Green Zebra Cakes (Paleo)

I cannot believe that my last post was almost a month ago! Honestly, I’ve been too busy to keep up with life outside of student teaching. Come mid-December, I promise to make it up to you. Surprisingly, I had a little time this weekend, so I was able to work on this post! It’s kinda Halloween-ish, right? Well, it’s a green and black treat if that makes a difference…until next time!

Green Zebra Cakes:

Base:

1 ripe banana

1/2 avocado

1/4 cup coconut butter

1/2 tbsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp salt

Chocolate Drip:

1/2 tbsp coconut oil, melted

2 tsp cacao powder

2 tsp honey or maple syrup

Directions:

Combine all base ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Spoon into silicone cupcake liners and place in the fridge for 1 hour. Afterwards, pop the cakes out of the cupcake liners and place on a plate.

In a small bowl, whisk together the chocolate drip ingredients. Drizzle over cakes. Upon contact with the cold cakes, the drizzle should harden up. Place in the fridge  until ready to serve.

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Banana Bars (Grain-Free)

I’ve been revisiting some of my old posts recently to see if I can make any minor improvements. This is a rather fun job for me as it involves a lot of taste testing! Plus, it’s a bit of a trip down memory lane (Hello, May 2012!). Good lord, how embarrassing some of my posts are…

While scrolling along, I came across my Carrot Bar recipe, which immediately made me start thinking of possible variations. The result? Banana bars!

Banana Bars

Ingredients: 

1 cup mashed banana (about 3 bananas)

3/4 cup plain yogurt

1/3 cup water

1/4 cup honey

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 tbsp flaxseed

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup coconut flour

Optional: 1/4 cup coconut flakes

Optional: 1/4 cup chocolate chips

Optional: 1/4 cup chopped almonds

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 13×9 baking dish.

Combine all ingredients (except chocolate chips and almonds) in a food processor and blend until a thick batter is formed. Stir in chocolate chips and almonds, if using. Spread batter in the baking dish and bake for 20 minutes. Allow to cool for at least 20 minutes before cutting and eating.

Oven-Baked Banana Pancakes (Paleo)

Pancakes have always frustrated me for a few reasons. 

1. The first batch takes forever to cook while anything after burns within 5 seconds
2. It takes forever to use up the whole batter (not good as I need breakfast asap in the a.m)
3. Someone is always whining in my hear “aren’t they ready yet? What’s taking so long??” 
4. I can never seem to flip them- they always break 
5. Everybody eats their serving while I’m still cooking 
6. and I am left with the mess to clean 

Needless to say, I didn’t make pancakes often. Until now. Because I now make them in the oven. Which makes the whole world run a little more smoothy. Parchment paper= little cleanup and oven= little labor, ability to multitask, and eating WITH my family. 

So this is a modified version of the banana pancake recipe that has become increasingly popular. You can try to make them traditionally, but I found they are even more hard to flip than regular pancakes. 

I just stick to my oven now 🙂

Note: I normally do not eat these with any honey/maple syrup or butter. They are sweet enough without it! 

Oven-Baked Banana Pancakes (Paleo)

Ingredients: 

1 brown-spotted banana 

1 egg 

2 tbsp tapioca starch/flour 

1 tbsp almond butter

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp baking powder 

1/8 salt 

Directions: 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line baking pan with parchment paper. Place banana in a bowl and mash well. Add in the rest of the ingredients and combine. Pour batter onto pan, using 2 tbsp worth for each pancake. Bake for 13 minutes. 

 

 

Flour-less Banana Cookies

And… I’m done!

Another semester complete!

I’m so excited to finally get the chance to sit down and read. My reading list has accumulated to over 20 books, so I’ll be nice and busy for a while 🙂

Of course, I’ll also be cooking and hopefully posting more frequently. To celebrate the beginning of my break, I thought I’d post a a super yummy and quick cookie recipe!

Now, I don’t know if I ever mentioned it, but I’m majoring in math and education. Eventually, I’m going for special education. As an end of the year treat, my teaching program went to New York City this week!

I only went there once before, so I was super excited to go. Unfortunately, we got into NYC at 3, so we only had a few hours to roam around. Because of this, we mostly stuck to the Times Square area.

I didn’t really mind – I was completely content with just looking around at the lights and colors. At night though, I went to my first Broadway play, Cinderella. Normally, musicals put me to sleep, so I was surprised that I loved the play so much!

Next on my list: The Lion King!

Flour-less Banana Cookies 

Ingredients:

1 ripe banana

1 tbsp unsweetened coconut flakes (optional)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp salt

2/3 cup oats

2 tbsp raisins and/or chocolate chips

Directions: 

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet with cooking oil. In a bowl, mash up a banana (I use a potato masher) and add and mix in coconut flakes, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in oats and raisins/chocolate chips. Bake for 13 minutes.