Fruity Oat Bars

I was once again looking for recipes where I can use up bananas that I otherwise couldn't use in time before they turn totally brown & mushy, and came across this one.  They're good for snacking or lunch boxes, as well as part of a quick breakfast when you're in a hurry. 

3 large ripe bananas
2 cups oats (the gluten-free kind if you want to be sure it's gluten-free)
1 cup desiccated coconut
1/4 cup chopped dates*
1/4 cup chopped cranberries*
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

* You can add more of these fruits if you wish, or add raisins as well.  These bars were tasty but I would add some more fruit next time - it really "spices" up these bars.

• preheat oven to 180 degree C, line a 16 x 25 cm glass dish with baking paper (extend over the sides so you can pick it up easily) and grease baking paper really well, else it'll stick to the bars - as me, I know
• mash bananas until smooth, then add remaining ingredients and stir until well combined
• pour mixture into prepared dish and press down evenly
• bake for about 30 minutes (until it starts to turn a little golden), cool completely then cut into bars

Soft Banana Coconut Cookies

These are pleasant little high-fibre cookies to snack on.

You know how you always have those extra bananas lying around, no longer in their prime, waiting for you to find something to do with them, and you swear you'll go google up on banana recipe ideas tomorrow . . . and how those same bananas always end up going black and then you're so relieved to be able to throw them away now and have that weight of finding a recipe finally lift off your shoulders? . . .  No?  It's only me then?

Well I've found another way to use up that banana before it expands the fruit fly population in my kitchen.

10 pitted organic dried dates
1 soft banana
1 1/2 cups desiccated coconut (not sweetened)

• throw all ingredients in a food processor & process until smooth
• the mixture should be a little moist, but not gooey or too dry - just right to shape into little balls & hold their shape - add more banana if too dry, or more coconut if too wet
• take large teaspoon sized portions & shape into little balls (or something resembling a ball), press slightly flat, place on a buttered baking sheet
• bake at 165 degree C for about 10 mins.  The cookies should be soft

Spiced Date Balls

These are SO yummy, and what's even better is that they're absolutely healthy so you don't even have to feel bad no matter how many of 'em you munch.  :)

They're sugar-free, gluten-free, vegan, and raw, so NO nutrients were harmed in the making of this healthy delight.

1 cup (packed) organic dates, pips removed
1/2 cup gluten-free oats (not the instant kind)
2 small carrots, peeled & roughly chopped
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
unsweetened dried desiccated coconut for rolling in

Throw all the ingredients (except coconut) into a food processor and blend until mixed but not totally smooth or pasty.

Roll teaspoon sized portions into little balls, roll in coconut to cover, and they're good to go!  You can chill them in the fridge first if you like but it doesn't make that much difference in the end.  You get out about 24 balls.

I've actually been looking for healthier foods & treats that I can make for baby (and ultimately the rest of family too!), so I'm chuffed at having found something that I find divine too (and extra happy that it's so much healthier than cake hehe).

Fruity Ice Pops

I thought I'd try make some healthy ice pops - actually my first ice pops too! 

I made watermelon & pineapple ice pops.  I juiced the watermelon in a juicer because I didn't want any seeds in the pop, but for other fruit I would use my blender/smoothie maker.

I did the watermelon first and let it freeze for about an hour before I added the pineapple.

I must say the fruit loses a bit of their flavour when frozen, mostly the watermelon but even the pineapple too, so next time I'd substitute watermelon for other fruits with stronger flavours, like mango or kiwi and see how they turn out.

These are good for a hot day. :)

After making banana icecream, I would even try a layer of banana in the ice pops, and the banana doesn't lose any of it's flavour at all when frozen.

Banana Ice-Cream with Banana Whipped Cream

It's Aidan's 1st b'day next month and I've been searching for a healthy birthday cake idea for him.  I haven't introduced any sugar to him yet and am trying to give him the healthiest meals I can.

Well, I just couldn't find a cake that met my criteria - either they had sugar in them, or I tried to substitute the sugar for something else healthier and it didn't work out, or I tried a sugar-free cake and it didn't turn out good, so I was disappointed that I couldn't find a healthy b'day cake!

Then I found someone online who made banana ice-cream - I tried it and it turned out really well. :D  And then elsewhere I found another recipe for banana cream - all I changed here was to sub stevia for sugar and leave out vanilla essence because I didn't have one without some nasty ingredients in it, and it's so tasty. :)

So here's my practice round for Aidan's b'day "cake" . . .

How cute is that? :D

All you do is freeze a ripe banana - just don't use an overly ripe one whose skin has already gone black - the ice-cream will taste bitter (I used such a banana 'cause I was so impatient to try out this ice-cream to see if it works, that I used the only banana I had on hand).  The recipe also said not to use a green banana, because it will make for a "green" tasting ice-cream.

• peel banana, chop banana into bite size chunks (I used 1 1/2 banana for this single size serving)
• freeze for 2 hours
• put in a food processor and blend until it turns creamy

When you start blending it will look all crumbly, but eventually (less than a minute) it suddenly turns creamy and ice-cream texture-y.  If it sticks to the sides of the food processor, just scrape it down back onto the blades and keep blending.

Then it's basically ready to eat!  It's so creamy, and really good actually.  This must be one of the healthiest ice-creams ever!

I put the ice-cream into a mini silicone mould though, 'cause I wanted something that looks more like a "cake" with some shape instead of a bowl of ice-cream, so I froze it for another few hours - I accidentally forgot about it and so don't know how long it was in the freezer for, but I froze it until it was quite hard.

To get it out I loosened the edges of the mould and ran the bottom of the mould under warm water to get it loose, and it came out easily.

Next time I'll just make sure to press the ice-cream down nicely into the mould, but it doesn't matter, it's getting covered by cream. :)

As for the cream, here's what you need (this is WAYYY more than you need for a little baby dessert, so use less if you don't like to eat the cream throughout the day). :)

1 cup fresh cream
15 drops liquid stevia
1/2 banana, mashed REALLY well until it's almost liquid with no chunks in it (add more banana if you want it more banana-y)

• add stevia and whip until stiff - make it as stiff as you like it
• mix in banana by hand, or for just 1 second mix it with your blender - you don't want to over-whip the cream
• scoop into ice-cream

Serve immediately.  Hope it turns out this good on his b'day!

A cute little "cake" that baby can make a yummy mess with. :)  You'll probably have to feed the ice-cream to him with a spoon though.

Carrot & Beetroot Juice

Freshly juiced raw veggies and fruits are a great way to assist your body in detoxing, and besides that, it's so healthy too, since juicing the food makes it more easily assimilated by your body.  Plus it's refreshing and tasty. :)

This morning I added beetroot to the mix and it turned out really well - it's sweet and tasty and the beetroot gives it a slightly earthy flavour too.   And the colour is gorgeous! :D

For this one I used 5 medium carrots and 3 medium beetroot - all peeled and then juiced (in a juicer, not blender) - here's what it looked like:

Then I mixed it before pouring into glasses - makes 2 medium servings:

How pretty is that? Yummmmmm.....

Turmeric Yoghurt Salad Dressing

This is my favourite salad dressing!  Well, it's the only one I use, I don't like buying store bought ones anymore, I'd much rather make my own healthier ones from scratch.  I make a jar-full each time and it does keep for a while in the fridge (well, it's never lasted more than maybe 2 weeks max with me, I think...I use it a lot, so can't vouch that it keeps any longer than that).  :)

1 1/2 cup plain greek yoghurt
3/4 cup olive oil
3 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp cayenne powder

Add yoghurt and oil, then spices in a glass jar.  Mix very well until completely combined.  Close jar and store in fridge.  You may have to just mix it a little before each use, since the oil tends to separate.

It makes a delicious creamy bright yellow dressing.  These spices also have a lot of health benefits, I'll post something about spices some time soon.  :)

Gluten-free Cinnamon Sweet Potato Muffins

I think I now love baking with sweet potatoes, because of the 2 different sweet potato muffins that I've tried out, both of them always turned out so soft and moist and spongy and yummy!  :)

1 cup oats, uncooked
1 cup buckwheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
300 ml mashed sweet potato (the original recipe actually called for 450ml, but due to a mistake on my part in converting ounces to cups, I ended up with 300ml....but it seemed to work out perfect!)
1/4 tsp stevia powder
1/2 cup plain greek yoghurt
1/3 cup oil
1/4 cup rice milk
1 tbs ground flaxseed mixed with 3 tbs water, let stand for +- 3 mins before adding to rest of ingredients
1 tsp vanilla

1.   Preheat oven to 200 C / 400 F and grease muffin tin.
2.   In a large bowl, add oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and stevia - mix well.  Then add sweet potatoes, oil, milk, flaxseed mixture, yoghurt and vanilla and mix until just well moistened.
3.   Divide into 12 muffin tins and bake for about 15 mins (or until tester stick comes out mostly clean).

I actually prefer if there is still some doughy-ness on the end of the tester stick, because then I know my muffins aren't too dry - but they're never still uncooked inside.

Also, I froze them for a day or 2 to test 'em out, and they freeze well - they're still soft and moist after defrosting.

Linked to these tasty blogs:

Rook No. 17         Be Different, Act Normal
Sugar Bananas       Muffin Monday
I Heart Naptime     .

Gluten-Free Cinnamon Banana Raisin Muffins

These are nice for breaksfast and for snacking on the run too.  They're sugar free too, and because of the buckwheat flour that I used, they're also gluten-free!

3 very ripe bananas, mushed
1 tbs ground flax seed mixed with 1 tbs water, let stand for 2-3 minutes before adding to rest of ingredients
3/4 cup plain greek yoghurt
1 cup buckwheat flour
1 cup oats, uncooked
1/4 tsp stevia powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp himalayan crystal salt (the fine, not course, one)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (I hardly taste this so next time I'll add at least 1 tsp)
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup almonds, pecans or walnuts, chopped (optional, for crunch)

1.   In a small bowl mix mushed bananas, flax mixed with water and yoghurt.
2.   In a larger bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, oats, stevia and cinnamon.  Pour banana mixture into flour mixture and stir just to combine.  Stir in raisins and nuts.
3.   Divide mixture among prepared muffin tin and bake at 200 C / 400 F for 18 minutes or until test stick comes out mostly clean.

I tried half the muffins with raisins and the other half with chopped dates - I prefer the raisins as it adds more sweetness and besides, you can barely taste the dates.
I also prefer using almonds since they are alkaline forming whereas pecans and walnuts are acid forming.
And even though the cinnamon is hardly noticable, these muffins are still good. :)

I also froze them for a few days to test them out, and they freeze really well, they're still soft and moist after defrosting.