Banana Bread Muffins

Well hello there! Greetings from the fresh new blog! You'll notice things are looking nice and fresh and a little different around here. This new site has been a long time coming. The new site design and everything including the logo design was done by myself. Oy, it was a lot of work but so worth it! I hope you're loving it as much as I am. I especially love that the site is now mobile friendly.

Stay tuned for more updates coming!

But for now. Muffins.

These super addictive gluten-free muffins are nothing like ordinary muffins. They may look like a regular muffin made with sugar and nutrition-less white flour, but they're not.

If you like banana bread, you're going to love these.

These are pretty special in that always fluffy, always moist, and always make the house smell good way. These are one of those recipes that I make time and time again. They are everything I want in a banana muffin.

In addition to having no added sugar, they are made healthier with oat flour (I only use gluten-free oat flour in these and no other flour), unsweetened applesauce, and plain non-fat greek yogurt. To sweeten I use powdered stevia.

These muffins are perfect for either a quick and easy breakfast or mid afternoon/ nighttime snack with a cup of tea.

For 1 muffin you get 131 calories, 18g carbs (out of which 3.8g is fibre), 3.7g protein, and 5.2g fat.

Everyone in my house is going GAGA for these banana muffins. They're so soft and delicious!!! It's hard to believe they're good for you. But enough yada yada from me. Here's the recipe...

Banana Bread Muffins

(makes 12 muffins)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups (180g) oat flour
• 1-2 tsp liquid stevia drops or 18 packets of powdered stevia (I used Sweet Leaf packets)
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 3 ripe bananas, mashed (about 330g)
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup plain non-fat greek yogurt
• 3 tbsp (45g) unsalted butter, melted
• 3 tbsp unsweetened applesauce

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F. Grease a muffin tin or line with paper liners. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, stevia, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, combine the mashed banana, eggs, vanilla, yogurt, butter, and applesauce. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir everything together with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon until just combined. Avoid over-mixing, which will produce tough, dense muffins.
3. Spoon batter into prepared muffin tins, filling all the way to the top.
4. Bake until the muffins are lightly golden brown on top and when a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean; about 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven and place pan on a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. Store muffins at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 5 days. Muffins freeze well, up to 3 months.

Nutrition Facts

For one muffins: 131 calories, 5.2 grams of fat, 2.3g saturated fat, 17.9 grams of carbs, 3.8g fibre , 4.7g sugar, 186.2mg sodium, 3.7 grams of protein

Cookie Dough Protein Smoothie

I have a few recipe "blogging rules" that I always try to follow: 

1. If I feel like a recipe isn't good enough, it doesn't go on the blog. I've become very true to this especially over the last year or so. This also means that if I don't ever see myself making something again I won't post it.
   
    
2. If I think my photos just aren't good enough I will go back to the drawing board and re-shoot them. This can drive me a bit crazy sometimes, but it's totally worth it in the end when you are satisfied with the final product. After all it's a bit like art.

Anyway, after multiple sips, I knew that this one was going up on the blog. There was no second guessing it tasted that good.

Having said that, I find smoothies always seem like their so easy to make. Throw some things into the blender, whaz it up, and you're done. But sometimes they come out tasting just plain nasty...chalky texture and all. Smoothie making can certainly be an art form.

That's where this vegan protein shake comes in. Cookie dough in smoothie form...what could be better?

Instead of using protein powder, which can give your smoothie that chalky texture and taste, I added these protein-packed ingredients:

• Cashew Butter
• Raw Hemp Seeds
• Almond Milk

This smoothie is also flavoured with cocoa powder and a drizzle of maple syrup. The cashew butter really helps give it that cookie dough batter-like taste, but other nut butters will work too.

Banana goes in for a little extra thickness, but it's definitely not overpowering if you hate bananas.

To top it off we have dark chocolate shavings. And in case you're wondering, yes, this smoothie is totally breakfastable (I'm pretty sure I just made that word up). It's incredibly thick, filling and boasts 17 grams of protein. You can split it into 2 servings if you like with something on the side or finish the whole thing off yourself. Enjoy the boost of protein and omega-3's that hemp seeds provide. They also reduce inflammation in the body and help balance hormones.

So blend it all up and what do we have?

Breakfast.

Cookie Dough Protein Smoothie

by Jennifer Trennum

Keywords: blender breakfast beverage lunch smoothie snack dairy-free gluten-free low-sodium protein soy-free sugar-free vegan banana chocolate hemp seeds cashew butter

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Ingredients (yields 16oz)

• 1 cup unsweetended almond milk (or other preferred milk)
• 1/3 cup gluten-free rolled oats
• 1 medium frozen banana
• 1 tbsp cashew butter
• 2 tbsp hemp seeds
• 1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp pure maple syrup
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 2-4 ice cubes
• Chocolate shavings (optional)

Instructions

In a small bowl, mix the oats and almond milk. Place in fridge and let it soak for at least 2 hours to soften and thicken. This prevents the oats from giving the smoothie a gritty texture.

Place thickened oat mixture into your blender along with the rest of the ingredients (except for the chocolate shavings). Blend on high until smooth.

Pour into a tall glass, top with chocolate shavings if desired. Serve and enjoy!

Notes

For the entire 16oz portion, this smoothie comes in at approx. 425 calories and 17 grams protein. It's also a rich source of omega 3's, and Calcium. Feel free to split this into 2 servings to make it snack-sized.

Feel free to sub the cashew butter with other nut butters.

Happy Weekend!!!