Banana Ice Cream

This delicious banana ice cream is so easy to make.

All you need is bananas. And maybe a little liquid.

*Banana Ice Cream*
-1 to 2 frozen bananas
-2 tablespoons or so liquid (milk, nondairy milk, or water)


First, peel and slice a ripe banana (or two) into pieces.  Put the slices into a plastic baggy and freeze.

When the bananas are frozen, put them in your food processor or blender.  Add a little bit of liquid to get it going (I used unsweetened almond milk).

Blend, blend, blend!  And then you get THIS!

You will say, how did a frozen banana turn into this?!  And then you will make it on a nightly basis for your healthy, potassium-rich dessert.

-Optional add-ins:  1 tablespoon (or more) peanut butter, almond butter, coconut butter, cocoa powder, or whatever else your heart desires that enjoys to be accompanied by bananas!

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Oatmeal and Cinnamon Garbanzo Fig Salad

Two wondrous recipes in this post!

Remember when I tried to make overnight pumpkin oats and I ate them cold, didn't like them, and turned them into oatcakes?

Well I was telling my friend Stefanie about that, and asking her how she likes to make her oatmeal, and then decided that I needed to try it hot.  Then she looked a little stunned and said, "You eat it cold?? Well that's the problem!"

That confirmed it.

One of my favorite blogs made this hot oatmeal with butternut squash puree, so I tried it out with pumpkin puree.


Hot Pumpkin Oatmeal
1/2 cup oats
1 cup water
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup chopped apple
Sprinkling of cinnamon and salt

Add oats to salted boiling water, 1:2 oats to water ratio.

Let simmer for 15 minutes.

Warm up some pumpkin puree.  Chop up some apple.

Stir a tablespoon of coconut oil into hot oats and watch it melty-melt.

Stir in the pumpkin puree, add the crisp chunks of apple, and sprinkle with cinnamon.

And enjoy the warm, melty goodness!

And now for recipe #2.
The salad recipe originated from my effort to use up my leftover ingredients.  But then I loved it and now I need to buy more romaine.

Cinnamon Garbanzo Fig Salad
-2 cups romaine, or spinach if you please
-1/2 chopped apple
-4 dried figs, chopped
-1/4 cup dried cherries
-chopped pecans
-cinnamon glazed roasted garbanzo beans
-balsamic vinegar & feta dressing

Chop it all up...

Toss the garbanzos on there...

Mix in the dressings...

 

Stir it all together and enjoy the fresh crispness!  Great lunch for taking to work!

Pumpkin Filled Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Sunday night rolled around, and my roommate and I got a sudden urge to bake... whoopie pies!  So we looked up whoopie pie recipes and saw that most of them used vegetable shortening and several other ingredients we didn't have/didn't want to get.

So we adjusted the recipe ourselves, ingredient by ingredient, until we came up with...

*Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Sandwiches with Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting*

Above, you will see Chelsea spreading the filling on top of one of the cookies.

Feast your eyes on that.

You can consider this recipe a "Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee Chelsea & Julia" recipe.

Step 1:
Get your hands on a package of Betty Crocker cookie mix.  Add butter and egg.  Stir together.  Sample cookie dough.  Bake.

Step 2:
The pumpkin cream cheese frosting filling:

*1/4 cup pumpkin puree
*1 cup powdered sugar
*1 stick butter
*4 oz. cream cheese
*1/4 tsp. cinnamon
*1/8 tsp. salt

And spread between the cookies...

So delicious.

Garlicky Bulgur Wheat

I would first like to say:  If you made or are planning to make the pumpkin banana bread from my previous post, try not to make it last more than 5 days.  Today was the 6th and final day of my loaf and... I tasted a little fermentation going on there.  Refrigerating your loaf might also prevent this.

I would also like to say that my roommates and I made roasted pumpkin seeds with sea salt, using the seeds from their pumpkins.  I decided not to carve my pumpkin this year, because I want to see how long it lasts.

However, after tasting these roasted pumpkin seeds, I am willing to carve my pumpkin so we can roast some more.

I have also been enjoying this bulk bag of whole grain cereal I found at Tidal Creek:

The bag is eco-friendly : )

And for dinner, I've been having steamed vegetables with those delicious cinnamon glazed garbanzo beans.  But it hasn't been very filling, and I realized I needed a grain to go along with it.

And sitting on my counter was a full jar of bulgur wheat.

So start with 1 cup of bulgur:

Put the bulgur in a pot with 2 cups of water and some garlic and herb seasoning.  Bring to a boil, then simmer for 15 minutes til the water is absorbed.

 

The bulgur turned out so well.  It had an almost sticky consistency, kind of like risotto, and the garlic and herb blend added wonderful flavor.

Meanwhile, I heated a blend of vegetables...

...which came from this bag from Costco.  I put a tape dispenser next to the bag in order to show its grand size.  Twenty cups of broccoli, cauliflower, orange carrots, and yellow carrots in this bag... for less than $6.  That is awesome. 

I added some of the garlicky bulgur to my plate of vegetables:

I made another batch of cinnamon glazed garbanzo beans, and when those were done toasting & roasting, I added those to the plate as well.

 

Garlicky grains with cinnamony chickpeas, you ask?  Isn't that a weird combination?  It may be.  But to me it was SO good!

Pumpkin Banana Bread

A few days ago, after a Pumpkin Smoothie gone wrong (accidentally poured way too much pumpkin pie spice in there), I decided that I wanted to make Pumpkin Banana Bread.

I searched the web for recipes, bookmarked a couple that looked ok. Went to bed.

But then, the very next morning, my favorite blogger had posted a recipe on her blog for none other than... Pumpkin Banana Bread. It was too good to be true!

The recipe, straight from from Hungry Hungry Hippie:
Pumpkin banana bread (vegan)
Ingredients:

• 2 overly-ripe bananas
• 1/3 cup melted coconut oil (I used Tropical Traditions Gold Label)
• 1 cup pumpkin puree (I used Libby’s)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (I used 3 drops NuNatural’s liquid vanilla stevia)
• chia seed “egg” (1 tbsp chia seeds + 1/8 cup water)
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup NuNatural’s stevia baking blend
• 1 tsp baking soda
• pinch of salt

Some of my ingredients (stevia baking blend, salt, and chia seeds didn't make it into the photo for some reason):


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mash banana and then add other wet ingredients (melted coconut oil, pumpkin puree, vanilla, chia seed “egg”). Mix together. Then add in dry ingredients (flour, stevia blend, baking soda, salt).


Wet ingredients, then dry ingredients, and the stirring begins:




Me stirring:



And the doughy batter goes into my new loaf pan:




Looking fantastic:



And after an hour in the oven....




It came out looking just like I'd hoped. A warm slice fresh out of the oven, spread with some butter:




A view of the interior:



And after I moved it to a more appropriate dish:




And for those who have dairy allergies, you will be pleased to know that this recipe is dairy free.  It also happens to be vegan.

The source of all this goodness: http://hungryhungryhippie.com/2010/10/14/lovin%E2%80%99-my%C2%A0oven/#comments

Cinnamon Glazed Roasted Garbanzo Beans

For lunch today, I enjoyed my leftovers from last night's quinoa crusted pizza in a different way. I topped the garlic & herb quinoa with pizza sauce, sauteed zucchini, and nooch.

Delicious, but not that filling.

Later, I used my soaked raw almonds to make a fluffy nut butter in the food processor, in which I dipped slices of granny smith apples:



And for dinner, a masterpiece. So simple though. Read on.

You need a can of garbanzo beans plus these ingredients:



Rinse the garbanzo beans with water, pat dry, then combine with...

2 Tbsp agave, or maple syrup, or even honey
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp canola oil... which I didn't have, so I used olive oil
1 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt

Stir it all together, evenly coating the chickpeas...



Then I baked them in the toaster oven on a greased cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 25 mins. That made them... really warm. I wanted them crispy. So I switched from "bake" to "toast" and cranked it up to 450 degrees for an additional 15 minutes.



That did the trick! I combined my cinnamony, crispy chickpeas with a steamy vegetable medley of carrots, cauliflower, zucchini, and carrots, seasoned with salt & pepper.




So simple, so healthy, and so tasty! I definitely recommend this recipe.