No Junk Banana Bread (Preparation Time +/- 10minutes prepping + 50 minutes in the oven)
Another great snack that is free from junk and filled with the good stuff. This one is seriously easy to make and gluten-free: Banana Bread! Instead of using almond flour, which is the most commonly used flour for gluten-free Banana Bread, I used a mix of oat flour and pumpkinseed flour. This gives the banana bread a very rich and nutty taste. I always try to avoid using refined sugar when baking. So, as an extra sweetener AND to bind the mixture, I use dates.
Necessities:
A cake tin
Parchment paper to line the cake tin
Large bowl to mix the ingredients
A food processor/Nutri Bullet
4 Bananas
14 Dates (approx. 100 grams)
5 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
50 grams pumpkinseed flour
250 grams oat flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
How to prepare:
Preheat the oven at 175 degrees Celsius and line the cake tin with parchment paper. You can use butter on the cake tin to make the parchment paper stick better.
Mix the following ingredients in a food processor: bananas, dates, eggs and vanilla extract. When the ingredients are a smooth consistency, put it in a large bowl.
Sieve the remaining ingredients (pumpkinseed flour, oat flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon and pinch of salt) and gently stir them in the wet mixture.
When everything is mixed well, put the mixture in the cake tin and put it in the oven for 50 minutes. Keep an eye on the cake, when it turns too brown, you can put a piece of tin foil on top for the remaining time in the oven.
After baking, use a skewer to stick in the middle of the cake and pull it out. When the skewer is clean, it is cooked well. If not, put it back in the oven for 5-10 more minutes until cooked.
Let the banana bread cool down before cutting. You can cut it up in slices and wrap it in parchment paper as a school snack. Or you can put the wrapped slices in an airtight container and freeze them for another day.
I hope you will love this nutritious snack as much as we do! It is truly delicious!
Granola Bars (Preparation Time +/- 40min)
Snack-Time will be a nutritious one with this recipe! I used to give the twins an apple or a banana to bring to school. Since they always came home hungry, I decided to make them a nutritious snack that would give them more energy AND is healthy too. No nuts are allowed in their school snacks so I leave these out. However, if you are a fan of cashew nuts like I am, you can replace one cup of the seeds by cashews. The possibilities are endless with this recipe. These granola bars are now their favourite snack and I recently found out that even my husband brings these to work occasionally.
Necessities:
One baking tray
Parchment paper for lining the baking tray
A large bowl for mixing the ingredients
5 bananas, mashed
2 cups of oats
2 cups of spelt flakes (replace these with oats if you can’t find these in the store)
1 cup of sunflower seeds
1 cup of pumpkin seeds
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
10 dates (no pits) cut into small pieces
1 cup of coconut flakes
How to prepare:
Put all the ingredients in the large bowl and mix until the it is well mixed and a sticky consistency. When in doubt about the stickiness, you can add more finely chopped dates or a whole banana. Usually the stickiness will be sufficient when using the ingredients mentioned above.
Line the baking tray with the parchment paper and put the mixture in the tray. Put enough pressure on the mixture with a spatula until the surface is smooth and it reaches a high density. Only this way you will be able to make good, solid bars.
Put the tray in the oven at 150degrees Celcius for approximately 25 minutes. Take the tray out and cut the bars immediately. It is easier to cut the bars when the mixture is still warm.
Take the bars out by pulling the parchment paper and let the bars cool down. When the bars are completely cooled down, you can wrap them in a small piece of parchment paper and store them in an air-tight container in the refrigerator (up to ten days)
Done! Enjoy your snack!
