Blueberry, Oat and Chia Seed Muffins

These muffins are a bit dense but they are very tasty. They used up lots of stuff I had in cupboards and they are slightly more complicated than a straight forward muffin but tasty.

Blueberry, Oat and Chia Seed Muffins (from Time Out)
(Makes 12)

75g wholemeal flour
125g plain flour
200g rolled oats
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
3 tbsp chia seeds
2 really ripe bananas, peeled
2 large eggs, separated
250 milk
2 tbsp runny honey
3 tbsp oil
125g blueberries

Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a muffin tray with paper cases.

Cobmine the flours, oats, baking powder, cinnamon, chia seeds and a pinch of salt in a bowl, the create a well in the middle.

Mash the banana in a separate bowl, then add the egg yolks, milk, honey and oil. Mix well, then pour it into the well. Mix everything gently until a wet batter forms.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Fold them into the muffing batter with the blueberries until evenly mixed.

Divide the muffin mix between the paper cases and bake for 25 mins or until cooked through and golden.

Banana Mug Cake

I had a very brown looking banana in my kitchen and the only thing to do with brown bananas is make cake. So I made another mug cake. This one is more pudding like than the previous two recipes but none the less it hits the spot.

Banana Mug Cake (from Pass The Sushi)
(Serves 1)

Non-stick cooking spray
3 tbsp flour
1 tbsp sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 egg
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp milk
1 ripe banana, mashed
1 tbsp chocolate chips

 Spray a microwave safe mug with cooking spray.

Add the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and soda to the mug and whisk to combine. Add the egg and combine until just incorporated with dry ingredients.

Mix in the vanilla, oil, milk, banana and chocolate chips. Pop into the microwave for up to 3 mins, stop and check after 90 secs to see how done it is.

Leave it for a few mins and then top with ice cream and devour.

Red Cabbage Smoothie

So I didn't really like this. I got a red cabbage in my veg bag a couple of weeks ago and I am never really sure what to do with it, beyond pickling. This time I tried a smoothie. I'm not sure if my blender is not high powered enough, it's just a bog standard Kenwood, but this was rather gritty and unappetising.

I thought I'd post it anyway so that anyone with one of those whizzy new fangled things can give it a go and see if the texture is better!

Red Cabbage Smoothie (from My Fitness Pal)
(Serves 2)

325ml cups cold water
1/2 small head red cabbage, quartered and frozen
100g frozen blueberries
1 banana, frozen
165g low-fat vanilla yogurt

Break up the frozen cabbage with your hands and puree with water in a high power blender. Add frozen blueberries, banana and vanilla yogurt and puree again until smooth.

Banana and Date Smoothie

I haven't made a smoothie for a while but I had all the ingredients for this one and thought I'd give a go. It was tasty although the dates made it rather sweet. I used cow's milk but you could use any kind of milk you like.

Banana and Date Smoothie
(Serves 2)

8 medjool dates, pitted and chopped
500ml milk
2 bananas
50g rolled oats

Place the dates and milk into a blender or food processor. Puree until the dates are blitzed up. Add the bananas to the blender and puree until smooth.

Add the oats, wait for 2-3 mins for the oats to soak into the date milk mixture and puree. Pour the smoothie into glasses and serve.

Skinny Banana Ice Cream

This is such a simple idea that I can't believe I hadn't come across it before. I made enough for four people but obviously I am only one, so I froze the rest and I have to say it was better softer the first time than frozen for a couple of days when it went a bit grainy. As the original poster notes, don't go overboard with this, stick to one serving and it'll be 0PP if you go over that, start counting because although fruit is 0PP if you eat a whole lot of it you won't lose weight. This is lovely with berries or chocolate chips.

Skinny Banana Ice Cream (from Simple Nourished Living)
(Serves 4)
(0 WW ProPoints per serving)

4 ripe bananas, cut into chunks and frozen

Put the frozen banana pieces in a food processor or high powered blender.

Blitz until creamy, 2-3 minutes, scraping down the sides as needed.

Serve immediately if you like a soft texture. For a firmer texture, transfer the mixture to an airtight container and place it in the freezer for about an hour. If the mixture gets too hard, let it soften for about 10 mins.

Super Berry Blitz

This was the first recipe I tried from my WeightWatchers cookbooks last week. It was just like the smoothies I have been drinking but using water instead of milk. It does fill you up and because it just contains fruit it has no points. You can use skimmed milk instead of water for 1 PP per person and add 80g oats to the recipe to make it a proper smoothie for 2 PP per person.

Super Berry Blitz (from Cooking the WeightWatchers Way)
(Serves 4)
(0 WW ProPoints Per Serving)

200g blueberries
200g strawberries
200g raspberries
2 bananas, sliced
1 tsp vanilla extract
425ml chilled water

Put all the ingredients into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.

Pour into glasses and serve.

Raspberry Breakfast Power Smoothie

I really enjoyed this smoothie, I was worried about the oats but you can't taste their texture at all, they just make the smoothie lovely and thick. I have changed the amounts of things from the original recipe and I added a lot less oats and honey as I feel that the fruit is sweet enough without adding too much extra sweetener.

Raspberry Breakfast Power Smoothie (adapted from The Guardian)
(Serves 2)

50g oats
1 small banana
2 tsp honey
125ml Greek yoghurt
150ml milk

2 big handfuls frozen raspberries

Put everything into a blender and whizz until smooth. Serve.

Banana and Avocado Smoothie

I am trying to find things for breakfast that fill me up for longer, so that I don't feel quite so hungry between meals. I thought first off I would try smoothies and as I had both bananas and an avocado in this one was first. I actually really liked the taste of it although I was very skeptical at first, but the banana is the dominant flavour making it more palatable. I also definitely felt fuller for longer this morning.

I am also on the hunt for more healthy snacks and I've come up with popcorn and nuts and dried fruit. If anyone has any other ideas please let me know.

Banana and Avocado Smoothie (adapted from Good Food)
(Serves 2)

1 banana, sliced
1 avocado, peeled and stone removed
1 tsp honey
300ml chilled milk

Mix all the ingredients together in a blender. To serve, pour into a tall glass.

Chocolate Banana Muffins

The original recipe made big muffins but I turned them into mini ones so that I could give them too the girls at Mad Hatters. The mixture makes about 12 big ones. I also gave some to my next door neighbour, whose hands you can see in the picture, and my sister. I realised last night I'd forgotten to take a picture and so panicking  I knocked on my neighbours door and asked if she had any left! Luckily she had two so I took a quick shot of them. The girls had woolfed mine down yesterday! With hindsight I think they would have been better with the addition of chocolate chips but were actually very tasty as they were, I just like the chips as a bit of a contrasting texture.

Mini Chocolate Banana Muffins (from Recipes from a Pantry)
(Makes 40ish)
 

3 very ripe bananas

2 tsp lemon juice

125ml vegetable oil

2 large eggs

100g soft brown sugar

225g plain flour

4 tbsp cocoa powder

1 tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp nutmeg

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

 

Preheat the oven to 200C. Line a mini muffin tin with muffin cases.

 

First mash the banana together with the lemon juice in a large bowl, then add the oil, when the mixture is combined, add in the eggs and sugar.

 

Sift in the flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and bicarbonate of soda and mix until just combined. The batter might be slightly lumpy.

 

Using a teaspoon, spoon the batter into the muffin cases. Bake the muffins for 10-12 mins or until the muffins are dark and risen.

Banana, Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip, Ginger Cookies

I had a LOT of overly ripe bananas! So with more of the bananas I made cookies. The recipe was actually very useful as it used up lots of other little bits of ingredients. They were more cake like than cookie really but I did make them rather large! I still have more bananas so expect more banana related recipes! 

Banana, Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip and Ginger Cookies (from The Sweets Life)

113g unsalted butter
160g sugar
1 egg
2 ripe bananas, mashed
190g flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
180g rolled oats
90g chocolate chips
60g crystallised ginger, finely chopped

Line 2 baking trays with greaseproof paper and set aside.

Cream the butter with the sugar and the egg, beating until smooth. Mix in the bananas.

Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt, add the  cinnamon and oats, mixing with a metal spoon until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips and crystallised ginger.
Chill the dough for 30 mins to 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 180C.

Place tablespoon-sized balls of dough onto the baking sheets. Bake for 8-10 mins until lightly browned and cooked through. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool.

Banana Bread Crumble

To have after my delicious roast on Easter Sunday I made a Banana Pudding. I seemed to end up with a lots of bananas leftover after my trip to France and as they'd been sat on the counter top for a week some of them were looking decidedly brown, not so good to eat but perfect for cakes and puddings. This was so good! I loved the combination of cake batter bottom and crumble mixture on top and the bananas were a winner. I served it with homemade vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce.

Banana Bread Crumble (from Never Enough Thyme)

(Serves 6-8)

 

140g self-raising flour

200g sugar

240ml milk

113g butter, melted

4 medium-size ripe bananas, sliced

 

For the crumble topping:

150g light brown sugar

70g self-rising flour

113g butter, softened

90g oats

 

Preheat the oven to 180C. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, and milk until just blended. Whisk in the melted butter.

 

Pour the batter into a lightly greased 28cm x 18cm baking dish. Top with the banana slices. 

 

To make the topping, in a medium bowl use a fork to stir together the brown sugar, flour, and butter until it forms a crumbly mixture. Stir in the oats.

 

Sprinkle the topping mixture over the banana slices. Bake for 40-45 mins or until golden brown.

 

Serve with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce if you're feeling wicked

Mini Banana Cupcakes

There was an over-ripe banana lurking in my fruit bowl that had ripened much quicker than the others. I hate over-ripe bananas, I like my bananas yellow, just on the cusp of ripening with no brown bits. I can't stand the mushyness! The only thing that sprang to mind for the banana was cake! I remembered Nigel Slater's Black Banana Cake, but as I didn't want to eat the whole thing myself, but take it into school for the book club to devour, I thought this might be a bit difficult to chop up. Plus it has nuts in it and I can't take nuts to school. So I thought mini cupcakes! One of the sixth formers who helps me run the club laughed and said "most people see an over-ripe banana and think bin, you see an over-ripe banana and think cake!"

I used a Good Food recipe, one for full sized cupcakes but adapted it to smaller ones. I had one small problem. I only have one 12 cup mini muffin tin so I was filling the cases, cooking, then taking the cakes out the tin to do another batch! It was a little bit fraught and time consuming! But they turned out well and I got lots of compliments from the girls and some went back for seconds and even thirds!

Mini Banana Cupcakes (adapted from Good Food March 2011)
(Makes about 40)

100g caster sugar
100g butter, softened
140g self-raising flour
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 very ripe banana
100g icing sugar
water

Preheat oven to 190C. Line mini muffin tins with cases.

Put the sugar, butter, flour, eggs, vanilla and banana in a big bowl together. Beat with an electric whisk until banana is mashed and everything mixed. Divide between the cases and bake for 10-12 mins until a skewer poked in comes out clean. Leave to cool.

To decorate, mix the icing sugar with enough water to be spoonable, but not too runny or it will dribble off the cakes. Spread some over each cake and leave to dry.