Build a Better PB&J - free of everything you want

 

I can't take any credit for this one. My friend S nearly always packs her lunch, and it always looks super yummy and super healthy. I first noticed these sandwiches a while back; it took me a long time to give it a try. I'm SO GLAD I did. 

Here's the thing: I've never liked PB&Js. I like bread. I like peanut butter. I like jam. I like bread with peanut butter. I like bread with jam. But I don't like all three all together. I know. I'm kind of a weirdo. Even my mom thinks so. 

But it turns out that I do like peanut butter and fruit. A lot. And just about any fruit will work here. While visiting, my mom made a peanut butter and nectarine sandwich she was quite happy with. Fresh blackberries are excellent. Sliced strawberries, sliced apples, and sliced bananas are all good. 

Besides the obvious benefit of no added sugar, you can make this breakfast/snack/lunch-if-you-add-another-piece-of-bread-and-pack-it-safely free of whatever allergen you need to. Regular or gluten free bread, any nut butter or sun butter, fruit of choice. It's that easy. 

 

For those of you who like instruction to come with your food photos, here goes:

1. Spread nut or non-nut butter of your choice on a favorite slice of bread.
2. Arrange fruit or slices of fruit (if large, like strawberries, bananas, apples, peaches, etc) on top in rows, or however the fruit is telling you to do so. 
3. If you're extra hungry, spread another piece of bread with nut/non-nut butter and place, sticky side down, on top of fruit. 
4. Eat. Enjoy. nom nom nom

I especially like this in the morning with a hot cup of tea. 

Have you tried this before? What are your favorite combinations?

Banana Bread Granola – vegan, gluten free & refined sugar free

This granola, man, has it been weighing on me. It took me several tries over the course of several weeks (months!) to get it right. I think it was actually cold out when I started this experiment. hmmm

Nevertheless, I'm so glad I plodded along. It was such a tease - the idea of it, the smells emanating from the oven, and then the taste, not quite right. But I persisted (and ate some burned granola along the way), and this weekend's batch confirmed my last recipe test and proved blog worthy.

Dear readers, believe me when I tell you: go make this. You won't be sorry. It's excellent, quick and easy in the morning with almond milk, and it's also pretty great as a snack. There's no refined sugar (unless you so choose), and it's full of whole grain, protein, fiber, and omega goodness. Perhaps you have a trip in your future? It packs well and will not earn you a glare or a pat down at security. They might be jealous, though.

Banana Bread Granola – vegan, gluten free & refined sugar free
adapted from Minimalist Baker

Below is what I use but feel free to pick and choose your add-ins or come up with some of your own. The various seeds and the wheat germ are completely optional, but I include them for nutrition. The sugar? Doesn't need it one bit. I argued with myself, but ultimately left it in the ingredients list so you can make your own decision. To start, you could try just 1 or 2 tablespoons. I also never needed to add in the extra tablespoon of liquid sweetener. As for oil, so far I like coconut oil best, but olive oil also works has the added bonus of not needing to melt. The recipe should work with just about any kind of oil you prefer; it's really just a matter of taste.

3 C rolled oats (GF for gluten free eaters)
¾ C walnuts
½ C pecans (I’ve also used hazelnuts)
3 Tbsp raw sugar (totally optional)
½ tsp sea salt or ¼ tsp table salt
1 Tbsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
1 Tbsp flax seed
1 Tbsp hemp seeds (optional)
1 Tbsp wheat germ (optional – skip for gluten free)
¼ C coconut oil (see note)
1/3 C + up to additional 1 Tbsp maple syrup, agave or honey if not vegan
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 medium ripe banana, mashed (~1/2 cup)


Preheat oven to 275F.

Using a large spoon or spatula, mix the oats, nuts, sugar if using, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and any seeds/wheat germ you're using together in a large bowl. If there's a fine coating of cinnamon on everything, it's well mixed.

In a small saucepan over medium low heat (or carefully in the microwave should also work), warm the coconut oil, maple syrup (or agave or honey) and vanilla extract. Once liquidy, remove from heat and whisk in banana puree until well combined. Pour over the dry ingredients and mix well.

Spread the mixture evenly onto one or two baking sheets (I lined mine for easy clean up, but Minimalist Baker did not) and bake for 75-90 minutes, gently turning occasionally, until golden brown and nearly crisp. I like to crack open the oven door now and then to let out some of the steam (accumulated moisture). I don’t know if doing so helps the granola crisp up faster or not, but it feels like it should.

Once the granola is visibly browned, remove from the oven and gently toss just a bit to let the heat escape. Cool completely (it will crisp up as it cools) on the baking sheet or in a heat-safe bowl. Store in a container or jar with an air-tight seal – it should keep for a couple weeks.

Baked Steel Cut Oats with Strawberries, Bananas, Almonds, and Chocolate - vegan & gluten free

I've been making overnight oatmeal for my breakfast at work for months now, and while it is super easy, delicious, and adaptable, it's also less delicious without lots of fresh fruit. It's sort of in between food seasons right now; winter crops are done and asparagus and strawberries are just starting to show themselves.

Bourbon Banana Bread - vegan

I have been ogling this recipe for a while now. But given normal life events and the predictable procrastination that goes along with them, and the fact that bananas rarely come home from the grocery store with me (yech), "a while" stretched to "too long." Seriously people, when you want bananas to brown, it takes forever, but when you buy them with the intention of eating them like a responsible adult they brown while your back is turned.

Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread - dairy free

Hi friends. I've missed you. But I'm hoping this delicious, delicious banana bread will bring us close once again.

Banana Hazelnut Breakfast Muffins - vegan

I've been on a bit of a kick lately- not a cleaning kick, exactly, but there has been some. Not a purging kick, either, though there has also been some of that. I think it's more of a use-things-up-or-put-them-away-out-of-sight-let's-see-some-order-around-here kind of kick. To clarify, I don't think our place is a mess or is super cluttered. I would just like it to be less so, some days. And some days I'm able to do something about it.

I forget why I bought the bag of hazelnuts in the first place, but it has been waiting, taunting me, and taking up space in my tiny kitchen for months. I think it may have actually made the move with us, so maybe I bought it with the intention of making nutella? or something Christmasy? Whatever the original intention was, I'm sure it was tasty, but time marches on and I want these nuts gone. Pronto.

Strawberry Banana Muffins - vegan

I have a habit, in this new home base of ours, of getting to the farmers' market about 20 minutes before it closes. Sometimes that means slim pickings, and sometimes that means the strawberry guy is shouting very loudly about $5 three packs he's doing his best to get rid of sell before closing. This Sunday, that meant I came home with normal amounts of onions, cherries, tomatoes, and peaches (yes!! peaches! they even taste good!). And strawberries. Lots of strawberries.

And so commenced a strawberry muffin search. The first one I tried wasn't bad exactly, but it sure wasn't good. I had such high hopes; the recipe came with pretty pictures and from a reputable source. I couldn't see a way to improve it enough, so I just started over and trusted myself.

This unfussy incarnation turned out sweet and light. In fact, I would be tempted to reduce the sugar even further next time, and I think almond extract could be a nice addition.


Strawberry Banana Muffins - vegan

1 1/2 C (8 oz) chopped strawberries

1/4 C plus 1/2 C sugar

1 C (16 oz) very ripe mashed banana (about 2 small)
1/3 C vegetable, olive, or coconut oil
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 C flour
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

Preheat oven to 350F and line a muffin tin with liners.

In a two-cup glass measuring cup or small bowl, combine strawberries and 1/4 cup sugar. Lightly mash and set aside.

Whisk together the banana, oil, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, 1/2 C sugar, and flour in a large bowl. Add in the strawberry mixture and vinegar and whisk until just combined.

Spoon batter into 12 muffin cups. They should be about 3/4 full. Bake on center rack for 20-25 minutes. Muffins will be puffed and slightly golden, and a cake tester inserted into the middle will come out clean.

Remove from oven and cool for about 5 minutes. Remove muffins from pan and allow to finish cooling on a rack.

Vegan Banana Bread

Prepare yourself for a surprise. Ready?

It's cold and rainy in Seattle.

You're shocked! I knew it. Sunday was actually a lovely day, and Official Taster and I continued to explore our new home. We found a giant, amazing dog park, and, more importantly, a community garden! I am so, so, so excited by this find. They don't post applications until January, so until then, I have to content myself with gardening books from the library and dreaming up a new garden plan every day. The plots are 400 square feet! That's a lot of basil, tomatoes, sunflowers, peppers, marigolds, beets, onions, and, pumpkins. Pumpkins are one of those veggies that are hard for apartment dwellers to grow simply because of the amount of space they need. They sprawl, vine, and, like zucchini, somehow take over whatever you allow them. If you can't tell, I'm already looking forward to next year's harvest.

In the meantime, however, I'm focused on staying warm and dry. Baking is the perfect solution. This banana bread is really good. Like, really, really good. It's first incarnation was ok, but nothing special. So I bought more bananas, let them turn brown, and then tried again. This time, it's perfect. (no, really. not to toot my own horn or anything, but this smelled and tasted like what I dream banana bread to be)

Vegan Banana Bread
1 stick vegan butter
3/4 C brown sugar
3 very ripe bananas, mashed (about 2 C)
2 C flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp apple cider vinegar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and spray a 9x5 loaf pan with cooking spray.

Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in the bananas. Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix to combine. Mix in vanilla. At the last moment, working quickly, add the vinegar and mix to combine. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.

Bake for 45-60 minutes, until nicely browned. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out fairly clean, but because of the moisture of the bananas, it won't be completely clean like when testing cakes.

Notes:
If your bananas need a little help getting to the "very" ripe stage, once you've chopped/mashed them up a bit, stick them in the microwave for about 20 seconds.

Just before adding the vinegar, feel free to mix in nuts, chocolate chips, dried fruit, coconut, or anything else you think would be tasty.

The idea with adding the vinegar at the last second is simple. When baking soda and vinegar combine, they produce bubbles (remember the volcano you made in fourth grade?). If you add them at the same time, early in the recipe, a lot of the bubble burst into the air. However, I think, if you wait to combine until the end, more of the bubbles get trapped in the batter, thus producing a lighter loaf.

This bread might be a very welcome gift during the holiday season. Be sure to make it fresh and wrap it well. Odds are good that the grateful recipient will eat it before it gets old.