b a k e a h o l i c

2-Ingredient Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream

July 12, 2013

I have a passion for Bananas. You might say I’m a connoisseur. We usually have one or two large bunches in the house at all times. I love them on their own, sliced over warm oatmeal, mixed in with cool cereal, over ice cream (even banana ice cream), in cookies, as a substitute for butter in many baking recipes, and even in brownies. You might say Banana’s are one of my favourite fruits. I think they’re tied with apples. I feel like apples and bananas are just a given staple in our house, we’re never without either of them. Ok, well maybe not true for this week.

Adam sold his truck last week, so he’s been taking my car to work (since I’m only at school a few days a week). This means during the day I have no car. Although, we live right across from an outdoor shopping centre/mall that I can easily walk to if we actually needed anything. It’s funny, I thought I’d be over there everyday when we first moved in, and much to Adam’s surprise, and probably relief, I don’t go over that often. Maybe once every two-three weeks I’ll walk over and shop (it’s not as hard as I though it’d be to live across from an H&M haha.) This is probably because I’m so busy anyways to even have time to stroll over and peruse.

I have been trying, and I mean trying not to go overboard with buying groceries. I was feeling like we were throwing away a lot of produce at the end of the week because it wasn’t getting eaten. And I wasn’t happy about it (although we do compost all organics.) I tried to blame Adam, because really he won’t make himself food unless I’ve already prepared it. He only eats breakfast at home, lunch at work, and then I make dinner. However, if there is produce etc in the fridge and he’s hungry, he’d rather not go to the hassle of making an entire meal, and opt for something like an apple or bowl of cereal if I’m not making something. He’s not a fan of cooking. So, a lot of the food doesn’t get eaten. And I’m home most of the day now that school is out, and my classes are later in the day. I only really eat a small breakfast and a smoothie, so I’m not making a huge meal other than dinner. But when it comes to dinner it is always heavy on the veggies. But still, I was finding I was throwing out some bad lettuce or even kale, tomatoes, cucumber etc. that I had bought too much of in anticipation of eating it during the week.

I think it’s also our schedules. Lately, I’ve had baseball Monday night, Tuesday and Wednesday I have classes until late, and then Thursday I might have baseball again. So, we’re not home for dinner a few nights each week. Which means, lots of veggies get left. Weekend are usually ok, because we’ll make dinner Friday, Saturday and Sunday at home.

In the end, I’ve realized I have to buy less groceries. Even though Adam can eat a lot. Usually we’ll just go up to the produce market or the butcher shop that night if we want to make a specific meal. Now, I do love meal planning, and I always have some idea of what I want to make that week, but I won’t buy all the items just in case we actually don’t get around to having time for dinner that week.

I have to say, it’s actually nice not to have to go on a big grocery run, or think I had ‘better go buy that.’ It’s against my usual habits, but I think I’ll get used to buying less. And hey – even better, less money, and no money/food wasted, which was my biggest concern, wasting food.

Do you do a big grocery shop at the beginning of each week? Or do you buy-as-you-go for meals, and pick up that day?

One thing I never worry about really is fruit. If it’s starting to brown, it goes in the freezer. And when it comes to Bananas, you can never waste them. If they’re really brown/starting to brown, they either get sliced up for banana ice cream, whole for banana bread, or for smoothies and put in the freezer.

And even better – 2-Ingredient Peanut Butter Banana Ice cream. My new favourite combination.

banapb

It’s super easy, and can be prepped well in advance, and kept in the freezer for up to a month. For summer I think I’ll have a batch in the freezer each week for a quick healthy, yet satisfying, sweet frozen treat to beat the heat.

pb ice cream

2-Ingredient Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream

Wheat-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, sugar-free, vegan

4 Medium ripe bananas
1-2 Tbsp. All Natural Peanut Butter

Directions:

Slice your bananas, and place into a plastic freezer bag. Make sure they are in a single layer, and lay flat in the freezer. Allow to freeze overnight, or up to a week.

Remove frozen banana slices from freezer and place in food processor.

Turn food processor on and blend bananas, stopping to scrape down when needed. This will take about 5 minutes. Pulse if you need to, and stop to scrape down the sides so the chunks all get mixed int.

Allow to blend until smooth. When it is all blended, add in the Peanut Butter. Pulse again until completely mixed.

You can eat it like this, soft serve, or, transfer ice cream to a plastic tupperware container and return to freezer. Freeze at least 3-4 hours, or longer before serving. Keep leftovers in the freezer.

Berries

Summer Fruit Crisp {Sugar-Free, Wheat-Free, Gluten-Free & Vegan}

July 10, 2013

Summer has found a way to creep up on me. Without realizing it, our calendar has completely filled up until the middle of August. A last minute trip to northern BC this weekend has begun what will be a very busy, and fun, next month.

Adam started a new job at the beginning of July, from an electrician, to an electrician salesman selling huge electrical generators. He used to work in sales, his first degree was in marketing. So it’s been an exciting month so far! Along with a new job, came a new car (woohooo!) and my brother has a friend who owns a dealership up north, who happened to get us a great deal on a Jeep Wrangler Sahara; a car Adam had been eyeing for a while. So, we’re flying up this Friday and driving the 10 hours back down to Vancouver on Sunday in our brand new car!

Then, every weekend after that seems to be booked too! I have Provincials for baseball, then going down to the states with some friends, then to Merritt for a camping trip with my cousins, and then it’s the long weekend and the family is all going up to Osoyoos for the weekend/week. And finally – we’re ending it off with a bang in Vegas! Just talking about all that has made me exhausted.

I’m looking forward to it all, but I’m also a little stressed about school! I have tons of final assignments coming up, and I’m trying to finish them along with the regular homework assignments.

One thing I worry about while traveling and on vacation is eating healthy, and finding time for exercise. Usually if we’re in the states we’ll go for walks, or bike rides and swimming. In osoyoos there’s plenty of walking, and rollerblading or biking to keep us busy.

I try and pack health snacks and food, like preparing food ahead of time for camping. Usually weekends are hectic and busy which also means lots of snacking, usually on unhealthy pre-packaged type foods. I try to pre-make snacks, like homemade trail mix, protein pods, granola, lots of fruit and even veggies. One of my new favourite tricks is storing cut veggies in some water in a glass mason jar. It keeps them crisp, and super easy to take along with you.

berries blue berrie

I had some fruit leftover from camping that was beginning to soften, so I thought i would throw together a mixed fruit crumble/crisp with them. I also thought about how I could make it healthier than the sugar and butter laden usual fruit crisps.

I made the topping with two ingredients: oats & bananas. Two of my favourites. I simply pureed the bananas with some cinnamon, then tossed in the oatmeal. When it baked, it became a crunchy, delicious topping like a baked oatmeal dish (because, that’s basically what it is.) I also added a small tablespoon of applesauce, because I had it in the fridge. You can add it too, or just use bananas.

I find regular fruit crisps/crumbles can be mushy, the buttery top is usually oily looking, while this topping stayed crispy on top and slightly soft underneath.

bam topping

The fruit can be anything you have on hand. I didn’t add any sugar to it whatsoever – fruit is naturally sweet, and baking it makes it even more flavourful. I’ve been trying to cut sugar out of my diet, and I can really feel a difference when I do. I’m calmer, more focused and my blood sugar doesn’t drop and spike. I sprinkled the top of the fruit with maybe a tablespoon of rice flour to thicken it up a bit. It also thickened up more the next day, too.

healthy Summer Fruit Crisp
sugar-free, wheat-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, Vegan

Ingredients:

Topping:

2 Cups Rolled Oats (I like to us the TJ’s dairy free, wheat free, gluten free version, or Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Rolled Oats)
1 1/2 Bananas

Fruit:

2 Nectarines
1 Peach
1 Cup Blueberries (fresh/frozen)
1 Cup Raspberries (fresh/frozen)
1/2 cup blackberries (fresh/frozen)

I used a mixture of fresh and frozen fruit – the nectarines and peaches were fresh, as well as the blueberries. I had a bag of mixed frozen berries of raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries that I used as well.

To make the topping:

Puree the banana with a blender, and add a few dashes of cinnamon. Add the rolled oats and mix together well. Set aside.

To assemble:

Cut the nectarines and peach into medium sized chunks, and place in the bottom of a baking dish. Layer on top the rest of the berries, sprinkle with 1 tbs of wheat-free, gluten-free flour if you like (you can totally leave it out.)

coconut

Spoon the banana/oat mixture evenly on top of the fruit. You can sprinkle the top with a pinch of coconut sugar, as I did at the end too. I just discovered coconut sugar, and it’s pretty good. Not a great substitute for brown sugar, as it’s a bit dry but a great topping, or in place of refined white sugar. I had a scoop left of the oat mixture, and made a small cookie out of it and baked it on the cookie sheet for about 10 minutes.

Set the baking dish onto a cookie sheet.

Bake at 375 for 50-60 minutes. If the top is browning too much, cover it lightly with a piece of foil.

Let sit for 10 minutes, before diving in.

I topped mine with 1-Ingredient Banana Ice Cream, again, no sugar, no dairy.

It’s a perfect snack, dessert, or as I had it one morning, for breakfast (without the ice cream.) The entire crisp is sugar-free, wheat-free, dairy-free, and vegan. There’s still the same great, if not better taste as the ‘real’ thing thats saturated in butter and sugar.

Clean Eats, Healthy, Raw, Smoothie, Vegan

Cool as a Cucumber: Green Smoothie

July 9, 2013

Smoothies are one of my favourite snacks / meals. I usually have one a day, after a workout. They’re super refreshing, and when using the right ingredients, they are a huge boost of energy and nutrition.

I shared a Summer Citrus Smoothie a couple weeks ago, and thought I would share some more creations. A Green Smoothie is my go-to favourite. I usually throw in some spinach, kale, banana ice and almond milk and whirl it up in the blender. I thought I’d venture out and add a few more ingredients to my regular Green smoothie recipe.

I’ve seen lots of smoothies with cucumbers, but I never thought about adding them to mine. I wasn’t sure they would break down nicely, but the cucumber makes it cool and refreshing, and adds a great texture. I also added in a slice of avocado, which I’ve done before to make it super smooth and thick and creamy!

Smoothies are easy, refreshing, and packed with nutrients.