Healthy Banana Pumpkin Ice Cream

I had eight very ripe, with tons of those little brown spots, bananas sitting on my counter.  It was only a matter of time before the pesky fruit flies appeared.  I hate those things, they seem to hide and one always pops up days later.  I wasn't in the mood for baked goods but had been craving pumpkin ice cream.  So we experimented and loved the result.  A healthy ice cream that the girls could have for breakfast if they wanted to!  I've seen many variations (nutella, peanut butter, maple walnut) of banana ice cream, and plan on trying some others next time I have an overripe bunch.

Ingredients

4-8 bananas, whatever you have that is nice and very ripe
1/2 - 1 1/4 cup of pureed pumpkin
cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice to taste

Recipe

1. Slice your very ripe bananas into coins, lay out on a cookie sheet lined with waxed or parchment paper and freeze them for 1-2 hours.  Some people squeeze fresh lemon on them before freezing to preserve the color.  
2. If you froze for longer than 2 hours you will want to allow the slices to warm up for 15 minutes.   Put 1/2 cup of pumpkin in blender then add half of your bananas.  Blend.  You will will have to stop and stir and mash a bit until the mixture gets moving.  Add more bananas as mixture gets going.  Do you not add liquid if you plan to freeze later, it will cause ice crystals.  Blend until smooth once all the bananas are added.
3. Taste the ice-cream.  Do you want more pumpkin flavor?  Add more pumpkin.  Add your spices a little at a time now too.  Keep tasting until you get the flavor your family prefers.  The bananas will taste different depending on how ripe they are so you will likely make a different recipe each time.  Tasting is fun anyways!
4. You can serve the ice cream soft serve now, we love it this way!  Or put into a freezer container with a lid and freeze for 2 or more hours.  Then you can pull out and scoop.  It scoops best if you let it warm up for 10-20 minutes first.

Banana Oat Whole Wheat Waffles

 

Labor Day weekend has come and gone.  When I was in school this marked the end of summer, the time to catch those last bits of sunshine before the school year began.  Now living in Ohio our children are already in school two weeks before Labor Day.  But it's still feels like the last bit of summer before school starts.  Our neighborhood pool closes on Labor Day so there is always a crowd of swimmers, the last jumps off the diving board, last ice creams at the pool, last lazy dinner while the kids splash around.  And for us it also means we just spent an amazing weekend in northern Michigan at my in-laws cottage.

Now back to food.  What does this have to do with waffles?   Oops I left a bunch of bananas out and they got very ripe while we were away.  So I created this recipe using my favorite combo of whole wheat/ground oatmeal/flour.  I like to top waffles with cinnamon, sugar, more bananas and toasted pecans.

 

Ingredients

Dry
1 cup oatmeal
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
Wet
2 tbsp brown sugar
3 tbsp. melted butter
2 eggs or 1/2 cup pasteurized egg product
2 large ripe bananas
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup milk

Recipe

1. Blend oatmeal in a blender for a minute or two.  I actually shake mine around to get it all blended.
2. Put blended oatmeal and all dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Whisk ingredients until combined.
3. Place wet ingredients in blender.  Blend until combined.
4. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients.  Mix just until combined, batter will have some lumps.  Try not to over mix.
5. Cook according to your waffle makers instructions.  Enjoy! 

Almond Flour Banana Muffins

 

Looking for some tasty snacks that don't pack a huge sugar rush?  My good friend recommended that we try almond meal. These muffins were yummy, just sweet enough with a little salt taste and filling.  The girls could eat them in the evening and we didn't have to worry about a huge running frenzy afterward!  They also made a great breakfast along with some fruit.  You can taste the butter used in the batter so there is no need to add any.  I may even try to half or omit the butter next time.  Enjoy!

Ingredients
3 cups blanched almond flour or almond meal
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
3  eggs or pasteurized egg product
2 large or 3 medium very ripe bananas, mashed
1/3 cup honey or maple syrup, use less if the bananas are very ripe and sweet
1/4 c up melted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 c up or so chopped pecans

Recipe

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease or line a cupcake pan with wrappers.
2. In large bowl whisk almond flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder and cinnamon together
3. In medium bowl mix eggs, bananas, honey, butter and vanilla together until combined.
4. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix just until combined.  Do not overmix.
5. Fill muffin cups and top with chopped nuts.  Bake 20 minutes for muffins and 12-15 minutes for mini muffins.  Or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
6. Cool for one minute in the pan then remove to wire rack to finish cooling.

Recipe inspired by 

This recipe inspired by justapinch.com

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This recipe inspired by nuts.com

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Banana Oatmeal Whole Wheat Pancakes

 

We have tried countless pancake recipes and this is my current favorite.  They are dense but fluffy, sweet but not too sweet, hearty and filling and most of all absolutely yummy.  The girls gobble these up and there is only 1/2 cup of brown sugar in a double batch!  I always double the recipe so I have enough left over to freeze two packs of 8-10 pancakes.  I love to be able to pop pancakes from the freezer for an any day treat.

Ingredients
1 cup uncooked rolled oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 egg
2 cups milk or rice milk
1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 banana, mashed
2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Recipe adapted from 

This recipe comes from all recipes

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Recipe

1. Blend the oatmeal in a blender until it resembles course flour.  Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large bowl (from oatmeal to cinnamon)
2. Now that the blender is empty add remaining ingredients (egg through vanilla) and blend until well combined.
3. Pour the wet ingredients into the the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.  If the batter seems too thick add more milk a tablespoon at a time.  It should be thicker, not runny
4. Heat large griddle to medium heat.  Drop pancakes in desired size.  We use around a heaping quarter cup for each pancake.  Flip when bubbles form on top top to brown the other side.
5. Serve warm with fruit or syrup if desired.  These are sweet enough to stand on their own, go light on the syrup

Original Recipe Modifications

• eliminated the dry milk
• added cinnamon
• blended ingredients instead of hand mixing
• reduced oil
• increased banana
• used rice milk
• used pasteurized egg product

Easy Blender Banana Oatmeal Pancakes

So my girls wanted pancakes and eggs this thursday morning.  I wanted them to have a healthy version so I took a stab at my own recipe.  The flavor is great and I will be making and tweaking this recipe in the future, success!  The batter is a thinner batter so smaller fast cooking pancakes are best.  You can let the batter sit for a while for a fluffier pancake, well if your family isn't as impatient to eat as mine is!  I read an interesting article on the affects of baking powder and baking soda, kinda cool to learn the science behind the ingredients The Food Lab: Baking Powder vs. Baking Soda

Ingredients

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cups old fashion oats

1 tablespoon brown sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon or to taste

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup rice milk (can use milk/soy milk/almond milk)

1 tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 cup pasteurized eggs or 2 eggs

1 really large or two small bananas, in pieces around a cup

Recipe

1. Place all ingredients in blender and blend until just mixed.
2. Heat oiled/buttered griddle over medium high heat.  Add batter 1/4 cup at a time.  Flip when bubbles begin to form

Banana Oatmeal Bugs and Muffins

It is a great experience having young imaginative children.  Cadence has such a delightful sense of humor and makes us laugh all the time.  So when we ran across a bug pan at Costco and she thought it was so funny to have buggy food I had to get it.  I feel like a child again when she draws me into her little world.  These buggy cakes and muffins were both delish and a fun adventure.  Try the recipe it's healthy and super yummy and if you want some adventure make it buggy ;-)

Recipe Modifications

• Used 1/2 cup brown sugar instead of white sugar
• Added 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup white sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg

3/4 cup milk

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup mashed bananas

Recipe

This recipe comes allrecipes

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Banana Nutella Muffins

I had left over bananas and a wanted some nutella and thought wouldn't a banana nutella muffin be so good.  A quick search later and I had multiple recipes at my fingertips.  Less than an hour after that I had hot out of the oven muffins.  Don't you just love how that works!  The girls absolutely loved these and gobbled them up.  Michael is gunning for a nutella pie so he won't admit to loving anything until we make that pie ;-)  I'm now inspired to create my own banana nutella muffin that's a bit healthier so we can enjoy these all the time.  And as an added bonus I got to use my new sifter for the first time.  Prior to this I just sifted with a mesh screen used to drain fat or prevent splatters

Recipe Modifications

• Only used 1/2 teaspoon instead of 1 teaspoon nutella for center and top of muffin.
• Only used 1 cup of sugar.  In future would try to substitute 1/2 cup brown and 1/4 cup white, I love the taste of brown sugar with banana

Ingredients

2 ripe, mashed bananas

2 cups flour

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup sour cream

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup Nutella

Recipe

This recipe comes from Lets Dish Recipes a food blog I just discovered.   

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Brown Sugar-Banana Muffins

Almost everyone who eats bananas has experienced too ripe to eat bananas.  And when this happens it's time to bake!  I took advantage of my 21 month old waking up at 5:30am this Saturday morning and made these delicious light and cakey banana muffins.  I even made a mistake missing the egg addition, which I added at the last addition of the banana mixture and these turned out so well.  If you like a less sweet muffin you could adjust the amount of brown sugar based on how ripe your bananas are.  As they ripen they become sweeter.  We will be making this recipe again and again.

Recipe Modifications

• Used 1/4 cup of milk and 3/4 teaspoon lemon juice instead of buttermilk
• Used pasteurized eggs instead of eggs

Ingredients
1/2  cup  butter, softened
1  cup  firmly packed brown sugar
2  large eggs
1  cup  mashed ripe bananas (about 2 large)
1/4  cup  buttermilk
1  teaspoon  vanilla extract
2 1/4  cups  all-purpose flour
3/4  teaspoon  baking soda
1/2  teaspoon  baking powder
1/2  teaspoon  salt
1/2  cup  toasted chopped pecans

Recipe
For this recipe I used a southern living recipe.  They do look very southern with the toasted pecans on the top!

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