Banana Chocolate Chip Bars with Penuche Frosting

I know it's been ages since I've posted a recipe.  Thank you for your patience.  I have been enjoying my break from recipe testing and have kept myself more than busy with teaching and empowering people on how to live a healthier life.  I love and I mean LOVE doing this and meeting new people, hearing their stories and actually helping them heal.  It's an incredible feeling to know that by small means on my part, I can change a person's life for the better. If you want to know more about what I do, click here.

Anyway, on to the recipe.  I've had this stewing in my mind for a couple of weeks, and finally had a chance to make it. My boys absolutely loved it!

Banana Chocolate Chip Bars with Penuche Frosting

2 cups mashed bananas (~4 or so bananas)
3 eggs
1 cup sugar (or coconut sugar)
2/3 cup brown sugar (or coconut sugar)
1 cup oil of choice (canola or coconut oil)
2 cups GF flour blend
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoons cinnamon (if you want it really cinnamon-y try 2 teaspoons)
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup dairy free chocolate chips

Directions
Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease a half sheet pan (13x18x1) and set aside.

Mix together the banana, eggs, sugar, and oil.

In a separate bowl, combine flour blend, salt, cinnamon, baking soda, and baking powder.  Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix well.

Fold in chocolate chips and pour the batter into the greased pan.

Cook at 350F for 30 minutes.  Cool completely before frosting (recipe below).

Penuche Frosting

3/4 cup dairy-free margarine (1 1/2 sticks)

1 1/2 cups brown sugar (or coconut sugar)

1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons dairy-free milk (almond or coconut milk)

3- 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Directions

Melt butter over medium heat in a saucepan, add in the brown sugar and heat for about 2 minutes.  Add in the milk and cook until the mixture boils.  Remove from heat and let the mixture cool until it is lukewarm (I'm not patient, so I stuck it in the fridge for a few minutes...just don't forget about it).

Once cooled to lukewarm, gradually whisk (I used an electric mixer) in the powdered sugar, until the desired consistency is reached.

This post was shared on Gluten Free Wednesdays, Allergy Free Wednesdays, Waste Not, Want Not Wednesdays, and Gluten Free Fridays.

Persimmon Banana Smoothie

I love the change of seasons, because we get a change in produce.  We've been eating Persimmons the last few weeks, and have been quite enjoying them.  I usually just peel them and pop them in my mouth, but they work really great in smoothies, too, and that's usually how I can get my kids to eat them.

Persimmon Banana Smoothie
2 ripened fuyu persimmons
1 banana
1 cup almond milk or other nondairy milk
6-8 ice cubes (or you could add in 1 cup of frozen pineapple, instead of the ice cubes)

Directions
Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

This post was shared on Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays, Gluten Free Tuesdays, Waste Not Want Not Wednesdays, Gluten Free Wednesdays, Allergy Free Wednesdays, Whole Food Fridays, and Gluten Free Fridays.

Strawberry Banana Scones

This week my kids have spring break, so I've taken the week off of work.  You'd think I'd have more time in the kitchen this week, but I almost didn't post a recipe today...we're just having too much fun hanging out.  But, I did have bananas and strawberries that needed to be used up...so you get a recipe after all. :)

The great thing about these scones, is they'd work minus the strawberries, or adding in blueberries, chocolate chips, or whatever else you can think of instead of the strawberries...so there definitely is flexibility here.

Strawberry Banana Scones

2 cups GF flour blend

1/2 cup almond flour

1/3 cup coconut sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup coconut oil (in solid form)

1 egg

1/4 cup almond milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup mashed banana, about 2 large bananas

3/4 cup chopped strawberries

for topping:

1/3 cup chopped walnuts

1 tablespoon evaporated cane juice or other granulated sweetener

1 teaspoon coconut oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400F.  Spray a large baking sheet and set aside.

In a stand mixer, combine the flour blend, almond flour, coconut sugar, baking powder and baking soda.  Add in the coconut oil and combine until the mixture resembles a course meal.  

In a separate bowl, combine the egg, almond milk, and vanilla.  Add this mixture to the flour mixture, then add in the bananas and mix until combined.  Fold in the strawberries.

Using a 1/4 cup spring release scoop, scoop the dough onto the prepared pan.  

Combine the walnuts, evaporated cane juice, and coconut oil in a small bowl and press a small amount of the mixture onto the tops of each scone.

Bake for about 15 minutes, or until the scones are golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool on a wire rack.  These are best warm.  If you don't eat them all at once, store in an airtight container or freeze.

Yield: ~11 scones

This post was shared on Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays, Gluten Free Wednesdays, Allergy Free Wednesdays, Gluten Free Fridays, and Whole Food Fridays.

Classic Banana Nut Bread

I already have banana bread/muffin recipes, I know. If you don't believe me here's links to #1, #2, and #3. So, yeah, I have a thing for banana bread.  And it was time to make it over again. You see, my other recipes are good, my boys especially love #2, but it doesn't take like classic banana bread...and there's a lot of white sugar which now gives me stomach aches and horrible headaches...so, yep, time to make it over.

 This banana bread is as classic as banana bread can get, it's moist with that hint of cinnamon and nutmeg.

 And the best part?  It's made with coconut sugar, agave (or honey) and coconut oil...so much better for you.

This post was shared on Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays, Gluten Free Wednesdays, Allergy Free Wednesday, Gluten Free Fridays, and Whole Food Fridays.


Classic Banana Bread
2 cups gluten free flour blend (this last batch I made I used sorghum and millet flours in place of the sweet rice and oat flours, and it has been AMAZING!)
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt (I use himalayan pink salt)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
3 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups mashed banana (about 4-5 medium)
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1/4 cup agave nectar or honey
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Directions
Prehead oven to 350F. Grease a large loaf pan (9X5 inch) and set aside.  In a mixing bowl combine all the dry ingredients. 

In a separate bowl combine the eggs, banana, coconut sugar, agave, and coconut oil. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until well combined. Fold in nuts and pour batter into the loaf pan.

Bake at 350F for 50-60 minutes or until a wooden toothpick comes out clean. The the bread cool for 5-10 minutes in the pan before removing in and completely cooling it before slicing...don't try to slice it warm, it will just fall apart.

Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Is that long enough of a name for ya?  These are really good cookies.  They have the chewiness of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with the taste of banana bread, and of course, you can't leave out the chocolate chips in my house. :)  This would make a perfect Sunday afternoon snack, so enjoy!

Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 tablespoons dairy-free margarine, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1/4 cup mashed banana (about 1 medium banana)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup GF flour blend
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups GF quick oats (if you just have rolled oats, pulse them a few times in a food processor)
3/4 cup dairy-free chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the margarine and the sugars.  Add the egg, followed by the banana and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour blend, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.  Add the flour mixture to the banana mixture.  Add in the oats and chocolate chips, mixing by hand.

Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake at 350F for 10-12 minutes.

Let cool on the sheet for 5 minutes, then cool completely on a wire rack.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Banana, Mango and What!?! Smoothies

Okay, I love my smoothies and I love Bountiful Baskets, so my smoothies are always based on what is in my basket.  This week I had a lot of bananas and mangos for good smoothie ingredients.  But I also got a bunch of spinach, and so I decided to jump on the bandwagon and try adding them into my smoothie.  It worked out amazingly well, you add enough to give a nutrient boost, but you don't taste it, especially with bananas and mangos present. :)  And it gives it an awesome green color, just in time for St. Patrick's Day, too. :) This is also on the Sumply Sugar and Gluten Free Slightly Indulgent Tuesday for March 22nd, here's the link back to that site. :)

Banana, Mango, and Spinach Smoothie

2 bananas, broken into chunks
1 mango, peeled and diced
1 handful of spinach leaves (I had ~6 medium sized leaves)
1 6oz container So Delicious Coconut Milk Yogurt (I actually had the Mango flavor, mmmm)
Extra dairy-free milk for thinning out, if needed

Blend all ingredients together in a blender and enjoy.

Banana 'Ice Cream'

Okay, I can not take credit for this recipe at all.  My brother told me about this and I had to try it out, so thank you to my brother for passing this along!  This is a very, very simple recipe...well, not even a recipe really. 

Take a banana, or two, or whatever you have. :)  Slice it into chunks, stick it in a ziploc bag and freeze it.  Once completely frozen, take those chunks and put them in a food processor and mix it until its nice and creamy.  Suddenly, you have a soft serve frozen treat that consists of a banana. :)  It has the same texture as ice cream, I love it!  If you want to change up the banana flavor a little add in cocoa, peanut butter, berry puree, etc. Mine has about 1 1/2 tablespoons of cocoa for 2 medium bananas and a handful of Enjoy life chocolate chips. :)

See doesn't it look just like ice cream?  Heck, this is the cheapest ice cream replacement I've found, and it's actually pretty healthy, too. :)

Happy Accident--Banana Chip Muffins Take 3

Okay, I am on my third banana chip muffin/bread recipe...but this one really isn't a new recipe, it's just me messing up my favorite recipe, with the results actually being better!  So, I had a ton of bananas that needed to be used up, and I needed to replenish my freezer supply of banana chocolate chip muffins for my boys to have as breakfast, snacks, etc....so, I thought I'd just do a double batch on my usual recipe...well, I forgot halfway through, well really just when I was measuring the flour, baking soda, and salt....and I didn't realize my mistake until later in the day, after we had all enjoyed some of the muffins.  Really, these ones were my best batch yet, so I'm writing down my 'mistake' so I don't forget it. :)  This recipe will easily make 24 muffins.

 

I got this amazing train cake pan for Christmas (actually for the 12 days of Christmas which was done to us, thank you, our Christmas elves!).  My little ones loved banana chip muffins before...but now they are devouring them...everything is tastier when it has a fun shape, right?

GF/DF/SF Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

1 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup+ 2 tablespoons soy-free margarine
2 2/3 cups mashed ripe bananas (4 medium)
2 egg
4 egg whites
2 1/2 cups gf cookie flour blend

1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup dairy-free chocolate chips

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 F.  Grease two large loaf pans or muffin tins (or line with muffin cups); set aside.
2. Beat sugars and margarine in large bowl until light and fluffy.  Add bananas, egg and egg whites.
3. In separate bowl combine flour, baking soda and salt; add to banana mixture. Stir in chocolate chips and pour into prepared pan or muffin cups.
4. Bake 1 hour for bread or 20-25 minutes for muffins.  Remove from pan; cool on wire rack.

Soy-free Conversion of Past Recipes

Okay, this isn't a conversion of all the recipes I've done, but it's a start...I'll be posting what I did to convert the recipe as I actually make that recipe again, so you get them as I make them. :)  I'm pretty sure most people that have gone soy-free could easily convert any of the recipes I have to soy-free versions, so this is more for those of you that aren't soy-free, so if you ever have to cook for my family, you won't have to worry about making mistakes. :)

Dairy-free (and now soy-free) Ranch Dressing

Here is the link to the recipe, so convert it to soy-free use rice milk instead of soy milk and olive oil mayonnaise (or if you're not making your own mayonnaise, Best Foods has a Canola Oil Mayo that is soy-free) instead of regular mayonnaise...that simple. :) 


GF/CF/SF Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Okay, technically this isn't fully soy-free...the dairy-free chips that I used have soy lecithin in them, but many people with soy issues actually can handle the soy lecithin, so if you can't don't use the chocolate chips. :)  Here is a link to the original recipe, to make it soy free use palm oil shortening in place of the margarine and make sure to grease the muffin tins or bread pan with canola oil instead of vegetable oil.


Okay, I know, only 2 recipes, but I'm a busy, working mom, so you'll get more conversions as I get around to them. :)

Gluten-Free/Casein-Free Banana Nut Bread

Yes, I already posted a recipe for banana bread/muffins, but you know when you have a favorite recipe and you just want 'your' banana bread?  That was me this morning, so I converted my old banana bread recipe so I could have my comfort food back.  It turned out really well, I was quite pleased with them.  I made muffins again, so I could freeze them and just take out a few as we needed them, also instead of nuts I used dairy-free chocolate chips, but my boys love banana chocolate chip muffins (and they don't like nuts).

Banana Nut Bread
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
5 tablespoons dairy-free margarine (I used Nucoa)
1 1/3 cups mashed ripe bananas (2 medium)
1 egg
2 egg whites
1 2/3 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup potato starch
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup walnuts, optional
1/2 cup dairy-free chocolate chips, optional (I used Tropical Source)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 F.  Grease a large loaf pan or muffin tins (or line with muffin cups); set aside.
2. Beat sugars and margarine in large bowl until light and fluffy.  Add bananas, egg and egg whites.
3. In separate bowl combine flours, xanthan gum, baking soda and salt; add to banana mixture. Stir in nuts and chocolate chips and pour into prepared pan or muffin cups, smooth out tops with a wet spatula.
4. Bake 1 hour for bread or 20-25 minutes for muffins.  Remove from pan; cool on wire rack.

Banana Bread/Muffins

I was really on a muffin kick tonight.  We tend to eat breakfast for dinner about once a week, and there were a few muffin recipes that I wanted to try (and of course freeze, so we would have them on hand)...so tonight dinner was muffins, along with sausage and eggs. Here's a fantastic recipe for banana bread or muffins from my friend's blog.  I made most of them with chocolate chips for the little ones, but kept a few without for me. I also have the recipe below:

Banana Bread or Muffins

Combine in a bowl:
4 mashed medium bananas
1/3 C oil
1 C brown sugar 
2 tsp vanilla

Stir together in a separate bowl:
2/3 C gluten free oat flour (or brown rice flour, if you don't have oat flour)
1/3 C brown rice flour
1/3 C potato starch
1/6 C tapioca starch
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp Ener-g egg replacer
2 tbsp corn starch
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/4 tsp salt

Optional: chocolate chips

Slowly mix dry ingredients into liquid mixture.

Spoon batter into lined or greased muffin tins or bread pan and bake for 20-25 minutes for muffins or 60 minutes for bread.

Makes 18 muffins.