice little healthy cookie sandwich. Or you can dip the cookies straight into a bowl of ganache, basically using the cookie as a vessel for the ganache (it’s really thick and tasty!). The possibilities are endless and delicious! Enjoy.
