easy healthy snack

Vegan Banana Bread Recipe

- Vicki 1 Comment
Vegan Banana Bread Recipe

Vegan Banana Bread Recipe

I’m possibly the worst baker but I really want to get better because there is nothing nicer than enjoying home-baked treats, it also makes your house smell incredible. So I told myself that 2017 was the year I would put my recipe books to good use and get busy in the kitchen learning to bake some delicious sweet treats. I always enjoy banana bread and it has to be one of the easiest recipes to master, so it is a good place to start. We can also convince ourselves it is somewhat healthy as it contains banana’s …… right?

I have two recipes that I go back and forth between which are my good friend Hayley’s Recipe and Aine Carlin from The New Vegan – I’ve taken my favourite bits from them both and created my version of a delicious banana bread.

INGREDIENTS

  • 3 ripe bananas mashed
  • 225g self-raising flour
  • 50g olive oil
  • 120g caster sugar
  • 2 level tsp baking powder
  • 2 tbsp soy milk
  • A handful of Vegan chocolate chips
  • 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
  • First off preheat your oven to 180 /Gas mark 4.
  • Lightly grease and line a 2lb loaf tin or use a tin parchment paper liner (that is what I do)
  • Using a fork, mash the banana’s in a large mixing bowl
  • Measure all the dry ingredients and add them to the bowl with your bananas
  • The add the wet ingredients to your mixture and mix for about 2 minutes until the mixture is lump free and quite smooth. I use an electric whisk for this part (lazy)
  • Lastly, add the chocolate chips to your mixture and stir them in so they’re evenly distributed
  • Transfer mixture into your loaf tin and bake in the oven for about 45 minutes. Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes then turn out onto a wire rack & enjoy with a lovely cup of tea.

Let me know what extras you like to add to your banana bread.

Date & Chocolate Energy Bites

- Vicki 2 Comments

This is my first ever baking post & I thought this was a great one to start with & also make a confession, I am utterly terrible and useless in the kitchen. Im clumsy and think everything is going to turn out to be a disaster. Since I moved last September in to my new house I have tried to push myself to cook more & experiment in the kitchen. My new kitchen is gorgeous & it would be a shame not to use it more so I am kicking off my first baking post with a very simple no bake recipe!

Date and Chocolate Energy bites

These are the Date and Chocolate Bites and were inspired by a recipe in the January ASDA magazine. I changed it up a little to suit the ingredients I had in the cupboard. So you will need the following ingredients,

  • 100g stoned dates
  • 100g cashews (i used mixed nuts)
  • 25g raisins
  • 40g orange plain chocolate
  • 1tbsp cocoa
  • 2 tbsp boiling water

No Bake Energy Bites

First you add the dates and boiling water to your food processor (if you have one) I don’t so I mixed them best I could in my blender then I mashed them for about 2 minutes in a bowl to get them as smooth as possible before adding in my raisins and mixing them all together for about a minute (again if you have a processor you could blitz them in there).

Then you add your nuts (if you have a processor you can blitz them in there) I bought the chopped mixed nuts because I knew I didn’t have a processor. When you have all the above ingredients in your bowl you add in your cocoa and mix it thoroughly. Mine is quite a chunky mixture but if you have processed your ingredients it will be a little more fine in texture. Chocolate and Date Energy Bites

Then you line a 24cm loaf tin with cling film and add your mixture making sure you really press it down. Then you just pop it into the oven to chill, I left mine about an hour. You can then lift out the mixture and cut it into 6 – 8 squares depending on how big you want them, or if you prefer them even smaller you can cut them to the size you wish.

Then comes the tasty part, melt your orange plain chocolate in a bowl over a pan of boiling water and add as much as you like to each square, I layered a tea spoon amount over the top of each bite. Leave them to chill in the fridge and set for about 40 minutes then enjoy.

Chocolate and Date Healthy Bites

I like to have these at hand in the afternoon to combat that slump in energy. Also these are good as on the go snacks and if like me you like to have a somewhat healthy snack option then these are great on the go treat. They’re so moorish and taste delicious, because they’re mainly made up of dates they have a caramel sweetness to them. So they have been my go to chocolate treat of choice these past few weeks. If you want them to be a little healthier you can opt to have no chocolate on top or less of it!

So easy to make and because there is no baking involved they’re simple and quick too. They only take 10 minuets to prepare and they taste so good. Also 100% Vegan.

Let me know if you plan on making them or if you already make a version of these.

No Bake Date & Chocolate Bites

Enjoy!