Low Fat Banana Muffins

I had a few super ripe bananas screaming at me to make something yummy out of them, so I modified a recipe I found online to be vegan and have no added sugar. By replacing the 2 eggs in the recipe with bananas (a well known vegan baking trick) I not only made the recipe vegan, but I was able to take the added white sugar out of the recipe. The extra sweetness now comes from the bananas, the applesauce, and the chocolate chips. The applesauce replaces oil for a low fat muffin. The walnuts are the only fat in the recipe. You can omit them, but they add a really pleasing crunch to the muffin. 

Ingredients:

3 ripe bananas

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/4 cup almond milk (or milk of your choice)

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup rolled oats

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp nutmeg

Optional:

1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (you could substitute some dried fruit  raisins/dates/cranberries)

1/3 cup walnuts (or nut of your choice) for topping

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

2) Mash 3 ripe bananas with a fork until smooth. Add unsweetened applesauce, and milk.

3) In a separate bowl mix together the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg.

4) Mix the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients.

5) If you want you can add a handful of semi-sweet chocolate chips to the mixture.

6) Fill greased or paper lined muffin cups 3/4 full with batter.

7) Sprinkle walnuts on top and press them slightly into the batter so they stay in place.

8) Bake for 16-18 minutes.

9) Cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then move muffins to a wire rack.

Enjoy your food!

Chia Seed Soaked Oatmeal

Makes 1 cereal bowl sized serving

Step 1) Mash a banana with a fork until it is smooth.

Step 2) Add 1 tablespoon of Chia seeds and 2 tablespoons of Oats. I also added a dash of Cinnamon and               Nutmeg.

Step 3) Add 1 tablespoon of Coconut butter. (You could use any nut butter peanut/almond/cashew, just use               natural nut butters, no sugar added.)

 

mmmmm, coconut butter!

Step 4) Stir in 1/2 cup of milk of your choice. I prefer almond.
Step 5) Put the mixture in the fridge for up to 12 hours.

Step 6) Take your oatmeal out of the fridge and top it with nuts, seeds, fresh or dried fruit, whatever you like! I happened to have walnuts, dried pineapple, and blueberries. 

Sooooo nom nom nom! And no added sugar. all the sweetness comes from the banana.

Enjoy your food!!!!