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Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Bites

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , on December 9, 2013| Leave a Comment »

This recipe is a huge cop out. Like, I don’t even know if it’s considered a recipe. But here we go.

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As I mentioned last week, I’ve been in a HUGE food funk. These overnight oats are what I have for breakfast, followed by some sort of toast with hummus for lunch and leftovers for dinner. I’m just not feeling food. It’s too hot here! Add to that the fact that the kids are now on summer break so I no longer have all afternoon to myself and there goes my cooking time! I did try to make some M&M cookies last week with the kids. The M&Ms weren’t vegan but I had leftovers from when I was making cookies for the kids’ teachers. The results were these colorful, flat-as-crepes cookies. Yeah…one of the kids put 1 1/2 c. of flour in instead of 2 1/2 c. of flour. Whoops.

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So basically, my cooking time slot has been narrowed down to the 30 minute reading time I force upon the kids each day. Well, it’s supposed to be 30 minutes but after taking out the 10 minutes I spend telling them to “focus” and “stop talking” and “stop making faces at each other” and “stop kicking each other!” and “Oh my gosh if I have to tell you one more time to read your book…!”, it’s usually only about 20 minutes. That’s why this recipe is perfect. It takes about 10 minutes to prepare, you pop them in the freezer and the result is a little bite sized cold, chocolately/salty treat that you can grab in between activities. It’s hot here so they are perfect as an alternative to bites of ice cream. As for those in colder weather, they may be a healthier alternative to munching on holiday cookies?

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Either way, I thought these were a great little treat for myself but silly me, I made them in full view of all three kids. Which means I had to share. And they loved them. Which means they didn’t last nearly as long as I thought they would.  I don’t know if that is a good thing because they were clearly tasty or a bad because now I have to use my precious 30 20 minutes of free time to make a much larger batch tomorrow.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Bites
from Nom! Nom! Nom! Blog
serves 1-2, but can easily be doubled

1 banana

1/8 c. of peanut butter, approximately

1/2 cup of vegan chocolate chips

Line a baking sheet with wax or parchment paper and set aside.

Cut your banana so you have round discs that are about 1/2″ thick. Top the discs with peanut butter.

Melt your vegan chocolate in the microwave or on the stove with a double burner. I prefer the double burner method but whatever you find easiest. If your chocolate isn’t melting smoothly, add a little bit of shortening. Once your chocolate is melted, remove from heat. Dunk your banana into the chocolate. I found the easiest way to be with a fork. Pierce the side of the banana with the fork, then dunk it into chocolate. Use another fork to slide the chocolate-covered banana off the first fork and onto the wax paper.

Freeze until the chocolate hardens. Remove from wax paper and place in a baggy or container and return to the freezer.

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I feel like the directions for this are really wordy. It could also read “Cut banana. Put PB on top. Dunk in Chocolate. Freeze.” 3 ingredients, 10 word instructions, and we’re done!

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Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go secretly make another batch of these and hide them where the kids can’t find them. Why can’t they just be satisfied with messed up, flat M&M cookies? Sheesh!

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Banana Muffin Smoothie

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , on June 14, 2012| Leave a Comment »

I think I’m in denial that summer is here. It’s pretty easy to do since it hasn’t gotten above 70 here in Boston for a few weeks and I spend most of my time in a freezing cold office building.

Also, my apartment has no AC and I get burnt when I just look at the sun. Going to the beach usually results in sunburn lines that you can see well into January and February…no matter how much sunscreen I put on. So most of the time I just like to pretend summer doesn’t exist.

I realized earlier in the week, though, that I must have been in denial about summer for the past two years because I seriously have no summer clothes. I have 1 pair of jeans I turned into shorts, 1 sun dress and a pair of studded gladiator sandals that I’m not even sure are still in style. Anyone? Am I safe to wear those? Or will the fashion police come and arrest me?

One thing I have fully embraced regarding the warmer weather though is smoothies. I love smoothies in the summer! They are light, fruity and cold and are seriously, the perfect start to my work day.

This one will give you the satisfacation of eating a baked good BUT is way better for you. Which is awesome when you need to fit into your summer shorts and tank tops…which clearly I don’t have to worry about cause I’ll be wearing my sundress/jeacut-off jeans/outdated sandals look all summer. Chic, I know!

Ingredients
slightly modifued from Healthfulpursuits.com

  • 1 cup unsweetened almond milk + 1/4 cup for blending
  • 1 frozen banana
  • 3 tbsp uncontaminated regular oats
  • 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 2 tbsp raw walnuts or pecans
  • pinch of ground cinnamon
  • Optional toppings: coconut, raisins, walnuts, or chocolate chips
  1. Night before: combine all ingredients [but the frozen banana and 1/4 cup almond milk] in a glass or plastic container. Stir to combine and place in fridge.
  2. Morning: pour contents of container into blender, add banana and additional almond milk, blend until smooth.

Makes 2 cups

So far, in my brief look online for summer clothes, I’ve put 3 pairs of shoes on my shopping list, one of which is a pair of black flip flops with studs on them to replace my gladiators. Whew! I thought for a second I would have to function in the summer without a proper pair of studded sandals!

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Avocado chocolate chip cookies

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , , on March 7, 2012| 1 Comment »

Bonjour, my friends. Sorry I didn’t post the last few days to get this week started off right- I’ve been sick and in a crappy mood. Also, I messed up two recipes in an attempt to get something up here for Tuesday and alas, both of them were failures. I took this as a sign from the powers that be:

sick=bed rest, not cooking.

Anyway, so now some food for you! I have been obsessed with avocados since my little adventure into the world of avocado cupcakes. They were seriously the best cupcakes I’ve ever made. My friend, John, is leaving BN and I’m going to send him off on his next adventure with a batch of those. Cause seriously? You couldn’t start the next phase of your life with a better cupcake.

So, since I had such luck with avocados in cupcakes I thought …why not with cookies?? Result, a pretty damn good cookie if I do say so myself!! Not as epic as the cupcake but still delicious

Avocado Chocolate Chip Cookies
from What Runs Lori

Makes about small 28 cookies

  • 1 cup coconut flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • 2 ripe bananas
  • 1/4 ripe avocado (about 1/4 cup)
  • 1 cup almond milk (to bring out the coconut flavor, use coconut milk)
  • 4 tbsp honey (agave nectar or maple syrup would also work. I ran out of honey so I used 2 TBSP honey, and 2 TBSP maple syrup)
  • 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 “eggs” (I used Ener-G egg replacers)
  • 1/4 cup shredded coconut
  • 2/3 cup vegan chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium bowl, combine all dry ingredients, coconut through salt.

In another larger bowl, add in the remaining ingredients, mashing the banana and avocado with a fork. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing well. Make sure to work out any clumps of coconut flour.

Spoon out about 2 tablespoons of dough and form into a ball, placing it on a parchment lined baking sheet. Continue this process until you’ve created all of your round cookies.

Bake cookies for 20 minutes, or until golden browned.

These cookies are delicious but different. They have a consistency that is closer to cake then the chewy, chocolate cookies that I normally like and they aren’t quite so sweet. This works for me, though. The chocolate makes it feel like a snack but I’m not sent on a sugar high.

I kind of love these adorable little cookies of deliciousness. And I kind of want to make another batch but am afraid of burning them with my streak of bad cooking luck.

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“Be Mine” Fruit Smoothie

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , , , , on February 10, 2012| 2 Comments »

Ugh, I know, I know! Valentine’s day is next week. I know because every. single. frickin’. store has Valentine’s Day displays. It’s maddening! But I’ll buy in and share some valentines recipes with you…

So chances are, next week you are going to be either:

a. having a romantic evening with your significant other that may or may not involve a large meal and/or skimpy outfits

or b. having a romantic evening by yourself that may or may not involve a large box of dark (hopefully vegan!) chocolates,  your over sized pajamas, and The Notebook.

Either way though, whether your shoveling chocolate into your mouth alone or pasta into your mouth in the company of another, you should quite possibly go easy with the calories this weekend. It will make you fell less guilty when you have to slip into your lingerie/ move on from the chocolates to the icecream, depending on your situation.

This smoothie would be perfect for breakfast or a meal replacement. It’s packed with fruit and contains yogurt and flax seed to help fill you up. As a bonus, it’s a fun pink color, naturally, so you don’t have to resort to food coloring.

“Be Mine” Fruit Smoothie
inspired by Edible Perspective

  • one 6 oz container fo So Delicious Coconut Yogurt, vanilla flavored (or your fav. non-dairy yogurt)
  • 1/4 c. orange juice
  • 1 blood orange
  • handful of strawberries, frozen (I used about 8)
  • 1/2 banana, frozen*
  • 1TBSP flaxseed
  • 3-4 icecubes

Combine all the ingredients in a blender and process until completely combined.

* I only added 1/2 the banana because with all the Green Monstahs I’ve had, I was kind of banana-ed out. But feel free to add a whole if you like the taste. It will thicken the smoothie up a bit.

This smoothie is a temporary replacement for the Green Monstah smoothie I’ve been consuming almost non-stop lately. I’m actually getting really sick of it. Thursday morning I could only drink about half before I just couldn’t stand the idea of taking one more sip. Clearly, it was time for a change! It doesn’t have quite the same nutritional punch as the Green Monstah but it’s refreshing enough to start your day off with!

Here’s hoping you spend your Valentine’s with someone other than your Teddy Bear and Noah Ryan Gosling.

 

uhhhhh…on second thought…

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Bringing in the New Year with a Green Monstah!

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , , , on January 3, 2012| 2 Comments »

Happy 2012, everyone! I hope you had a safe and happy New Years. I kept things chill. I had dinner with a friend and then we dragged our butts to The Common. We attempted to watch the fireworks but had a meh view. But it was a good evening. I knew I didn’t want to start 2012 with a hang over- I wanted to be productive and start the year on a positive note- so we kept the drinks to a minimum. It was a perfect mix of celebratory and low key.

Now that the new year is here, I’m sure we are all sick of seeing chocolates and sweets everywhere. I know that I am! My body started to revolt against all the junk food the week before Christmas. I just couldn’t take it anymore! Everywhere I went there was sugary confections and big bowls of comfort food. I need something green and healthy, which is why this Green Monster Smoothie (or Green Monstah Smoothie, as we Bostonians call it!) is perfect for your post-holiday, new years-resolution diets.

Green Monstah Smoothies

from Oh She Glows

1 cup  almond milk
1 TBSP ground flax seed
1 TBSP nut butter (I used peanut butter)
2 handfuls of baby spinach
1 banana, frozen
3-4 ice cubes

Add all ingredients to a blender in that order and blend until smooth. Consume and feel awesome!

I’m not even exaggerating when I say that this smoothly will make you feel great and full of energy. The week of Christmas, when I was working at my retail job after a full 8+ hours at my regular job, I had about 15 minutes to myself from when I arrived home to when I had to leave for my second job. I would make this and drink it in the car. It gave me so much energy that it was actually a problem one night when I was working behind the cash register and didn’t have any customers. I was dancing around my co-worker, John, because I couldn’t stand still. He kept giving me weird looks.  “It’s this awesome Green Monstah smoothie I made!!!” I said . “Did it have crack in it”, he asked. In fact, it does not! But it will help you shed that sluggish, junk food haze and help give you energy for all those New Years Resolutions. Yeah!

Speaking of resolutions, here are mine. I decided to put them on the back of my door so I can check in and see how I’m doing every once in a while.

Do you like number 5? That one comes courtesy of my friend, Haley. We have a $10 bet riding on that one so I definitely have to keep it! lol!

I’m pumped for 2012. I think its going to be great! What are some of your resolutions? You know, besides eat more vegan meals 😉

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