Banana Ginger Bread

Initial idea borrowed and altered from: Nutritious Kitchen Gingerbread Cookie Crumble Bread

Ingredients:

1.5 cups white whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1.5 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp salt

2 bananas

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1/4 maple syrup

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup vanilla greek yogurt

1 egg

Topping:

Brown sugar

Cinnamon

Oats

Directions: Preheat oven to 350. Mix dry ingredients in bowl, and in separate bowl whisk wet ingredients included sugar. Mix together the wet and dry ingredients, do not over mix. Pour into greased bread pan and put topping over the top (amount of topping is whatever you want, more sugary or less). Bake 40-45 minutes or until inserted plastic knife or toothpick comes out clean.

Whole Wheat Banana Cookies

Ingredients: 

1/3 cup melted/liquid coconut oil

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoon vanilla

1 large egg

2 large mashed bananas

1 1/4 cups white whole wheat flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 cups rolled oats

Chocolate chips as desired

Directions: Mix up the dry ingredients (minus the oats and chocoalte) and set aside. blend up the wet ingredients and add to the dry, then fold in the oats and chocolate chips. Cook at 375 for 9-11 min. depending on oven. 

Healthy Apple Muffins

Ingredients: 

1 cup whole wheat flour (or white whole wheat flour)

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon allspice

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1/3 cup honey

1/3 cup coconut oil (melted/liquid)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup plain greek yogurt

2 tbsp Orange juice

1 cup peeled and chopped apple
Water as needed

Topping (optional):

Brown sugar

Cinnamon

Directions: Preheat oven to 350. Mix up dry ingredients in one bowl, then beat liquid ingredients in another. Add them together (If batter seems too dry, add water by tablespoon until more of a batter texture, not pourable, but you should be able to scoop with a rubber spatula and have it drop off into the muffin cups) and stir in apple. Pour into greased muffin tin and top with topping mixture. Bake 15-17 minutes. YUM!

Banana Bread

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1½ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. sea salt

2 eggs

2 large ripe bananas

½ cup Greek yogurt

¼ cup maple syrup

¼ cup brown sugar
Dash of cinnamon and/or nutmeg

½ cup mini chocolate chips

Directions:  Preheat your oven to 350ºF grease a bread pan. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in one bowl, and stir. In a different bowl mix up the eggs, banans, greek yogurt, syrup, and brown sugar. Pour the wet into the cry and mix well. Pour into bread pan and cook 40-45 minutes or until toothpick comes out dry. 

Note: I specifically put mini chips because my larger ones ended up sinking to the bottom.

Cake Jars

This isn't so much a recipe as it is an idea.  Use whatever homemade or box cake mix you like!  Pour it in a mason jar, bake it in the oven, and frost with whatever you want.  If you grease them good enough, you can slide them out, cut in half, and put frosting in the middle too.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Courtesy of Savory Sweet Life

(I rolled these in pink sugar for niece's b-day)

Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, softened
• ½ cup sugar
• 1½ cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2¾ cups (12 oz) all-purpose flour *If at all possible, please weigh the flour
• ¾ tsp. smallish-medium coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1½ tsp. baking powder
• 2¼ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions:  Preheat oven to 360 degrees. Cream butter, sugar, and brown sugar until it is nice and fluffy.  Add both eggs and vanilla and beat for an additional 2 minutes. Add baking soda, baking powder, salt, and flour until cookie batter is fully incorporated. Finally add chocolate chips until well distributed. The cookie batter should be somewhat thick. Drop little bits of dough (I like little cookies) or use a medium cookie scoop and plop the batter onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 8-12 minutes until the edges are nice and golden brown. Remove from heat and allow the cookies to stay on the cookie sheet for an additional 2 minutes. Pick up the parchment paper with the cookies still on top and transfer to a cool non-porous surface. Allow the cookies to cool on the paper for at least 3 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

Sunbutter Cookies

I am excited about these because sunflower seeds are a huge source of magnesium, which helps regulate muscle tension and moods, but sunflower seeds get old after a while.  Enter: Sunbutter cookies!

Ingredients:
1 cup Sunbutter
1/2 cup Sugar
1/2 cup oats
1 egg
Dark Chocolate Chips
Sea Salt

Directions:
Stir up all ingredients.  Roll into little balls and bake at 350 for 10 min.  Use fork to smash down and criss cross top.  Sprinkle a little sea salt on hot cookies.

Truffle Popcorn

Courtesy the Nutritious Kitchen!

Ingredients:
9-10 cups popcorn, already made
1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp Nutella
1/4 cup vanilla almond milk
Sea salt to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit.
Combine nutella and almond milk on a skillet over medium heat. Mix until a thick sauce forms together and stir in your sea salt.* Pour nutella mixture over popcorn and toss with a wooden spoon until popcorn is evenly coated.  Spread popcorn out over a parchment lined baking sheet like you would granola. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.

*Make sure its thick, mine was too thin and I added way too much, not good!

(I mixed mine with plain popcorn and dried strawberries!)

Whole Wheat Banana Bread

Courtesy The Nutritious Kitchen!

Ingredients:
1.5 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup oats
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
Sea salt to taste
1/4 cup almond butter (or peanut butter)
1/3 cup Chobani vanilla greek yogurt
3 medium, overripe bananas*
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 egg (or two egg whites)
Extra cinnamon + brown sugar to sprinkle on top (optional)
Optional add ins: chocolate chips, chopped almonds, white chocolate, nutella swirl, peanut butter swirl, pecans, etc.

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. Grease a 9 inch loaf pan and set aside.
Combine flour, oats, cinnamon, sea salt and baking powder in a small bowl.
Whisk your egg and set aside. Mash your bananas in a large bowl until it resembles an applesauce texture. This shouldn't be hard to do if your bananas are overly ripe.
Combine mashed bananas with maple syrup, vanilla greek yogurt, almond butter and egg. Once well combined, stir in your dry ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon.
Once a dough has formed (it will be slightly thick but still have a moisture to it) pour into your greased loaf pan.
Sprinkle optional cinnamon and brown sugar on top then place in the oven for 40-50 minutes. The time depends on how strong your oven is. Test the bread at 40 minutes to see if a fork comes out clean. If not, continue to bake.
Let cool in pan for 10 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack. Bread stays fresh in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. Enjoy!

Greek Yogurt Brownie Cake

Courtesy of The Nutritious Kitchen

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4. Ingredients: 
5. 2 cups all purpose flour
6. 1/4 cup ground flaxseed meal
7. 1 cup cocoa powder
8. 1/2 cup cup raw cane sugar
9. 2 tsp espresso powder (optional)
10. 2 tsp baking powder
11. 1/2 tsp sea salt
12. 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
13. 1/3 cup unsweetened apple sauce
14. 1/3 cup almond oil
15. 1/2 cup maple syrup
16. 1.5 cups vanilla almond milk
17. Optional add in: dark chocolate chips

Frosting

1. 1 cup vanilla Greek yogurt (Chobani)
2. 1 cup whipped light cream cheese (Green Mountain Farms)
3. 2 tsp vanilla bean paste
4. 2 tsp powdered sugar

Chocolate Ganache

1. 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
2. 1/4 cup vanilla almond milk

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350, grease all sides of 2 8 inch round cake pans.
2. Mix together dry ingredients. In a separate bowl whisk wet ingredients until well combined. Pour wet into dry and stir until mixture comes together.Pour the cake mix evenly into two cake pans and bake for about 25 minutes.
3. While the brownie cakes are baking prepare your frosting. With an electric hand mixer, whisk together all the frosting ingredients until combined. Place the frosting in the fridge until cakes are ready to be frosted. This step is really important because it will make it less runny when frosting the brownies.
4. Once the brownies are done let cool for at least 15 minutes before carefully placing onto a cooling rack and let cool for another 15 minutes. To take out of the cake pans carefully knife out the sides and lift up out of the pan.
5. Once they're done cooling frost one of the cakes. Place the other cake on top and frost the top of that one and the sides of the cakes. You will most likely have leftover frosting which can be used to serve on the side!
6. To prepare the chocolate ganache bring the almond milk to a boil. Melt the dark chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl for almost 1 minute. Pour heated almond milk into melted chips and stir until combined and chips are completely melted. Swirl the ganache into your cake before it hardens.

Notes

1. Instead of vanilla bean paste you can also use vanilla extract. Feel free to add in more powdered sugar to the frosting until you reach the sweetness of your preference!
2. The cake can be stored covered at room temperature for up to 4 days and up to a week covered in the fridge.

Banana Bread Quinoa

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup of quinoa
• 1/2 cup low-fat milk (or cream)
• 1 cup water
• 1 1/2 banana (past ripe)
• 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts (optional I hate nuts)
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Cinnamon
• Nutmeg
• Chocolate Chips (optional)

Directions: 

1. Mash the banana in a bowl and set aside. In another bowl, mix the brown sugar and walnuts together.
2. Pour quinoa, creamer (or light cream), milk, water, butter and vanilla into the crock pot. Add the mashed banana and stir to evenly distribute. Sprinkle the sugar and walnut mixture into the quinoa and stir to mix.
3. Cook on low for 4 – 6 hours, or until the quinoa is fully cooked. If you need to, add additional liquid or sugar to the mixture for taste. 
4. Serve warm and garish with slices of banana and chocolate chips!

Peach Cobbler

Ingredients

6 ounces dark brown sugar

3 1/2 ounces rolled oats

4 ounces all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground allspice

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for the cooker

20 ounces frozen peach slices

Directions

Combine the sugar, oats, flour, baking powder, allspice, nutmeg and kosher salt in a large bowl. Add the butter and work into the dry ingredients until a crumbly texture is formed. Fold in the peach slices.

Butter the bottom and sides of a 3-quart cooker. Add the mixture to the slow cooker and cook on low for 3 to 3 1/2 hours. Serve immediately.

Chocolate Bananas

Ingredients:

Bananas
Chocolate chips
Coconut oil
Peanut butter

Directions:

Melt chocolate chips, coconut oil, and peanut butter in pan.  cut up banana for bite size or put in sticks for pops, and coat in chocolate.  Put on wax paper lined pan in freezer.  

Oat Flax Balls

Ingredients:

½ cup (dry) oatmeal
½ cup rice krispies or chex (chex more vitamins)
½ cup chocolate chips
½ cup peanut butter
½ cup ground flaxseed
⅓  cup honey
1 small scoop coconut oil
1 tsp. vanilla


Directions:

Melt chocolate, vanilla, honey, PB, and coconut oil together
pour over bowl of cereal, oats, and flax

roll into balls, roll in powdered sugar, refrigerate to set.  They can be kind of sticky to roll, can turn more into patties, or try just pressing them into a pan and make them into bars.  Really need to refrigerate overnight to set good.