At the weekend I ended up with a big bunch of ripe banana’s. As I had eaten the last of my wonderful banana coconut bread I decided I wanted to make some form of baked banana goodness to keep in the freezer for when the fancy takes me. I wanted to make something healthy and hearty enough that it could be eaten for breakfast, but still sweet and tasty for afternoon snacks and even dessert:
Banana ‘Sunshine’ Muffins (vegan, makes 12 muffins)
- 1 cup of spelt flour
- 1 cup of brown rice flour
- 1/4 cup of non dairy milk plus 1/2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar
- 2 mashed bananas
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 tsp of vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup of zylitol or natural caster sugar
- 1/3 cup of rapeseed / coconut oil
- 2 tbsp of sunflower seeds
- 10 dried apricots, chopped (I used dark un sulphured apricots)
Pre heat the oven to 170c. Mix together the non dairy milk and vinegar and allow to sit for a few minutes. In a large bowl combine the bananas, sugar and oil. Add the flour and baking powder followed by the milk / vinegar mix and combine well. Stir in the sunflower seeds and apricots. Spoon into muffin cases – these don’t rise that much so fill them close to the top for big muffins (you will probably only get 10 out of the mix). Bake in the oven for 15 – 20 minutes until lightly golden:
These are very dense, hearty muffins filled with banana flavour, sweetness from the apricots and a slight nuttiness from the sunflower seeds. I enjoyed one crumbled on top of a simple green smoothie for breakfast yesterday and it was divine!
I actually went for a very basic green smoothie (by my standards at least!) which included spinach, frozen banana, vanilla hemp protein powder, rice milk, maca, mesquite, spirulina, xanthan and guar gums. As well as the muffin on top I added some freeze dried berries and granola. It was lovely to enjoy a simple banana / spinach green smoothie for a change!
Last night I finally got round to trying out a cheesy tofu sauce. I blended some silken tofu and mixed with 2 tbsp of nutritional yeast, 1 tsp of vegetable bouillon powder and about 1/4 cup of hot water then warmed through on a low heat. I had it as a sauce for spelt pasta, spiralised courgette and steamed asparagus then added a giant serving of steamed purple sprouting broccoli on the side:
This sauce is fantastic! So creamy and cheesy, perfect filling comfort food. In fact its so good I actually think James would eat this!
Dessert was a couple of frozen chocolate avocado cups:
Perfect as always :-)
This morning I had a craving for muesli so I had some of my home mix with chopped strawberries and rice milk:
Erm, I really don’t do small bowls of muesli do I?
Lunch was some Clearspring soya ramen noodles with some leftover spiralised courgette from last night plus lots of veggies – carrots, green pepper and sugar snaps:
I also had some melon and more strawberries – still in love with fresh fruits!
I made a really quick dinner tonight using up some of my Roasted Vegetable Curry from the freezer with millet and steamed greens with shoyu and mixed seeds:
The curry was fantastic again, I love how the flavours improve when it has been frozen and the texture of the aubergine was wonderful. I couldn’t resist more chocolate for dessert so I had some Fruit Fantasy Conscious raw chocolate:
This contains dried dates and figs and was just gorgeous as usual!
Exercise over the last couple of days has been great, I did Yoga for Runners yesterday morning and Body Pump last night (I think I’m almost ready to increase my weights!) and this morning I was at the gym for another tough sweaty 30 minutes of speed work on the treadmill followed by 30 minutes of intervals on the gym equipment plus my abs and core.
I realised after I made those muffins that I almost never just eat a muffin on its own, I love them with fruit and tofu yoghurt or crumbled into smoothies. A big spoonful of nut butter on top never goes a miss either! What’s your favourite way to eat muffins?
{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
ooh you make such amazing food and make it look so easy. that chocolate sounds nice. I have seen it about but seem’s quite pricey, I may try it sometimes as a treat.
ahh your pasta sauce and whole dish looks AMAZING!! im ALL over this muffins too- you know i love me bananas!
OMG! Your eats are amazingly delicious looking my food is so bland compared to that lol. i’ll have to try some of your recipes :D Thanks!
Those muffins look great!!! I usually like to eat muffins for breakfast with some fresh chopped fruit.
I actually don’t really eat muffins. I do love baking with bananas though and I have some rather gruesome/gorgeous looking specimens fermenting on the counter as I type!
Great idea on the cheesy tofu sauce…I imagine it could work in a lasagne as well…hmmm. I actually have a tub of dairy free “cheese sauce mix” that I’ve been meaning to try so I should really give that a go first….Nutritional yeast is such a fantastic ingredient though, I’ve been using it sprinkled on my “pizzas” for the last couple of weeks and I don’t miss the cheese at all, I was in shock!
I don’t eat muffins that often, although I love the healthy bran ones my housemate bakes from time to time. I usually eat them au natural – I’ve never considered mixing them with something else … perhaps I’m missing out!
I usually just eat muffins as they are, I need to get a bit more adventurous haha seems I’m missing out on some yummy eats!
Oooh your muffins look amazing! I was going to make banana muffins for my brother tomorrow, I should make them like these veganized to show them how good vegan food can be and than I can eat them too :) great plan if you ask me!
Oh Laura, yet another bunch of recipes to try!! ;-) I have all the ingredients in for those muffins so guess what I shall be making!!
I don’t actually eat muffins that often, my boyfriend loves them though and I enjoy making them.
I have got avocado chocolate nut cups in my freezer though that I do eat :-)
Oooh I love muffins -especially banana ones – so I’m definitely going to try your recipe! I love heating them up and melting PB or jam onto them or crumbling them into a yogurt mess, yum :) xxx
still amazed at how you get the time to be such a healthy kitchen goddess :) I have to try that cheesy sauce! x x
Food looks lush! So glad to see I’m not the only one who has big full bowls for breakfast ;) x
I’m not a big lover of muffins usually – but one of those sunshine ones crumbled on top of one of those smoothies?! Yep, reckon I could manage that!
Your food always looks so lovely :-)
Another non-muffin eater here I’m afraid. My Mum used to bake them for MacMillan Cancer Research and hold big bake sales for them, and they were always in and around the house so became a bit of a trigger food for me. I prefer brownies to muffins I think. Although yours do look rather yum!
I don’t do small bowls (or even one-bowls :P) of anything, let alone just muesli.
Cheesy sauce is now officially bookmarked in my recipes list…to Sainsbos I go for some silken tofu (let’s hope it lasts long enough for me to make it into sauce without turning it into chocolate mousse like I usually do…)
xxx
Those muffins look awesome.
Spelt flour is AWESOME for baking. It gives it the best fluffy taste while still being a whole grain!
Livefortoday – it is pricey but so good for a guiltless treat!
Carrie – oh yes, I know you love bananas!
willtorecover – thanks! give some of the recipes a try!
Jemma – I love them like that too!
Deisegirl – I agree I’ve been using nutritional yeast in everything recently!
Sarah – I think mixing muffins with other things can give them a whole new taste, but those bran ones on their own sound lovely!
Laura – try one with nut butter and jam – amazing!
Kimberly – oh yes! I think giving people vegan baked goods is a great way to show them how good vegan food can be!
Cat – I made a few of these just plain banana for James and he loves them!
Nicky – You’ve just reminded me that I haven’t had a good yoghurt mess in ages, must get on that!
SJ – thanks! I don’t often feel like one but I do try my best!
Hayley – haha, oh yes your certainly not the only one who has big bowls, love them!
Eleanor – thanks!
Jess – you’d love that tofu sauce! My green smoothies are definitely in the 1 1/2 – 2 bowls full size now, I just need that volume to fill me up!
myveganstory – I love spelt flour too! I think the brown rice flour in these made them nice and dense at the same time :-)
Oh my gosh Laura that spelt pasta looks A-MA-ZING!
L x
I love a muffin with a cup of tea, of course!
Those look fab (and you reminded me to order some cider vinegar as loads of recipes seem to have it for some reason).
Go for it with your weights too. I am not sure if your weights arr the same, but ours are quite stiff, so they stay on outside the clips, which means you can add a light plate on the outside of the clips, and if it is too heavy then you can tip it off partway through the track if that makes sense.
Yum! Spring is definitely muffin season for me. I like crumbling them up in my yogurt and eating them with fruit and nut butter!
I know I keep saying this, but all of your eats look so yummy!
My favourite way to have a muffin is with really good coffee (:
xxxx
You got it in one for me there too – muffins with peanut butter spread. I love warming it up too!