No Sugar Banana Bread

I've been working on cutting out sugar this year, so my baking tools have been collecting dust. Until Friday, that is, when I saw some sad, over-ripe bananas sitting on the kitchen counter, asking to be made into banana bread. I'm not sure why they weren't asking to be frozen for smoothies, but they just weren't.

I'd been wanting to experiment a little with dates, so I figured that this was the perfect time. This recipe is adapted from the Post Punk Kitchen, and the whole family agreed that it turned out great!

No Sugar Banana Bread

Ingredients:
1/2 cup almond milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup pitted dates
1/2 cup Earth Balance
3 very ripe bananas (mashed)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Mix the vinegar into the almond milk, and set aside.

3. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice and salt.

4. Combine almond milk mixture and dates in a blender, and process until smooth.

5. Cream the Earth Balance until smooth, then add the milk/date mixture, bananas and vanilla. Mix until well combined.

6. Add the dry ingredients into the wet, and mix well.

7. Bake at 350 degrees for 60 minutes.

What's for Dinner Wednesday - Breakfast!!!

Last week, we were all craving a comfort food, breakfast-for-dinner kind of meal - plus something simple and fast - so I whipped up a quick tofu scramble and tried out the Brussels Sprout-Potato Hash from Appetite for Reduction.

The result was a totally delicious meal, but I felt guilty about the lack of veggies. Next time, I'll scramble some spinach in with the tofu and roast some asparagus to serve on the side. We don't eat tofu all that often, but this meal will definitely make an appearance again!

Great Green Lemonade

So for the past several months, the Sprouts have met the whole green juice thing with a lukewarm reception. Big Sprout will drink it, but I can tell he's not a huge fan. Little Sprout usually requires me to dangle a big carrot (or, in this case, cocoa-strawberry green smoothie) in order for her to drink it down. But today, I finally make a new recipe that they both loved, thanks in part to my new stevia plant. Sorry there's no picture - they drank it too fast!

Wanna make some green juice goodness your kids will love? Give this one a try:

Great Green Lemonade

Ingredients
1 head of Romaine hearts
2 cups loosely-packed greens (I used turnip greens, but spinach, kale, chard or collards would all work)
2 apples
1 lemon (more if you like it extra lemon-y or your lemons are small)
5 stevia leaves (more if you want it sweeter)

Preparation
Run all ingredients through a juicer. I like the strain my juice through a mesh back (bought in the produce section of Publix) to get out any pulp that makes it through the juicer. Enjoy!

Sprout Ratings
Big Sprout - 5 sprouts
Little Sprout - 5 sprouts
Mama Sprout - 5 sprouts

Sweet on Sunday - GF Banana Nut Pancakes

I'd promised the Sprouts pancakes for breakfast today, but I wanted to try something a little different. Though none of us seem to have issues with gluten, I am looking for ways to utilize other types of grains these days. I've hear of buckwheat being used in pancakes quite a bit, and I've been enjoying the unique flavor that quinoa has brought to the baked goods I've tried it in, so I decided to try out a combo of those two grains.

The result was quite good. They're definitely not the prettiest pancakes I've seen, and they are more dense and moist than light and fluffy, but we all definitely enjoyed them. I decided on a banana-nut variety to balance the quinoa flavor, and I think it worked well. If I'd planned ahead, I would have saved some bananas and pecans to top the pancakes, but I used the last of what I had in the recipe. And speaking of running out of ingredients, I was also out of almond milk so I just blended up three cups of water and 1/4 cup of pecans in the Vitamix before proceeding.

If you're gluten-free or just looking for an occasional wheat alternative, I think you will enjoy them!

GF Banana-Nut Pancakes

Ingredients:

Dry Ingredients

3/4 cup buckwheat

3/4 cup quinoa

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Wet Ingredients

3 cups almond milk

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

2 bananas

8 pitted dates

1 tablespoon canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation:

1. Combine buckwheat and quinoa in Vitamix or other high-speed blender until ground into flour. (Alternately, you can use 1 1/4 cups each of buckwheat and quinoa flour).

2. In a medium bowl (I like to use my big 8-cup measuring cup so I can pour the batter directly from it), combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt & cinnamon.

3. In the Vitamix, combine almond milk and vinegar. Let sit for 5 minutes, then add the banana, dates, oil and vanilla. Blend on high speed until smooth with no date chunks remaining.

4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and stir until well combined. Stir in the chopped pecans.

5. Cook like pancakes!

Sprout Ratings
Big Sprout - 5 sprouts
Little Sprout - 5 sprouts
Mama Sprout - 5 sprouts
Daddy Sprout - 5 sprouts

Kids in the Kitchen - Fruit Sandwich

This time, I made my own breakfast and it was a fruit sandwich. I did it without any instructions. You start with two slices of bread and then you put strawberries and cantaloupe on and then blueberries. You have to cut up all the fruit but not the blueberries. You put a jam on the other slice of bread (I used raspberry), and then you put the other piece of bread on top. I also put some cut up cantaloupe on the side.

Sprout Rating

Big Sprout - 5 sprouts

Note from Mama Sprout: I did have a teeny, tiny bit of input on this one - talking him out of adding his favorite sandwich element - a pickle - to this sandwich!

Fun Food Friday - Pancake Pizza

You should have seen the Sprouts' faces when they saw this combination of pancakes and pizza. I mean, really . . . what could be better???

I've had this idea kicking around for a while, but today was the day to give it a shot. Here's what I did:

Pancake Pizza

Ingredients

1 batch pancake batter (I used the Vegan with a Vengeance recipe using whole wheat flour)

2 cups strawberries, trimmed and chopped

4 dates

1/2 cup blueberries

1 banana, sliced

Optional: agave nectar, maple syrup, cinnamon, chopped walnuts or pecans

Preparation

Prepare the pancake batter as directed by the recipe, and spray a large, non-stick pan with cooking spray. Pour batter into pan, cover and cook over medium-low heat until cooked mostly through. At that point, spray another large pan with cooking spray, then quickly flip the pancake into the second pan. Continue cooking over low heat until completely cooked.

Note: All my cookware is stainless steel, except for one non-stick pan I use only for pancakes. This large of a pancake is far from flippable, so I just cooked it slowly over really low heat. Covering seemed to speed up the process of cooking the top and middle. You may need to turn the heat down as you go, and you can use a spatula to gently scrape around the pan to prevent the edges from sticking. If you're really coordinated, you could probably flip it in the same pan, but if you're like me (prone to breaking things), flipping into a new pan is definitely easier. The whole process is definitely more of an art than a science, so just watch it carefully and you'll be able to tell when it's done.

While the pancake is cooking, prepare the strawberry puree by placing 1 cup of the chopped strawberries into a blender or food processor with the dates until well combined. If you prefer, you can skip this step and use strawberry preserves instead.

Flip the pancake on a large plate or pizza pan, then spread the strawberry puree on top. Top with the chopped fruit (let the kiddos to it - Little Sprout had a blast putting together ours). If desired, drizzle with agave nectar or maple syrup, sprinkle with cinnamon or top with chopped nuts.

Sprout Ratings:
Big Sprout - 5 sprouts
Little Sprout - 5 sprouts
Mama Sprout - 4.5 sprouts
Daddy Sprout - 4.5 sprouts

Blueberry-Peach Collard Green Smoothies

I've been promising more green smoothie recipes, so I'm going back into the archives at my other blog, Homeschooling in Heels, to get some. This smoothie was created after a farmer's market trip left me with a huge bounty of collard greens and sent me seeking inventive ways in which to use them all.

If you look closely at the picture (don't look, don't look!), you'll notice that this is actually a photo of a different smoothie (using spinach). Sorry . . . I wasn't much into food photography back then.



Blueberry-Peach Collard Green Smoothies 

Ingredients
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup juice (I used apple)
1 banana
3/4 cup frozen blueberries
3/4 cup frozen peaches
1 large or 2 small collard leaves (stems removed)
1 tablespoon ground flax

Preparation
Blend well, and enjoy!

Zucchini Nut Pancakes

I was looking for something a little different to do with a pancake, and any excuse to add veggies to something always sounds good to me. The result? Zucchini Nut Pancakes!

The zucchini makes them really moist, so if you prefer a drier pancake, cook them a little longer (over a lower heat) or reduce the zucchini to just one.

Zucchini Nut Pancakes

Ingredients
2 cups flour (I used white whole wheat)
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups almond milk (or other non-dairy milk)
2 zucchini, peeled and roughly chopped
1/3 cup maple syrup (or agave nectar)
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preparation

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.

2. Place the almond milk, zucchini, maple syrup, canola oil and vanilla in a blender, and process until smooth. Pour into the flour mixture.

3. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry until just combined. Stir in walnuts, if using.

4. Cook like pancakes. :)

Sprout Ratings
Big Sprout - 5 sprouts
Little Sprout - 5 sprouts
Mama Sprout - 4.5 sprouts
Daddy Sprout - 4 sprouts

Mystery Meal - Revealed

Last night, Big Sprout announced that he wanted to make brunch today, which - of course - was music to my ears. He selected the Orange Scones and Tempeh Bacon from Veganomicon, and Jim ran up to Publix to pick up a few ingredients we were missing.

This morning, I slept in (yay!), and Jim supervised the cooking. All by himself, Big Sprout measured and mixed the ingredients, rolled out the dough and cut it into "pizza-shaped" pieces. After they baked, he topped them off with an orange glaze. The result was a light, fluffy scone - not overly sweet with just the right amount of orange flavor. I was very impressed since this recipe called for a few advance kitchen moves; Big Sprout now knows how to zest an orange!

The tempeh bacon didn't go according to plan . . . mostly because instead of picking up the plain package of tempeh the recipe called for, Jim picked up the sliced, pre-seasoned kind (I just wrote "tempeh" on the shopping list). It worked out well though, and breakfast turned out to be a real treat for everyone!

Sprout Ratings
Big Sprout - 5 spouts
Little Sprout - 5 sprouts
Mama Sprout - 5 sprouts
Daddy Sprout - 5 sprouts

Cinnamon Raisin Bagels

Let me start by saying that if I'd know how easy it was to make bagels, I would have started a long time ago. For some reason, I've let myself be intimidated by the process for years. But yesterday was the day to move past that, and I was surprised to learn that making bagels in my own kitchen is so simple!

On our past few visits to my aunt and uncle's home in Virginia, we've all enjoyed their homemade bagels, and the Sprouts have loved helping to make them. Last time, they sent us home with their recipe and a bag of their secret ingredient - malt powder. The kind they gave us is made by King Arthur Flour, and it says that it's for adding to bread recipes and - when added to the boiling water - give a shines to bagel crusts. That said, I'm guessing that you can leave it out if you don't mind un-shiny bagels.

Let me know how these turn out if you try them. I'm going to try plain bagels next time by leaving out the cinnamon and halving the agave.

Cinnamon Raisin Bagels

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups warm water

2 teaspoons yeast

3 1/2 cups flour (I used white whole wheat)

1/4 cup agave nectar (could use honey)

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon malt

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup raisins (soaked in warm water to soften, then drained)

Preparation

1. Combine water and yeast, and allow to sit for a few minutes while you're gathering the remaining ingredients. 

2. Mix in remaining ingredients, and knead (by hand or in a mixer or bread machine) until smooth. Place dough in a bowl coated with cooking spray, and let rise until doubled in size (1 to 1 1/2 hours).

3. Once dough has risen, fill a large pot with about 2 quarts of water. Add 2 tablespoons of malt, and bring to a boil. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

4. Roll out dough on a lightly-floured surface, then divide into 10 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, then poke a hole in the middle and form into a bagel shape. Boil immediately for dense bagels, or allow them to rise another 20 minutes for lighter bagels.

5. Reduce heat to bring boiling water to a simmer, then submerge bagels for 1 minute, gently stirring or turning at least once.

6. Remove bagels from water, and place them on a towel to drain off the water. Transfer them to a baking sheet coated with cooking spray, and bake for 15-20 minutes (until golden brown).

Sprout Ratings
Big Sprout - 5 sprouts
Little Sprout - 5 sprouts
Mama Sprout - 4 sprouts

BOGO Breakfast Waffles with Fruit

Here's how our waffles turned out this morning. I only do easy breakfasts, but it's nice when occasionally one of them makes the kids think they're getting a real treat! Just a reminder, Van's waffles are BOGO at Publix this week!

Van's Organic / Whole Grain Waffles BOGO at Publix

I had to make a last-minute change to the meal plan because Van's organic and whole grain waffles are buy one, get one free at Publix this week. I'm guessing it's an unadvertised deal because I didn't see it on any of the couponing sites.

Rarely do I buy waffles, but I figured this was a great excuse to get them for the kids. We'll be enjoying them this morning topped with sliced bananas and strawberries, along with a green smoothie.

Carrot Cake Pancakes

Today's breakfast was delicious - even more so since Jim made it and I did nothing. That always makes food taste better, right???

I've been wanting to try these Carrot Cake Pancakes since I saw them on the Post-Punk Kitchen blog, and today was the day. When I mentioned that we rarely cooked breakfast, I meant weekends, too. We usually just have oatmeal, smoothies or fruit (like we do the rest of the week), but every once in a while, we'll muster the energy for something different. Or I'll muster the energy to print out a recipe and leave it for Jim.

Ours were make with whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose and agave instead of maple syrup, but other than that, they were true to the recipe. They were a big hit with the Sprouts, and we'll definitely put them in the rotation of special breakfasts.

Big Sprout - 5 sprouts
Little Sprout - 5 sprouts
Mama Sprout - 4.5 sprouts
Daddy Sprout - 4 sprouts

Anytime English Muffins

I'm calling these Anytime English Muffins because although I made them so we'd have something different for breakfasts, they're equally yummy at any time (for example, as they came out the oven this evening!) Little Sprout, however, keeps calling them French Cookies.

I used 1/5th of my bread dough recipe to make these, so even after all of us sampling one, we still have more than 20 left. I'm already picturing them topped with nut butter and bananas in the morning, piled high with hummus, lettuce and tomato for lunch or toasted with just a touch of Earth Balance alongside soup and salad.

Anytime English Muffins

Ingredients
1/5 batch of Basic Whole Wheat Bread dough (or more if you want more muffins). You can scale the recipe down or just make the whole thing and turn the rest into loaves and/or baguettes.

Preparation

1. Roll dough out to 1/4" thickness, lightly flouring the rolling pin or work surface if needed.

2. Using the top of a glass like a cookie cutter, "cut" the English muffins out of the dough.

3. Remove the cut muffins, and place them on a baking sheet. Roll out the leftover dough, and repeat until all the dough has been used.

4. Spray a large skillet with cooking spray, and cook muffins over low heat for 8-10 minutes on each side (until golden brown).

Using 1/5 of the batch of bread dough yields approximately 25 English muffins. Muffins will keep up to a week in the refrigerator or can be frozen for longer storage. To serve, use your fingers to split the muffin in half. Enjoy!

PB&J English Muffins

We deviated from the meal plan this morning since the kids were so excited about the English muffins I made last night. They thought they were getting a huge treat, and breakfast came together in less than five minutes.

I just toasted the English muffins, topped one side with peanut butter and the other with jam, then paired it with plenty of fresh fruit.

Since I'm planning on veggie pitas for lunch and wraps for dinner, I decided to skip the bread at breakfast for myself and have a green smoothie instead. But we were still done with the breakfast prep in under 10 minutes. Love that!!!

More Quick Breakfast Ideas

For the longest time, we were stuck in a huge cereal rut. Even though we bought healthy cereal and paired it with fresh fruit and nuts each morning, I knew we could be making better choices. But since I don't "cook" breakfast, I needed ideas that could be quickly "assembled" each morning.

Our first step was adding a green smoothie almost every morning, but just a few weeks ago, we used up the last of the cereal and I'm not buying more. Being forced to be a little more creative has already given me a great rotation of breakfast ideas that are healthier but still quick and easy.

Sliced apples with peanut butter are now part of our breakfast rotation, usually paired with more fruit and a green smoothie. This works especially well at the end of the week when some of our more perishable fruit has been eaten and we're running low on food.

Sprout Ratings
Big Spout - 5 sprouts
Little Spout - 5 sprouts

New Recipe - Banana Nut Oats

One of the first things you'll learn about my meal plans is that they often change. I'm really bad about remembering what I have on hand and what I've run out of, and I inevitably forget one thing on my list at the store every week. So this morning, it wasn't really surprising to find that we'd run out of raisins. Normally, I just cook the oats and sprinkle raisins, walnuts and ground flax on each serving. Both Sprouts take a drizzle of agave on theirs, and Little Sprout and I take a sprinkling of cinnamon.

In revamping our breakfast, I decided to use bananas, dates and nuts in our oatmeal and it turned out so well, that I jotted down the recipe for Banana Nut Oats. Of course, if I'd known I was going to blog about it, I would tried for a prettier photo and saved some sliced bananas and a sprinkling of flax for the top.

Banana Nut Oats

Ingredients

1 cup oats

2 bananas

3 dates

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon ground flax

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Preparation

Cook oats as directed. While they are cooking, blend bananas with just enough water (or almond milk) to turn the blades. Once they are creamy, add the dates, cinnamon and flax and blend until combined. Stir the banana mixture and walnuts into the oats and serve. 

This recipe made just the right amount for me and the Sprouts, but I'd double it if Jim was here for breakfast. Next time, I'll top in with fresh banana slices - and because I think it would taste great (not just for looks).

Sprout Ratings
Big Sprout - 4.5 sprouts
Little Sprout - 4.5 sprouts
Mama Sprout - 4 sprouts

We also had to sub a clementine for the pineapple, as it turns out the organic pineapple I picked up on sale at a local market was on sale for a (rotten) reason.

Today's Breakfast - The Power Sandwich

We needed a break from oatmeal and fruit this morning, so it seemed like a good time for a Power Sandwich. This is a variation of something I've been eating for years (open-face toast with peanut butter and banana) that Jim and Big Sprout gave an official name one morning before a long bike ride. It's so super easy that I hesitate to even post a recipe, but here it goes.

The Power Sandwich

Ingredients:

2 slices of whole grain bread

Peanut butter

Banana

Agave nectar

Preparation:

Lightly toast the bread, then spread one piece lightly with peanut butter. Drizzle with a touch of agave nectar, then slice enough of the banana to cover the toast. Cover with the other piece of toast, cut and serve.

As I mentioned, I usually have mine with just one slice of toast and no agave. Little Sprout usually does the same, although today she insisted on a full sandwich, which paired with strawberries and a green smoothie, I was doubtful she'd get through (but she came surprisingly close).

Sprout Ratings
Big Sprout - 5 sprouts
Little Sprout - 5 sprouts
Mama Sprout - 4.5 sprouts
Daddy Sprout - 5 sprouts

This breakfast came close to using up the last of our bread, so I'll be making more later this week. Look for my bread recipe here in the next few days!

Good Morning Green Smoothies

Let me just put it out there up front . . . you'll be reading a lot about green smoothies on this blog. We love them and have them almost every morning. The kids always think they're getting a treat, and from my perspective, they're quick, easy and I can adapt my favorite recipes based on whatever produce we have on hand. Plus, I love knowing that the kids have had several servings of veggies before 9AM. And not just any veggies, but typically greens such as kale, spinach, collards or chard, which are the most nutrient-dense foods on the planet.  

We typically use kale in our smoothies (I'll be posting a great idea for storing kale later today), but any type of green is great. This is yummy with cherries, but I also love it with blueberries, strawberries or raspberries. If you use fresh fruit instead of frozen, be sure to add a little ice to cool it all off.

Cherry Cordial Smoothie

Ingredients:

1 cup almond (or other non-dairy) milk

1 large banana

1 cup frozen cherries

1-2 cups packed greens (kale, spinach, beet, collard, chard)

½ cup roughly chopped zucchini

1 heaping tablespoon cocoa powder

1 tablespoon ground flax

Preparation:

Combine all ingredients in blender, and process until creamy and smooth.

This makes enough for one adult as a full breakfast or for the three of us (one adult two kids) if I’m serving it with other things. When my husband is home, or if the smoothie is our entire breakfast, I’ll double it to make enough for all four of us.

Sprout Ratings
Big Sprout - 5 sprouts
Little Sprout - 5 sprouts
Mama Sprout - 5 sprouts
Daddy Sprout - 5 sprouts