Coconut Banana Mini Muffins

Whenever I see a pile of ripe bananas the first thing I think of is banana bread.  It’s sort of funny really because it’s not something I eat a lot, but I have some vivid memories of my mom’s homemade banana bread growing up.

But now that I’ve given up gluten and am trying to cut back on my sugar, I wasn’t sure what to do with the pile of over ripe bananas on my counter.  Until I realized there was no reason I could still have banana bread.  There were lots of recipes online but they all had ingredients I didn’t have.  So  in typical Janel fashion I went into the kitchen, took out a pile of ingredients and set them all out on my kitchen island.  I then proceeded to create this recipe 100% from scratch.

I ended up making mini muffins instead of a loaf just because it was hot and I wanted to cook them in my toaster oven.

I expected the measurements to possibly need some tweaking since I didn’t base it off anything, but amazingly they came out perfect the first time.  My grandma who doesn’t like gluten free or low sugar foods ate 5 of these mini muffins.  In fact my husband, who usually wont try my creations, even though they were yummy!

You don't need to be gluten free to try these amazing little muffins.  They're lower in carbs than traditional muffins would be, they're free of refined sugar, high in fiber, and full of delicious flavor.  Seriously, you've got to try these yummy little muffins!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup almond meal

2 TBS ground flax meal

3 TBS unsweetened, finely flaked coconut

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. baking powder

2 medium ripe bananas, mashed

2 eggs

1 TBS coconut oil, melted

15 drops liquid stevia

1.  In a medium bowl combine banana, liquid stevia, egg and melted coconut.  Mix very well.

2.  In a separate bowl combine all dry ingredients.  Add dry ingredient to wet ingredients and mix until thoroughly combined.

3.  Spoon into a mini muffin pan.  These are going to have a tendency to stick so I suggest coating the pan well, or using mini muffin liners.  Either will work.

4.  Bake at 400 degrees for 15-18minutes until browned on top.  These taste better just a tad over done as opposed to under done.

5.  Let cool and enjoy!

Recipe - Oatmeal Banana Power Pancakes

This is a great breakfast for anyone.

Whether you’re looking to cut out gluten, refined sugars or lower your calories, or because you just want something yummy and healthy for breakfast.

I’d seen recipes for oatmeal pancakes but none of them came out good so I set out to create my own, that would be as packed with flavor as it was with nutrition and I think I did just that!

　

I’m calling this my…..

　

Oatmeal Banana Power Pancakes

Ingredient:

2 egg whites

1/2 banana, smashed

1/4 cup old fashioned oats

2 tsps. raw hemp seeds

2 tsps. ground flax

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

6 drops liquid stevia

1. In a small bowl combine all dry ingredients.

2. In a separate bowl mash the banana very well. Add in liquid stevia and vanilla. Add in egg whites.

3. Combine all wet and dry ingredients and mix well. Allow the mixture to rest for 10 minutes.

4. In a large skillet form 3-4 small pancakes. Cook about 2-3 minutes until they easily move about and then flip. Cook an additional 2-3 minutes. These taste better slightly over done as opposed to underdone because of the banana and egg. Make sure to coat the pan lightly first so they do not stick.

5. Serve and enjoy!

　

Notes:
* If you don’t like Stevia or don’t use it this can easily be substituted with a sweetener of your choice. Though I haven’t personally tried I think maple syrup or raw honey would taste amazing. The banana also has a lot of natural sweetness so depending on your taste preference you might be able to omit it completely.

* Another substitute I’ve made if you don’t have hemp seeds is to omit them and use a full TBS of ground flax and it taste just as delicious.
         * If you want this recipe to be gluten free make sure you use gluten free oats.

Recipe - Crock Pot Cinnamon Honey Applesauce (Refined Sugar Free)

If you read my last post you know I had 3lbs of organic fuji apples that I got for a bargain.  Unfortunately I already had apples in the fridge so I wanted to find a way to use them all up and then it hit me - make applesauce!  (which is delicious...unless its store bought which is not so great). 

I searched the internet and found various crock pot recipes but they all had too much sugar.  So with the basic idea of apples, some liquid and some kind of sweetener and I just winged it and made up my own recipe!

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs of apples (I used organic fuji)
• 1 TBS ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 TBS raw honey
• 1/2 tsp liquid stevia

I used 3lbs of organic fuji apples (not all in the picture).

 The next step is to peel them all.

 Then I cored and roughly chopped all the apples into about 1 inch piece and threw in the crock pot.  I also sprinkled them with cinnamon and drizzled with stevia and raw honey then tossed to coat.  Then add in the water.  I cooked it on low for about 7 hours.  I then pureed it with my hand blender but you could easily have put this in a food processor.  Just blend to your desired consistency depending on how chunky or smooth you like it.

Once cooled it will look like this.

It made about 4 cups!  It was incredibly delicious and almost like apple butter mixed with applesauce.

The only note I will make is that this has a VERY strong cinnamon taste.  If you're not a huge cinnamon fan like me I would recommended cutting it down to about 1/2 TBS of cinnamon.

Definitely give this a try.  It's a lot cheaper than store bought applesauce, taste better and is more nutritious!