This was one of those recipes in which I had a craving for flavor (in this case, lemon) and a new dish was born. Yummy! I’ve been experimenting more and more with aquafaba, the juice from canned chickpeas, and really liking the results.
It looks like there are a lot of ingredients here but a lot of them are spices. It really isn’t any more labor intensive than any other loaf, muffin or cookie recipe I’ve got. The key is to put the blueberries in the bottom of the loaf pan so that when it cools and you flip it over, you have a yummy, dark purple blueberry topping. Cool looking and even better tasting.
These babies were created when I just threw a bunch of pancake-related items in my Vitamix. I didn’t feel like measuring out the flour and I figured using rolled oats would work, blended along with everything else. And work it did! Yummy. Easy to make, healthy and delicious.
Feel free to add chocolate chips, blueberries or chopped/sliced bananas to the batter once it’s poured onto the griddle.
November 4, 2015
CHOCOLATE!
People are coo coo for cocoa.
Me? I like it. Sure.
But I wouldn’t consider selling my offspring for the last bar on earth as some people I know might. It’s good. I enjoy a quality piece of dark chocolate or a chocolatey dessert as much as the next girl, but when I like chocolate best is when it’s paired with something else, for example, peanut butter, raspberry, or in this case PUMPKIN!
If you’ve never had chocolate and pumpkin together, you’ve been missing out! The warm spices we associate with pumpkin taste great with the rich chocolate. This recipe calls for healthy whole foods like black beans and pumpkin, uses very little flour, and no refined sugar or oil, and no eggs or dairy of course. The only not-so-healthy part is the chocolate chips but we only use 1/4 cup. I really like to use the Wonderslim cocoa powder as it’s lower in fat and caffeine than typical cocoa powder.
Go ahead, make these.
And try not to eat the whole pan.
I dare ya.
Soft, chewy, gooey and chocolatey – that’s what these cookies are. Best part is they are a sinful tasting treat without the sin (maybe just a little bit). Of course there is no oil or butter in these little gems, but I also tried to keep the flour, sugar and fat low. You’ll notice the recipe calls for 2 med-large bananas. As such there is a very small banana taste…very slight though. If you aren’t a banana fan (I simply cannot imagine!), try using only one banana and replacing the other with 1/2 cup applesauce. I haven’t tried this so I can’t say exactly what the end result would be, but it’s worth a try.
Enjoy your chocolatey goodness!
Farmer’s market had incredible organic strawberries, and it’s Sunday. Seems obvious to me that pancakes should be created and consumed. And so it was.
Pumpkin-Spice Cupcakes. Vegan. Gluten-free. Oil-free*
I know. It’s getting a little ridiculous. Another pumpkin recipe. I can’t help it! I told you I love all things pumpkin. The season is short – I must embrace it!
So, I made a pumpkin-spice cake for my sister’s birthday this past week. It was really good. The next day I tweaked the recipe just a bit and made delicious cupcakes. The next day I tweaked it even more, making them gluten-free, and a sharable recipe was born!
If you don’t care to make these cupcakes gluten-free, whole wheat pastry flour is fine. Also, use 1 TBS pumpkin pie spice if you’d rather not bother measuring out the cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger and cloves.
I don’t generally make or eat things that are frosted due to the high fat content of frosting, even if it is vegan, but I’ve managed to keep the fat pretty low on these by only using no more than 1 tablespoon of frosting per cupcake, which is plenty and just right. Still, these are a treat and not something I’d recommend be eaten regularly. 🙂
*Oil-free if left unfrosted. The cupcake itself is oil/fat-free but Tofutti Cream Cheese is made with oil.
Chocolate Chip Banana Bites. Vegan. Oil-free. Low-fat. Gluten-free*
A few ingredients and a couple of really ripe bananas is all you need for this easy recipe. These little bites are dense and delicious! They’re also wheat free (gluten-free if using certified gluten-free oat flour), and low-fat. I recently substituted dried cranberries for the chocolate chips for a friend who doesn’t like chocolate (can you imagine?). They were delicious even without the chocolate chips!
The only problem with these is that they don’t last long when I make them.
*gluten-free when using certified gluten-free oat flour
In honor of National Oatmeal Day on 10/29/16 (tell me about it; they have a day for everything), I wanted to share this recipe for Apple Cinnamon Baked Oatmeal. I love it! The texture sort of reminds me of firm bread pudding. Better yet, it has no dairy, eggs, oil, gluten and is sweetened only with fruit! It’s really easy to make and great to serve for a brunch, your own breakfast or I often eat it as a snack. I like to eat it cold with a little soy milk poured on top, but it’s also really good warm. It’s mildly sweet so a little maple syrup drizzle wouldn’t be the worst idea. 🙂 One quarter of the pan is officially a serving but when eating it as a snack I generally slice up an eighth of the pan.
