Nutella Banana Smoothie

Yesterday was such a beautiful and sunny day here in Southern British Columbia! We have been so blessed to have such a beautiful July and I hope this amazing weather continues through August as well! When the weather is this warm, we usually wait until later in the evening to walk the dog so he doesn't get overheated (and maybe so we don't get overheated too!!). After we went for our dog walk, I was craving something cold and creamy... something that was refreshing but could also substitute as dessert. After a quick check of what I had on hand, I came up with the idea for a Nutella Banana Smoothie! It is mostly dairy-free except for the small amount of dairy in the Nutella. You could substitute one of the dairy free nut butters or spreads for a truly dairy free beverage though (note I haven't tested this option though, so I'm not sure how it will taste).

Nutella Banana Smoothie
Recipe by A Tale of One Foodies Culinary Adventures

Ingredients:

• 1 banana
• 2 tbsp. Nutella
• 6-8 ice cubes (add more if your smoothie isn't thick enough)
• 1/4 cup coconut milk
• 1/4 cup almond milk (or more if your smoothie is too thick)

Method:

1. Combine banana, Nutella, coconut milk and almond milk in blender. Blend until smooth. Add ice cubes to blender a few cubes at a time blending until smoothie reaches desired thickness. Top with dairy free whipped topping if desired & enjoy!

I love how quickly this smoothie came together and it literally tasted like a decadent milkshake! I can tell this is going to become a regular beverage in our house. What is your favorite kind of smoothie to make? Feel free to share your favorite recipe or flavour in the comments below!

Cheers!

Banana Oatmeal Pancakes

 

My hubby and my family have abandoned me this weekend - all off doing their own things, so its just me and the dog all alone all weekend! If you know me, you know that I get bored and lonely pretty fast when I'm all alone! So this morning I was feeling a tad sorry for myself and decided I would make myself a healthy, yet indulgent breakfast. So I surfed the net and came up with Cookie and Kate's blog - about Kate and her dog Cookie. On her blog she had a fantastic sounding recipe for gluten free banana oat pancakes. With a couple modifications due to personal preference, I was on my way! Boy were these delicious! I can't wait to make them again. Hope you enjoy as much as I did!



Banana Oatmeal Pancakes
Minimally adapted from Cookie & Kate

Ingredients:

• 3 small ripe bananas, mashed
• 2 tbsp. coconut oil, melted
• juice of 1/2 a large lemon
• 2 tsp honey
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup oats - pulse 1/2 of them in your food processor to make oat flour and keep the other half whole (I like the texture of oats - if you think you won't like the texture, pulse all of the oats in your food processor)
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

 Method

1. In a medium bowl, combine mashed bananas and melted coconut oil. Stir well to combine. Then add remaining wet ingredients - lemon juice, honey, vanilla and eggs. Beat until well mixed.
2. In another medium bowl, combine oat flour, oats, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Stir until combined.
3. Pour dry ingredients into wet ingredients and mix until just moistened. Let batter stand for 10 minutes while you heat up your pan or your griddle over medium-low heat.
4. Using a non-stick pan pour 1/4-1/2 cups of batter onto the pan and flatten with your measuring cup until it is about 1/2 inch thick. Allow to cook until edges are set and bottom is a beautiful golden brown. Flip and continue cooking until other side is golden brown and pancake is cooked through.
5. Enjoy right away, topped with a dallop of honey flavoured greek yogurt and some fresh sliced strawberries.

These are super filling pancakes because of the oats in them - so while the batch looks small, it will actually feed 2-3 people quite comfortably. Mine made 3 1/2 cup sized pancakes and one pancake filled me up and kept me going til lunch time!

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend. Happy Baking my Friends!

February 2012 Daring Bakers' Challenge: Quick Breads

Seems like this month has just flown by... I know, I say that every single time I post a challenge, but its true. It is amazing how quickly so much time can pass while it feels as though I haven't had a chance to blink! This month's challenge was really easy and something I've made a lot of. So I decided to try out some flavours and recipes I haven't experimented with much - first - Whole Wheat Soda bread with Oats & Rosemary and second - Coconut Banana Muffins. They both turned out deliciously.

The Daring Bakers’ February 2012 host was – Lis! Lisa stepped in last minute and challenged us to create a quick bread we could call our own. She supplied us with a base recipe and shared some recipes she loves from various websites and encouraged us to build upon them and create new flavor profiles.

First, I'll share the savory recipe with you -  its delicious. Prepare yourself so you don't end up eating two loaves of this stuff all by yourself. Find someone to give it away to, or put it in the freezer, whatever you have to do! Because if you leave it on the counter, you will eat it!!

Whole Wheat Soda Bread with Rosemary &Oats
Recipe minimally adapted from No More Secrets by Adrienne Johnston

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp kosher salt, plus extra for sprinkling
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup rolled oats, plus extra for sprinkling
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 2 tbsp + 1 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary 

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Stir together the flours, salt, baking soda, baking powder and 2 tbsp of the rosemary. Add the oats and stir well. Mix together the buttermilk and the egg. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until it forms a dough.
3. Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface and knead briefly until a sticky, but manageable dough is formed. Divide into two and form into flattish rounds about six inches in diameter. Place the loaves on parchment lined baking sheet, sprinkle with oats, remaining tsp fresh rosemary, kosher salt, and a bit of flour. Bake in the middle of the preheated oven for about 30 minutes, until lightly browned. They should sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.

See what I have to resort to in order to get photos? Leaving threatening letters to my family: "Eat & Die!! No Touch!! Needs to be Photographed" LOL!! A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do right?!

Next up, these delectable muffins... coconut, banana and lime! It doesn't get any better than that for breakfast. Get ready to feel like you're somewhere tropical, because these babies will make you feel like you're on the beach!

Coconut Banana Muffins
Recipe adapted from Anna Olson's Back to Baking

Ingredients:

• 2 large, ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cuppacked dark brown sugar
• 1 egg
• finely grated zest of one lime
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup coconut milk - refrigerate the can, scrape off the thick white portion and use the clear liquid from the bottom of the can for this recipe.
• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup sweetened, flaked coconut

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 375F and line a muffin tin with paper liners.
2. Stir the bananas and sugar together, then stir in the egg, lime zest, and vanilla. Stir in the coconut milk.
3. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, and salt, then add the flour mixture to the banana mixture and stir until combined. Mix in the coconut and spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tin.
4. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes, until the muffins spring back when gently pressed. Let muffins cool for 10 minutes before removing from the tin to cool completely. The muffins will keep in an airtight container for up to three days.

Yep, these recipes are pretty delicious. You should try them out when you get a chance!

Thanks Lis for hosting a back to the basics challenge. Sometimes simple is a refreshing change from complex and time consuming. I really enjoyed the break this month, but hopefully back with a more "daring" challenge for March!! :)

This blog has been linked up with Mouthwatering Mondays over at the Sweet Spot. Head on over there to check out what other delicious treats bloggers have baked up this week.
Happy Baking my Friends!

Best Banana Bread Ever... Seriously!

It happens to everyone - you don't eat your bananas fast enough and suddenly you have a bunch of brown, soft bananas on your hands. You don't want to waste them, but they're not exactly fit to just eat on their own. Make banana bread with them! Its quick, easy, delicious and can be healthy too (depends on the recipe you use!). You can be in and out of your kitchen in one and a half hours - 15 minutes of prep time and about 1 hour and 5 minutes in the oven. Not a bad deal for such a delicious tasting treat!

My favorite banana bread recipe is from a cookbook I received as a wedding present called The Best Bake Sale Ever written by Barbara Grunes. Its such a great cookbook - every recipe I've baked out of it has been a success. Any way, on to the recipe!

Just-The-Best Banana Raisin Brean

Minimally Adapted from The Best Bake Sale Ever

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1 tsp each baking powder and baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 6 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature (for a lower fat alternative, substitute 1/2 or all of the butter with unsweetened applesauce)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (to cut down on sugar, you can use splenda brown sugar in place of real brown sugar)
• 1 egg
• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (3-4 very ripe bananas)
• 1 cup chocolate chips (or omit this all together for plain banana bread)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Spray or grease a non-stick loaf pan (9x5 inch).
2. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, cream butter for a few minutes until it changes colour (should be almost white). Add sugars and continue beating until fluffy and light (about 2 minutes). Add the egg, beat well. Mix in the bananas. Beat in flour mixture. Add chocolate chips, raisins or whatever you're adding to the batter.
4. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Bake in center of preheated oven for 1 hour and 5 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
5. Cool bread in pan for 5 minutes, then invert onto wire rack and turn right side up to cool completely.

This banana bread recipe is great! Be sure to use really ripe bananas - they blend into the batter nicer and also impart more flavour into the bread. While you're at it - double the recipe and make two loafs - you'll eat it all, don't worry! Enjoy!

Happy Baking my Friends!

Muffin Mania!

Over the past month I have been baking muffins so that my hubby and sister have something to eat for breakfast and snacks! I baked some plain banana muffins which were really nicely flavoured and very light and fluffy, but I found them to be a little boring. I think if I made them again I would add some ingredients to them to make them a little more exciting! Here is a picture of the finished product:

I'm not going to share the recipe for these muffins because I want to experiment with them a little bit more to get the recipe just right. If any of you would like the plain banana muffin recipe, let me know and I can email it to you.

The recipe that I am going to share with you is for mini lemon muffins. I found a recipe for lemon loaf in my cookbook The Girl Can't Cook by Cinda Chavich, which I'm sure by now you can tell is one of my favorite cookbooks!! I use it all the time. I adapted the recipe and made it in mini muffin tins which turned out really cute!

Mini Lemon Muffins (Adapted from Cinda Chavich's Classic Lemon Loaf)

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 large lemon
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup plain or vanilla yogurt
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup icing sugar

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease mini muffin pan.In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Remove the lemon zest and add to the flour mixture. Juice the lemon and set aside for the drizzle.
2. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs with granulated sugar, yogurt and oil. Fold in flour mixture and mix until batter is smooth. Add any extras such as poppyseeds now.
3. Spoon batter into prepared mini muffin tins. Bake approximately 20 minutes or until mini muffins are done and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
4. Cool the muffins in the pan, on a rack. Whick reserved lemon juice with icing sugar to make the drizzle. Poke holes in each muffin and drizzle lemon mixture over the hot muffins. Let cool completely before removing from the pan.

Enjoy!

Next time I make these I am going to use both lemon zest and lime zest and I am going to add poppyseeds too. I think this will add some nice colour as well as texture to the recipe. Let me know what your ideas are for this recipe!