Banana Carrot Muffins

Simple and delicious. Nutritious and filling, these are the perfect little muffin to put in my kids snack bag, or as a quick grab-and-go breakfast. We just had our first week of school here and you know what that means?? Muffin time!! I find muffins to be so convenient during the school year as I can pack them with all kinds of nutritious foods and they come conveniently shaped in a ball that fits in all my kids hands! Making them an ideal food. And whether I choose to make them savory or sweet, I usually find a way to sneak in some veggies in there.

For my little 2nd graders first week I decided to make these simple-in-flavor banana carrot muffins. I made a huge batch and froze about 2 dozen for an easy last minute snack in the weeks to come, ad still had enough to feed all my kids all week.

One big baking batch saves me time in the long run.

I hope you try these and enjoy them as much as we did!

Ingredients:

• 3 cups flour (I mixed teff, rice and coconut)
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4tsp nutmeg, (I would’ve used cinnamon but ran out)
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1 cup packed shredded carrots
• 1 cup packed mashed bananas
• 3/4 maple syrup
• 1 cup milk (I used almond
• 3 TBS ground flax soaked in 6 TBS water (flax “egg”)

Steps:

• preheat oven to 350*F
• soak the flax seeds in water
• In a large bowl combine the first 3 ingredients
• in a blender combine all the other ingredients and blend just enough to mix everything together
• combine dry and wet ingredients
• grease some mini muffin tins with coconut oil and fill them up
• bake for about 10 minutes for mini muffins, and about 18 minutes for larger muffins
• let cool in the pan for about 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack

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Banana Peanut Butter Ice Cream

Bananas.Peanut butter. Chocolate. I mean c’mon. If you love bananas, you can’t go wrong with banana ice cream. SO easy. SO delicious. SO nutritious. SO cheap. And pretty fast to make. One of my very first posts was a banana ice cream. I’ve been making this ice cream for years, and although I have upped my skill in the kitchen and purchased an ice cream maker to make more fancy frozen things, I still love the simple and easy dessert that a frozen banana offers. I am sure most of you reading this have tried a version of the banana ice cream. What is your favorite combo?

Ingredients:

• 4 large frozen bananas
• 3 TBS natural peanut butter (I used crunchy)
• 7 TBS chocolate sauce

Steps:

• if you don’t have any, make chocolate sauce
• in a food processor put all the bananas and blend. You will have to turn off the machine every now and then to scrape down the sides. Eventually it will catch and a beautiful creamy mixture will start forming
• At this point, add the peanut butter and 3 TBS of the chocolate sauce
• resume blending
• spoon into bowls and top with 1 TBS of chocolate sauce. This will harden at the contact of the frozen banana and create a nice crunchy chocolate layer. MMMMMM goodness….

This made just enough for my little family of 5. We all could’ve had a little more 😉

Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies

It’s spring break for my daughter this week, so we get to sleep in, stay in our PJ’s late and take our time with breakfast! I love these kinds of days as the pressure of getting somewhere on time is taken away and we can all just relax and enjoy each other’s company. And what better way to do that than a kitchen activity! I had been wanting to make these cookies since I saw Peanut Butter and Ellie post them. Hers look divine and I wish I would’ve checked out her recipe one more time before making my own as I would have added more PB, but they cam out great and chewy and delicious nonetheless. Her cookies looked soooo easy and delicious and filled with awesome breakfast fuel that I just had to get my hands dirty with the kids and have fun in the kitchen making them!

So I did. The kids and I made these this morning and it was really quick as well as super kid friendly to make. I wouldn’t make these with them on a school day but it’s perfect to kick start our week off 🙂

As you can see they all had a great time mashing all the ingredients together. This is the most fun for kids! They get to squish and mash and play with food and then end up with cookies that mom says it’s okay to eat for breakfast!? Win!!

Ingredients (per bowl, which means I doubled the recipe so that each of my two oldest had their own bowl):

• 1 ripe banana
• 1 cup small oats, regular oats will do fine, i just prefer the small oats for texture
• roughly 1 TBS peanut butter (could’ve used more)
• roughly 1/4 cup raisins (my daughter preferred to use my homemade chocolate chunks)

Steps:

• preheat oven to 350*F
• put all ingredients in a bowl and mash them real good!!
• shape them in which ever form you wish
• bake for about 15 minutes
• devour with a nice cold cup of homemade almond milk

Each bowl made about 8 cookies.

Banana Cream Pie with Chocolate Meringue

Need I say more? Creamy, meringue-y, bananas and chocolate. My husband said this was his favorite of all my pies, which says a lot because I have made countless pies over the years!

It was my son’s 1st birthday on the 20th. I almost made another cake that I have been wanting to perfect the recipe, but when thinking about Jolan, and what he really loves, there was no doubt that it needed to involve bananas. So I put my creation hat on and came up with this delicious creamy goodness.

This pie is raw, vegan, refined sugar free, flour free, but definitely not flavor free!! To my knowledge, and under my supervision, my son hasn’t had sugar yet. And barely any dairy. And to celebrate his 1st year on this wonderful planet, I did not want to introduce him to the white addictive substance. I generally choose to celebrate life, with, well life. And that is what raw food is.

Ingredients for crust:

• 2 cups raw walnuts
• 1 cup raw almonds
• 1 cup dates
• 1/8 cup coconut oil
• dash of salt

Steps:

• put all ingredients in food processor and blend until well combined, but not too much or it will get too sticky and oily. You want it to stick together when pressed down but have the look of clumpy soil when done processing.
• press in the bottom of pie dish, or a 10inch springform pan.
• set in the fridge while making the filling

This recipe makes a lot of filling. Too much for just one 9 inch pie. I made a pie AND 6 “cupcakes”.However,  it is perfect for a 10 inch springform pan.

Ingredients for banana filling:

• 3 cups soaked cashews
• 3/4 cup young coconut meat
• 2 large ripe bananas
• 2 cups almond milk
• 2tsp vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup irish moss paste
• 3/4 cups raw agave
• 1 TBS soy lecithin
• 1/2 cup melted coconut oil

Steps:

• blend 1st 7 ingredients in a high speed blender until smooth
• add the lecithin and coconut oil and blend until well incorporated
• pour into pan or pie dish.
• Set in freezer for a couple hours. If you make it in advance, keep in freezer and pull it out at least an hour before serving. Top with Chocolate meringue before serving and any additional treats. I added caramelized bananas 🙂
• NOTE: this is too much for just one 9 inch pie dish. I made 1 pie and 6 “cupcakes” with all this filling. It is perfect for a 10 inch springform pan.

Ingredients for chocolate meringue:

• 1/4 cup young coconut meat
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 1/4 cup irish moss paste
• 1/4 cup soaked cashews
• 3 TBS agave
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1-2 TBS raw cacao powder
• dash of salt
• 1 tsp soy lecithin
• 1/4 cup coconut oil

Steps:

• blend first 9 ingredients until creamy
• add last 2 and blend well
• store in the fridge until ready to use. Typically let set in the fridge for several hours before using.

Zucchini Banana Muffins

Every week, for 5 days, I send my daughter off to school with a snack and a lunch. That’s a lot of snacks and a lot of lunches, week after week. For that reason, at times I like to make a huge batch of muffins and freeze a bunch so that I can easily grab a snack last minute that will be nutritious and exciting for her. She can get bored of the dried fruit mixes and sliced apples.

This recipe is simple in taste, no processed sugars therefor not overly sweet and, in my opinion, nutritious and healthy so that she can stay full longer and have good fuel for her body. Store bought muffins (or coffee shop muffins), are glorified cupcakes without the frosting. In terms of sugar content, they are pretty much equally high. When made well, muffins can be an easy, quick nutritious breakfast/snack.

The kids loved these, I had to hurry and freeze a few batches before they ate them all. Which to me is a win. Giving them something they love while maintaining my nutritional integrity is important to me.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups flour (I used spelt and buckwheat here)
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• 1.5 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 nutmeg
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup apple sauce
• 1/3 cup coconut oil
• 2 large ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup pitted dates ( I use medjool because they are so decadent and sweet and soft)
• 1 cup almond milk
• 1 tsp liquid vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 F
• In a large bowl mix together first 6 ingredients
• In a food processor combine the rest, except for zucchini
• Add wet mixture to the bowl, add zucchini, mix well
• Oil some muffin tins, fill them up
• Bake for about 10 minutes for mini muffins, probably 20-25 minutes for large muffins
• I made 72 mini muffins with this recipe!!!

Chocolate Soft serve

I love chocolate and I love sweets. I also love having a treat at night once all the kids are in bed 🙂 But I also love my body and my health so I must be choosy of what I put in my body and how often. This one came together because I really wanted something quick and easy and I was really in the mood for soft serve This treat is just that! I think it took me under 3 minutes to put this together. And it hit all the right spots for me: it’s sweet, it’s chocolatey, it’s quick, it’s healthy, it’s creamy, it’s cold. It’s YUM!!!!

Ingredients:

• 1 frozen banana
• 1/4 cup almond milk
• 2 TBS raw cacao powder
• 1 large date (or any other sweetener you have on hand)
• pinch of salt

Steps:

• put all ingredients in blender and blend on high until smooth
• eat immediately!!

This was enough for just one serving. And in all honesty, if I have doubled the recipe, it probably would’ve still only been enough for one serving 😉

Banana Chia Pudding

One of my favorites right here. This recipe was inspired by Amie Sue at Nouveau Raw. If you have not yet discovered her site, she has amazingly beautiful Raw recipes. Amie Sue is everything I do not have the patience to be but wish I was. You can feel the love and attention she puts in her food just by looking at her pictures.

Here is my quick fix version 🙂

Ingredients:

• (this makes about 3 cups, good for several servings)
• 1/4 cup chia seeds
• 1/3 cup small oats
• 2 1/4 cups almond milk
• 1 banana
• 1/4 cup shredded coconut

Toppings Per serving:

• 1 TBS raisins
• 1 TBS sunflower seeds
• 1 TBS almond butter
• 1/2 chopped banana

Steps:

• Blend everything and let sit for at least 30 minutes. It is best when made several hours ahead, but it tastes great eating it shortly after it has been made.
• Put desired amount in a bowl
• Top with toppings and Enjoy!!