Fall Spiced Banana Bread

I am not going to call a spice mixture pumpkin spice when there is no freaking pumpkin involved in the spice at all. If there is in fact some pumpkin in the whatever you are eating and or drinking, well then sure. But people need to stop referring to things as pumpkin spice if the pumpkin is not there. It is very misleading and it drives me nuts.

Sorry (not sorry) if you disagree, but friend, you know I am right.

With that said, I offer you a warm fall spiced (because there is no pumpkin here) banana bread. It is your basic, fantastic, banana-y bread with a good kick of warm fall spices to make it just a tad more fantastic. A loaf to celebrate the cool and cozy season to come. And a great way to use up all the bananas that we (me) might have forgotten were in the fridge.

And really, who doesn't want to turn on the oven now that it is a bit chilly these days, no? Banana bread will keep you warm while baking and make your house smell amazing. Win win win!! (Third win is because you get to eat banana bread.)

Now to the spiced banana bread!

The stuff. Really ripe bananas, flour, baking powder and soda, salt, brown sugar, oil, apple cider vinegar, an spices. Cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, and a touch or black pepper.

Banana bread basics. Mash bananas in a big bowl until a small chunky goop. Add in sugar, oil and vinegar and mix until combined. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a small separate bowl then add to the wet. Gently fold the dry into the wet until the mixture is completely incorporated but then stop, do not over-mix.

Pour batter into a well greased loaf pan and sprinkle the tip with sugar then pop that bad boy into the oven to bake. After about an hour, once it loos all nice and dark brown and a tester comes out clean, remove pan from oven. Let cool a minutes then pop the bread from pan and place on a wire rack to cool for a little bit.

Once cooled (or cooled enough), slice it up and eat it. Make sure the slices are nice and thick, then pour yourself a hot drink (I recommend coffee or strong black tea) and go sit someplace warm and cosy and enjoy yourself a nice fall moment.

-C

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Fall Spiced Banana Bread

makes 1 loaf

• 2 cups all purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg*

• 1/4 teaspoon clove*

• 1 teaspoon ground ginger*

• 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon*

• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper *

• 1/4 teaspoon allspice*

• 4 very ripe bananas (about 2 cup mashed banana)

• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar

• 1/2 cup neutral oil

• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

• 1 tablespoon raw or brown sugar (to sprinkle on top. Optional)

*Note. If you already have a spice blend like pumpkin spice, you can just use a tablespoon of that.

Preheat oven to 375.

Grab a big bowl and throw in unpeeled bananas. With a fork or potato masher, mash bananas up until kinda smooth (some chunks are good). Add in brown sugar, oil, and vinegar and mix together. Add flour, baking powder and soda, salt, and all the spices into a separate bowl and whisk together. Then gently fold the dry mixture into the wet until completely combined but do not over mix.

Pour batter into a well greased loaf pan then sprinkle the top with raw or brown sugar (optional). Place pan in oven and bake for 55- 60 minutes or until the top is a deep golden brown and when a test poke comes out clean.

Remove pan form oven and carefully remove bread from loaf pan. Place on a wire rack to cool for at least 15-20 minutes before cutting into it, but when you do, cut thick slices and eat warm or cold or whatever.

Store bread at room tepature in a airtight container for 3-4 days or in fridge for a week. Individual pieces can be wrapped and frozen as well, but you probably will just eat it all before that needs to happen.

Sweet and Spicy Trail Mix

The other morning I made a big patch of trail mix. Basically for the mr for when we go camping, but that didn’t stop him from eating some, not camping, but watching tv. So you see trail mix is not just for the trail! HA

A big batch of snack for any snack related needs. This trail mix is a mixture of Chex and Cherrios, pretzels, walnuts and seeds, and dried cranberries all seasoned up with some maple and smokey and spicy chili. Sweet, savory, crispy, deliciousness. What else can you ask for when snacking on a trail mix? Nothing.

To the trail mix!

The stuff. A big ass bowl of cereal. I used Cherrios, and wheat and rice Chex. Also have pretzels. walnuts, sunflower seeds, dried cranberries, maple suyrup, chili powder, melted vegan butter, and salt.

Mix together the melted butter, maple, an chili powder.

Drizzle the wet mixture all over the cereal and nuts (not the cranberries) and toss until evenly coated.

Dump the mixture onto a lined baking sheet and spread it out evenly and sprinkle with salt. Pop into hot oven and bake for 3ish minutes, removing and toss after 15. After 30 minutes, keep in oven but turn oven off and crack door. Let mixture cool in oven for 15 more minutes.

And once you pull it from the oven, toss in the cranberries .

That is it.

Now it is time for you to trail mix it up.

-C

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Sweet and Spicy Trail Mix

makes about 10 cups ( a good amount to share or have on hand for a week)

• 5 cups plain Chex cereal (wheat (if not gluten free) rice, and or corn)

• 2 cups plain Cherrios

• 2 cups pretzels (any shape will do and use gluten free if you need to)

• 1 cup raw walnuts

• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds

• 1 cup dried cranberries

• 1/3 cup real maple syrup

• 1 tablespoon chili powder

• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne powder (Optional. Adds a little more heat)

• 2 tablespoon vegan butter melted

• 1-2 teaspoons flakey sea salt

Preheat oven to 325.

In a large bowl, mix together all the cereals, the pretzels, the walnuts and sunflower seeds. In a smaller bowl mix together the melted butter, maple, and chili powder. Drizzle the wet mixture all over the cereal mixture and toss with a spatula until everything is evenly coated. Dump and evenly disputemixture onto a lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt.

Place mix into preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes, carefully removing from the oven at 15 minutes and mixing it around. At 30 minutes, keep in oven but turn heat off. Crack oven door and let mixture cool for another 15 minutes then remove and let cool completely. Once cooled, toss in the cranberries.

Eat however much you want and then store the rest on a airtight container. Should be good and crisp for a week.

Peach Walnut Blondies

I have been on a peach kick for a couple weeks because they are just so good! Is it just me or are they better then they have ever been this year? I have eaten at least one a day (sometimes 2) for at least the past 2 weeks and not once have I gotten a grainy, mealy one. Just sweet ass juicy peachy goodness. Dang do I love a good peach!

Since the peaches are so good, it made sense to bake them into something and that something was blondies. A cakey cookie bar thing that is really easy to make, everyone loves, and highlights that goodness of the peaches. I tossed in some walnuts because why not, and as soon as the heat wave broke and I dared turn on the oven, I popped the batch in. Two days later and they are pretty much gone. And will I make them again, for sure yes, but only while the peaches are still good.

So you should probably make them while the peaches are good. Hurry up!

To the peach walnut blondie!

The stuff. A nice ripe peach and some walnuts. Flour, baking powder, and salt. Melted plant butter, brown sugar, vanilla extract, and some aquafaba.

Start with dicing up the peach and chopping up the walnuts into smaller pieces.

Next grab the aquafaba and dump into bowl with the brown sugar. Beat with an electric beater on high for about 2 minutes until mixture is a light brown and somewhat fluffy.

Add in all the dry and the melted butter and gently fold it in until completely incorporated.

Lastly fold in the diced up peach and walnuts.

Dump and smooth batter into a well greased and lined square baking pan and place into preheated oven to bake.

Once the blondies are golden brown and tester poked into the middle comes out clean, remove from oven and let cool.

Cut into pieces and then, you know, eat them.

Get at those peaches while you can!

-C

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Peach Walnut Blondies

makes a 8x8 (you can use a little larger square) pan

• 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

• 1/3 cup aquafaba(liquid from a can of chickpeas)

• 1/2 cup plant based butter melted

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 medium peach (about 3/4 cup diced)

• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350

Dice up the peach into small pieces and if the walnut pieces are whole or halved,, chop them into smaller pieces.

Dump the aquafaba and brown sugar into a large bowl and beat with an electric beater for around 2 minutes or until the mixture is a light brown and somewhat fluffy. Mix dry ingredients together in smaller bowl then gently fold the melted butter and dry mixture into the beaten sugar ans aqufaba. Once completely incorporated, fold in the diced peach and walnuts.

Grease and parchment line a 8x8 (or a little large) pan and dump blondie batter in and spread and level to the pan. Place into oven ad bake for about 30-33 minutes (if using a large sized pan, reduce cooking time by a few minutes) or until top is a nice golden brow and a tester poked into the middle comes out clean.

Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes. Once cooled enough pop out of pan and coniunute to cool all the way.. Cut into pieces and eat.

Store uneaten blondies in a airtight container at room enrapture for 2-3 days but best stored in fridge or freezer when it is hot out. Plus they are amazing cold!

Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Date Balls

This is me here trying to be nice and make a sweet little treat for the mr. And to prove to him (without him knowing) that he really does like dates because really, every one does they just might not know it.

Why do I care if he likes dates or not? Well I don’t think I really care but the past few weeks I have been making batches of trail mix with all sorts of goodies (dried fruits and nuts ) and have been chopping up dates and throwing them in as well. He’s been picking around the dates because he thinks they are gross. And that is just not true. He just doesn’t understand. So I made him understand. And understand he did when I made a batch and he ate them al within a day. Don’t like dates my ass.

These little chocolate covered peanut butter balls are freaking awesome. I would describe them as tasting like a soft, chewy, more nutty peanut butter cup and who doesn't want that? Plus they take little to no hands on time, require no oven, and all you need are just a a few ingredients. Win win win!

Are these little sweet peanut butter date balls made of love? Of course. Are they vindictive? Maybe a little but I don’t really care because they are awesome and everyone loves them. Even if they say they hate dates.

Now to the peanut butter date balls!

The stuff. Pitted delget dates, oats, peanut butter, chocolate chips, a little coconut oil, and flaky salt.

Soak the dates in hot water for a few minutes to make sure they are really soft.

Then you place dates, peanut butter, and oats into a food processor and blend unit la smooth stick dough forms.

Scoop and roll dough into balls and place into freezer for 1/2 hour or so to firm up.

And melt the chocolate with the coconut oil until smooth.

Once chocolate is melted, remove balls from freezer and start dipping them into chocolate. After a few are covered, sprinkle the tops with a few flakes of salt before he chocolate hardens.

And that is it. Place balls in a airtight container and keep in freezer. Eat whenever. And you will eat them fast because, BECAUSE! dates are delicious.

-C

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Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Date Balls

makes 12-16 balls

• 20 pitted delget dates ( You can use medjool but they are twice as expensive and sweeter., and bigger so only use 12 or so)

• 1/2 cup old fashion oats

• 1/3 cup peanut butter

• 1/3 cup chocolate chips

• 1 teaspoon coconut oil

• flaky sea salt

Start by soaking dates in hot water for 5-10 minutes until they soften a bit. Drain water and place the dates, oats, and peanut butter into a food processor. Pulse then blend until a everything is all blended smooth and a sticky dough forms. You are going to have to stop a few times to scrap the sides down. Once dough forms, take a spoon or scooper and scoop out the dough into 12 equal sized balls. With take each ball and roll around to make smooth and place on a plate or a baking sheet. Once all balls are scooped and rolled, place in freezer for 1/2 hour to firm up.

Right before taking the balls out, add coconut oil to chocolate chips and melt either in microwave (15 second intervals until melted) or on stove. Grab frozen balls (they don’t get hard, just firm), and start dipping them into the chocolate. After doing 2-3 three, sprinkle the tops with a couple flakes of sea salt.

Once all balls are covered( eat one) place in the freezer in air tight container until you want to eat them.

They should be good for a least a month in the freezer but I wouldn't know for sure seeing as these were gone the day after I made them. Both times.

Banana Oat Cookies

These are my cookies. I share yes, but mainly make them for my own personal pleasure. Just oats and banana, well cinnamon and salt, but basically just oats and banana. And what a fine fine cookie they make. Soft and a little chewy and taste just like banana bread and a just really freaking tasty. And what I really love to do with these cookies is make a batch and stick them in the freezer. Sometimes a little frozen cookie action is all a person can ask for , you know?

Anyways, these are the simplest of simple cookies that you really can make. And sure, some might argue that maybe they are not even really cookies but why do we care? They are frantic, easy to make, taste amazing and yes, are healthy and breakfast approved. A few cookies for breakfast? Yup, and we can be happy about it.

Now to the cookies!

The stuff. Oats, a ripe banana, some cinnamon, and a pinch of salt.

Place about a third of the oats into a bowl or food processor and blend for a few seconds until oats become a chunky flour texture. Add in the banana(peeled) and the cinnamon and blend until incorporated. Next add in the rest of the oats and just mix together with a spoon until completely the mixtures is completely incorporated.

Let the mixture sit for a few minutes will you preheat the oven.

Once oven is preheated scoop ball of dough onto a lined baking sheet . With your fingers or a fork, squish each one down a bit flat. Note. These cookies do not spread at all.

Pop cookie into oven and bake for 14-16 minutes or until golden brown.

Out of the oven and ready to go.

Cooling on a rake cause that what cookies need to do. And then you eat them cause that is what you need to do.

-C

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banana oat cookies

Makes about a dozen smaller cookies

• 1 very ripe bananas

• 1 1/3 cups oats

• a pinch of salt

• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

Place about a third of the oats and the pinch of salt into a food processor or bowl (if using a hand blender) and blend until the oats have become a chunky flour texture. Add in the banana and blend until incorporated. Next add in the rest of the oats, and the cinnamon and mix together with a spoon unitl completely incorporated.

Let mixture sit while you preheat oven to 350

Once oven is preheated, scoop dough onto a parchment or splat mat lined baking sheet. Using your fingers or a fork, gently flatten each cookie (they will not spread). Place cookie into oven and bake for 14-16 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and place on wire rake to cool.

Eats for a snack, a dessert, breakfast, lunch or dinner. Great smeared with a little peanut butter or chocolate. Also I love to store them in freezer. Something about a frozen banana cookie…