Healthy Oaty Choc Chip Banana Bread

Healthy Oaty Choc Chip Banana Bread

I’m a sucker for banana bread. I LOVE it. I have several recipes for different variations, but this is the first flourless one I’ve ever made and I have to say - it might be my favourite. It’s made with Oats instead of flower, making this a filling alternative.

This recipe is super EASY and has only 6 ingredients! It’s also one of those ones where everything gets thrown into a blender, which are always great time savers. This recipe is also bariatric friendly for those 6 months post op (earlier if you are ok with having higher carbs) and low calorie. If you’re watching your protein, add 30g of protein powder to the recipe to up the protein content.

Hot Tip: I do think with this recipe that it is best on day 2 and 3. It holds its shape a little better and the flavours really sink in. It’s mouth wateringly special!!

If you want to try out my Banana Dark Choc Loaf made with coconut and almond flour, check it out HERE.

Full of oaty goodness and sweet choc chips

Oaty Choc Chip Banana Bread

• 2 cups rolled oats

• 3 large bananas

• 2 eggs

• 1/4 cup sugar free maple syrup (or regular)

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 cup sugar free or regular choc chips

• Optional - 30g protein powder

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees fan bake

2. Place all ingredients except for chocolate chips into a blender and blend for 20-30 seconds until smooth

3. Mix in chocolate chips

4. Place batter into a loaf tin. I added extra sliced banana on top to make it look pretty!

5. Bake for 35 - 40 mins depending on your oven

Nutritional Info:

10 serves, PER SERVE
153 calories / 5.4g protein / 13.8g carbs / 5.8g fat
with protein powder: 166 calories / 7.8g protein / 14g carbs / 6g fat

An Overnight Oats Recipe You Should Try!

One thing I love about winter, is hot oats / porridge in the morning when it's cold outside. With it getting a bit cooler in the mornings, I decided to start experimenting with overnight oats as I'd seen a few Instagram stories about how easy they are.  They actually couldn't be any easier!  Once you get the quantities right, they are also pretty hard to beat for creaminess and taste.

My absolute favourite thing is that these are made in advance, so in the morning you just grab them out of the fridge and heat if desired. You can actually make several days worth in advance if you like and have a weeks worth of breakfasts good to go.  The flavour combo's are also endless and kids love them.  This week we have had banana & vanilla, feijoa & pear (feijoa is a fruit found in New Zealand) and peanut butter with banana. All have been great.  The recipe I'm sharing with you today is a plain base that you then just add your fruit to it, or have it on it's own, it's great as is.

I suggest saving your jars and use a wider neck if possible.

Versatile recipes are the best, and you can adapt this one to suit your dietary requirements.  I make it dairy free (also vegan) by using plant based coconut or almond milk & coconut yogurt, but you can totally make it with full fat milk or yogurt.  To make itgluten free, use gluten free oats.

All the ingredients ready to mix - oats, almond milk, coconut yogurt, chia seeds, bananas, maple syrup & vanilla[/caption]

Simple Overnight Oats

1/2 cup rolled oats
2/3 cup coconut or almond milk
2 TBS pain or vanilla coconut yogurt
1 TBS chia seeds
1 TBS pure maple syrup
Protein Powder (optional)
Vanilla essence

For Banana & blueberry: add 1/2 chopped banana and a sprinkle of blueberries
For Feijoa & Pear: add 1/4 pear chopped and flesh of 2 feijoa's
For Peanut Butter & banana: add 1/2 chopped balance + 1 TBS peanut butter

Place all ingredients in a bowl or straight into the jar and mix. Place in fridge to set for at least 4hrs.

Moroccan Spiced Cauliflower Salad

I’m a crazy for cauliflower kind of girl. I love it steamed, roasted, pan fried, riced, mashed… you name it, I’m all over it. Last summer I wanted to create a Cauliflower salad that used Cauliflower rice because since cutting back on carbs, I missed having couscous or rice in a salad. I also love Moroccan flavours so decided to combine the two. This is an easy and cost effective salad that is easy to throw together and it looks great on a bed of spinach or greens. Perfect if you need to take a plate or for a dinner at your place.

This recipe was featured in Issue 4 of Mood Magazine. Enjoy!

Moroccan Spiced Cauliflower Salad

Moroccan Spiced Cauliflower Salad & Quick and Easy Raw Salad

1 head of cauliflower

2 tsp olive oil

1 + ½ tsp ground coriander

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp paprika

¼ tsp ground cinnamon

Zest of 1 lemon

5 tbsp dried fruits ( I used dried cranberries + apricots)

4 tbsp nuts (I used chopped almonds + pine nuts)

Pomegranate seeds, coriander and mint to serve

1. Cut cauli roughly into florets and place into blender

2. Pulse until the cauliflower takes on a couscous like appearance.

3. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan and add the couscous, allow to cook for 5 to 7 minutes stirring frequently.

4. Transfer the couscous to a large bowl and set aside to cool.

5. Once cooled add the spices, lemon zest, dried fruits and nuts.

6. Add finely chopped herbs 

7. Stir well and season

8. Top with pomegranate seeds, fresh mint and drizzle of tahini & lemon dressing

Coconut Granola

3 cups rolled outs
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup coconut (flakes or desiccated)
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1/2 cup chopped raw cashews
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup maple syrup or honey

1. Preheat the over to 180 degrees and line baking tray with baking paper.

2. In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients together

3. In a separate bowl, mix the coconut oil, honey or maple syrup and vanilla

4. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and mix well to combine

5. Place on the baking tray evenly and bake for 20 mins until golden brown

6. When cooked, take out of the oven and leave untouched for 45 mins, then add cranberries. Store up to a month in an airtight container.

Banana & Cinnamon Muffins

This recipe comes courtesy of Caralee Fontonele’s Real Food Pledge Cookbook, it’s a new favourite in our house!  These muffins are moist and delicious! They are is DF / GF & Refined Sugar free. Best of all they are SO quick and easy as they are made in the blender, perfect for baking with kids too,.

Caralee’s 3rd cookbook is out soon and is available for preorder, pop onto her website for details!

Ingredients

1 cup dates
2 ripe bananas
4 eggs
1/2 cup coconut flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
Pinch salt
2 TBS coconut oil
1/2 cup water

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius and line your muffin pan with liners.

In the food processor, process the dates and coconut flour until it is finely blended. Add the bananas, cinnamon, baking soda and salt ; process until combined. Then add the eggs, coconut oil and water and process until well combined. Pour the batter into the muffin pans and place in the oven.
Bake for 20 mins or until they spring back when you press on the top of them.

Variation: add some frozen blueberries or dark chop chips!

Chocolate Chia Pudding

Thanks Countdown for this fabulous recipe! I made this recipe today after receiving some new healthy products from Countdown that they are putting on price lockdown. How good is that? Healthy products at lower prices every day. Healthy eating is something I feel really strongly about, and I’m so stoked that healthy options will be more accessible and easier for everyone.

Enjoy this super easy and quick chocolate pudding!
PS. if you don’t like the chia pudding consistency, once it’s set, blitz it until smooth!

Ingredients

• 1 cup almond milk

• 1/3 cup black or white chia seeds

• 1 Tbsp cacao powder

• 1/2 cup blueberries, plus extra to serve

• 2 Tbsp raw honey plus extra to drizzle

• 2 Tbsp mixed nuts, chopped

• 1 Handful cacao nibs, to serve

Method

1. In a large jug, combine milk, seeds, cacao powder and honey. Mix well. Set aside 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent clumping.

2. Add blueberries and stir until combined. Pour evenly among 4 serving glasses or bowls. Chill for 30 minutes.

3. Serve topped with extra blueberries, cacao nibs, nuts and a drizzle of honey.

Kumara & Pumpkin Superfood Salad

We are coming into salad season (YAY) and I am so excited to start upping my salad game! While we wait for summer to fully arrive, my absolute fave Spring salad mixes winter roast veg, with some fresh summer greens and salad veg coming into season.

Nothing beats this delicious combo of warm roasted vegetables with spinach, tomato, avocado and pumpkin seeds for some crunch. I almost always add a free range poached egg, it adds a great creaminess.

Roast the following at 180 degrees for 25-30 mins in olive oil or coconut oil, turning every 10 mins:Then

1 cup diced kumara 
1 cup diced pumpkin 
1 red onion 
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds, roasted in the last 10 mins

Then In a bowl combine;
1 cup spinach 
Handful cherry tomatoes 
Dressing of choice (I used a creamy avocado dressing)
1/2 an Avocado 
Feta cheese

Add your roast veges & pumpkin seeds to the salad and top with a poached egg if desired. 
You can easily add a protein like chicken or beef to this too. 

Enjoy!

Delicious spring salad featuring roast veg!

Roast veggies with pumpkin seeds

Peanut Butter Cacao Bliss Balls

I made these Peanut Butter & Cacao Bliss balls to accompany the Raw Peanut Butter Cheesecake I made on Friday, but they are so good I made an extra batch the next day to keep in the fridge.   

They are peanuty, chocolatey and sweet. WIN! Plus of course, super easy as everything goes in the blender and you just blitz until you get the right consistency. 

I suggest also blitzing up about 1/4 cup peanuts to use to coat them once you've done rolling them into even sized balls. 

Peanut Butter & Cacao Bliss Balls

Ingredients

1/2 cup peanuts
1/2 cup raw cashews or almonds
1/4 cup coconut
1 heaped TBS Pics peanut butter
1 TBS cacao powder
1 TBS cacao nibs (optional)
1 TBS pure maple syrup
6 large medjool dates, soaked in boiling water for about 5 mins

Drain your dates but keep the water in case you need for consistency.
Add everything into a blender and blitz until well mixed.  Test mixture to see if ok to roll, if not not sticky enough, use water from the dates 1 TBS at a time until you get the right texture for rolling. 
Roll into balls and roll one half into some blitzed peanuts (to make a peanut crumb).  I had some chocolate ganache which I drizzled over as well. 
Pop into the fridge in an airtight container to set. 

Chocolate Dipped Date & Peanut Butter Bites

This honestly could not be easier and it feels so decadent. I like to make up around 10 and pop them in the fridge for an after dinner treat with my peppermint tea. 

Chocolate Dipped Date & Peanut Butter Bites

10 large medjool dates
Some Pics Peanut Butter
2 rows Whittakers dark ghana chocolate

Split your dates in half if they aren't already, and with a knife, fill it with peanut butter.
Put aside.

Meanwhile, in a pot, melt down your Whittakers dark chocolate. You can melt in the pot or use a double boiler, if using just the pot be very careful not to burn the chocolate. 

Once melted, take one date at a time and dip one side or as much as you can get in there without burning your hands!

Pop in a container and into the fridge to set. 

Boosted Berry Coconut Yogurt

You all know I'm a mad, crazy smoothie fan. To me, it's the number one way to get a whole lot of amazing ingredients all in one meal that tastes half decent.  But I understand we don't always feel like smoothies all year round, or every day.  Unless your me, of course.   I have recently started thinking outside of the box when it comes to boosting meals.  Add spinach to things that maybe you wouldn't normally (what could go wrong?), the amazing overnight oats recipe featuring chia seeds, fruit and LSA mix, or just packing in loads of grated veges into meatballs, patties, egg slices etc. You get the message.  

My latest trick is boosting my coconut yogurt, or just plain unsweetened if that's what you like.  I love my nutra bullet and have a tendency to blend everything in sight, so today I got busy experimenting with upping the nutrition in one of my fave things - coconut yogurt. 

The recipe below is really yummy and turns it from being a snack into a meal, I turned it into a bowl so I could add a bunch of toppings, but you could use it as the topping on your oats, granola or dessert - it's that good. 

Think of things that are good for you and experiment with blending them in to the yogurt. I popped in some chia seeds, a banana, some blueberries and topped with a nutty cacao blend and some more blueberries + chia seeds.  I also included some of The Wholesome Co immune health tub blend, which has a berry flavour and was so perfect for this and I know it has so many incredible ingredients to help boost my immunity at this time of year. 

These health tubs are basically natural blends of different ground ingredients designed to help different areas -  she has designed a hormone balancing one, glowing skin, breastfeeding, pregnancy and immunity.  I love this idea because it is just using natural foods to help boost your system and they are so easy to add to your diet via smoothies, baking or as a topping.  I am trying to do this more and more and am on a journey of learning about what different foods can do for you - it's a big wide world!  Of course, you can create these blends yourself or buy specific items to help you with whatever you need, I just like the convenience of getting directly from The Wholesome Co AND ranging from $29.99 and $39.99 I am not sure you could buy all the ingredients for that!

Here's my recipe for my boosted coconut yogurt, feel free to omit the immunity blend, or if you'd like to try, use 'balanceproject' as a code for 15% off.  This is not a sponsored blog by the way, I just love this stuff!

Boosted Berry Coconut Yogurt
1/2 cup coconut yogurt (I used Raglan Strawberry & Acai flavour)
1 banana
1/2 cup blueberries
1/2 cup ice
1 TBS chia seeds
1 heaped TBS immune health blend (see above)
a few TBS almond milk to add moisture for blending

Pop everything in the bullet and give it a whiz!   Add to your fave granola, or top with your fave granola - whichever you prefer. 

The Ultimate Green Smoothie

Give your body what it needs with this sweet & delicious smoothie filled with green good stuff.
A great intro to Green Smoothies.

Serves 2

1 cup almond or coconut milk
1 x banana
1 x pear
5 x green grapes
1 x golden kiwifruit
1 cup kale & spinach blend
1 tsp chia seeds
1 tsp LSA mix
1 cup ice

Blend until completely smooth and top with some delicious crunchy granola or nuts.

Pancake Sunday! A DF/GF/SF Recipe to Save.

We love pancakes in this house. It's been a long standing tradition to have pancakes (or waffles) on Sunday.  We had a great recipe for good old fashioned pancakes with white flour & sugar.

When I started changing my lifestyle and eating, pancakes disappeared from the menu for a while - until I decided to experiment with some healthier versions.   I consulted Google and found a recipe by The Paleo Running Momma and decided to try my own from scratch. Instead of white flour, a tapioca flour and coconut flour mix is used, along with mashed banana, eggs and coconut milk.   SUCCESS!   These Paleo banana coconut flour pancakes are so perfectly fluffy, moist and sweet that you won't believe they're grain free, dairy free, and refined sugar free!

They were light, fluffy, rose well and absolutely delicious. The boys downed them pretty quick, I was so happy with them. Below is the recipe, which is the original from Paleo Running Momma with only 1 small change (I used rice malt syrup instead of maple).

Please don't assume that just because these are 'Paleo' that they aren't as good as 'the real thing'. Give them a go. It's a great alternative if you're GF or are trying to stay away from white flour - or even if you're not.

I get creative with toppings - some of our faves are fresh cut fruit salad with coconut yogurt, frozen berries heated in a pan for 10 mins and poured on top (YUM) and todays experiment was banana, pear and peanut butter.  They are wonderful plain with maple syrup too.

Here's the recipe!

Paleo Banana Pancakes

Ingredients

• 3 eggs

• 2 small/med overripe bananas mashed well

• 1/2 cup almond or coconut milk

• 1-2tbsp pure maple syrup

• 1 tsp vanilla

• 6Tbsp coconut flour

• 3Tbsp tapioca flour (buckwheat flour also works well)

• 1/2tsp baking soda

• Pinch salt

• coconut oil for greasing pan/griddle

Instructions

1. Whisk together all wet ingredients. Combine the dry ingredients separately, then add them to the wet mixture and stir until well combined and smooth.

2. Heat a fly pan over med low/med heat. These pancakes will cook more evenly if they cook on a lower setting for a bit longer.  They will burn if too hot!

3. Coat the pan with a thin layer of coconut oil, no too much, since you will add more after each batch.

4. Spoon the batter by about 3-4 tbsp carefully into the hot pan and smooth into an even circle, 3-4 inches in diameter. Do not crowd! You can keep the cooked pancakes on a parchment lined baking sheet in 200 degree oven until ready to eat.

5. Allow each pancake to cook on one side until edges are dry, bubbles form on the surface and the bottom is deep golden. Carefully flip and cook the second side until golden. Repeat for all pancakes, greasing the pan lightly with coconut oil between batches and adjusting the heat as necessary.

4 Must Try Chia Pudding Recipes!

There are a few things that have become absolute staples in our house over the past 9 months, and chia pudding is one of them. So simple, easy and yummy.  Plus, did you know Chia seeds are higher in Omega 3 that Salmon? Super duper good for you. They also absorb liquid, so you can pretty much create any flavour you want with liquid - and then just add the chia seeds to give it bulk.

I have made many renditions of Chia Pudding, you can literally do anything, and I have.

I've come up with a few absolute favourites that I'm going to share below, but first things first - I'm going to give you a recipe for a basic, plan vanilla pudding, and then you can use that as a foundation to build on.   You can't go wrong with Blueberry or Chocolate Peanut Butter, plus I've just made a special edition pud using Misty DayPlant Potions tonic powder.

Which will you try first?

Basic Chia Pudding

2 cups coconut milk (unsweetened)
1/2 cup chia seeds
1/2 tsp maple syrup or rice malt syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Blitz or whisk together everything except the chia seeds. Once blended, add the chia seeds and whisk again.
Pop in a jar and refrigerate for an hour.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Chia Pudding (my fave)

2 cups coconut milk (unsweetened)
1/2 cup chia seeds
1/2 tsp maple syrup or rice malt syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 TBS cacao powder
1 TBS natural peanut butter

Prep your jar(s) by putting a little peanut butter in the bottom.
Blitz together coconut milk, syrup, cacao, vanilla and peanut butter.
Add chia seeds and mix with a whisk, pour into jar on top of the peanut butter.
Refrigerate for an hour

Blueberry & Vanilla Chia Pudding (Aiden's fave)

2 cups coconut milk (unsweetened)
1/2 cup chia seeds
1/2 tsp maple syrup or rice malt syrup
1 tsp tsp vanilla
1/2 cup blueberries

Prep your jar(s) by putting a 1/4 cup blueberries in the bottom.
Blitz together coconut milk, syrup, vanilla and and 1/4 cup blueberries. Save a couple to go on top!
Add chia seeds and mix with a whisk, pour into jar on top of the whole blueberries.
Refrigerate for an hour

Misty Day Chia Pudding with Strawberries

2 cups coconut milk (unsweetened)
1/2 cup chia seeds
1/2 tsp maple syrup or rice malt syrup
1 tsp tsp vanilla
1 TBS Misty Day tonic
* I used 'Moxie Brew' which is cacao, beetroot & asparagus
1/4 cup frozen strawberries
Blitz together coconut milk, syrup, vanilla and the tonic.
Add chia seeds and mix with a whisk, pour into jar and place some strawberries on top - they will sink, this is fine.
Refrigerate for an hour