I took my favourite banana bread and pumped it up with chia seeds, hemp hearts and nuts for extra protein and healthy fats. The recipe makes two loaves. Life is busy with two boys and this is my go to breakfast lately. Dashel arrived in April and Oscar is almost 3 years old in June. I’m doing a lot of batch cooking and baking like this to try to stay ahead of the game..or the next meeal/snack! The key to freezing muffins or healthy homemade baked goods is to let them cool and freeze in freezer bags the day they are made. Then I quickly warm them in the microwave and breakfast is ready in under a minute and I know it’s healthy. Or keep one loaf and give one away to a friend. The bread freezes well and never lasts very long at our house. I love it with almond butter and a hot cup of tea or coffee for breakfast.

Ingredients:
5 large ripe bananas mashed
2 eggs
1/2 cup melted or room temperature coconut oil
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups flour
2 cups large flake oats
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup hemp hearts
1/4 cup chia seeds
1/4 unsweetened coconut flakes
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup chopped walnuts

Topping: 2 tbsp sunflower seeds or pepita seeds to sprinkle on top of each loaf before baking

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix dry ingredients in one bowl and wet in another. Combine, but don’t over stir. Grease a loaf pan with coconut oil or canola oil using paper towel. Pour half of the batter into the loaf pan. Sprinkle the seeds on top. I think this looks lovely once it’s baked. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.  You can bake the second loaf right away or do it later, the batter can sit in the fridge. Once the first loaf is done, you can bake the second as a loaf or as muffins. You might only have one loaf pan in your kitchen like me.  I sometimes bake the other loaf as 12 muffins or bake it in the loaf pan later in the day once the kids are in bed. (For muffins increase your oven to 375 degrees.) Also if you’re short on time, you can bake the entire batter as muffins and it makes 24. Enjoy!

I have bought way too many muffins and cookies on our weekend adventures. I was inspired to make a refined sugar-free, yummy, healthy breakfast cookie. I’ve been making these easy breakfast cookies on repeat since nailing the recipe. They’re a great road trip snack or simple breakfast with a coffee when you need to get out the door. Packed with oatmeal, walnuts, coconut and bananas, pretty much all my favourite things and also pantry staples. Sweetened with only a drop of maple syrup and two bananas. Recipe makes 24 small cookies. I will often keep half the batch on the counter and the other dozen in the freezer in bags to grab and go. I often make these with dark chocolate chips + walnuts, or raisins + hemp hearts/chia seeds.  If you like these cookies you might also enjoy my no sugar banana muffins that follow the same style with no added sugar, but also taste delicious.

no sugar breakfast cookies

Ingredients:
2 ripe bananas mashed (can be previously frozen)
4 tbsp maple syrup
1 egg
1/4 cup melted coconut oil
1 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup almond flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 heaping tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/3 cup dark chocolate chips (or raisins)
1/3 cup chopped walnuts (or hemp hearts or chia seeds or chopped pecans)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheer with parchment paper. Combine all wet ingredients in one bowl. Mix all dry ingredients in another bowl. Combine and stir until just mixed. Scoop teaspoon size balls onto a baking sheet. Bake 13-15 minutes until cookies set and bottoms are lightly brown. My oven takes exactly 13 minutes, and runs hot. Enjoy!

Quinoa granola is quickly becoming my favourite breakfast lately. Packed with oats, crispy toasted quinoa, cinnamon, coconut oil and maple syrup it makes me excited to hear that weekday alarm. No joke. The nutty and crispy quinoa is the best! Served over yogurt with a little drizzle of honey? Yum. It’s totally vegan, gluten free and packed with protein and good fats to keep you feeling full. Seriously it is so easy, once you start making your own granola it’s hard to go back to store bought. Feel free to swap in pepita seeds or sliced almonds if you have them on hand too instead of the hemp hearts. I just measure out all the ingredients and pour them directly into my glass baking dish, using it as my mixing bowl and minimizing clean up. Makes 6-8 servings.

toasted quinoa granola

Ingredients:
2 and 1/2 cups old fashioned large oats
1/2 cup uncooked dry quinoa
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsweeteneed flaked coconut
1/4 cup hemp hearts
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 and 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup melted coconut oil

Combine all ingredients. Bake at 300 degrees for 35-40 minutes in a glass or ceramic baking dish, stirring once halfway. Once done cooking give the granola a good stir all the way to the bottom (sometimes the quinoa can stick a little) and let cool completely before storing. Keeps well in a sealed container in the fridge or on the counter top for two weeks or in the freezer for longer. Hope you enjoy!

Heading on a road trip to the beach and baked these muffins up to nibble on, because trip snacks are half the fun right? In other news, also heading back to work in two weeks and hoping a freezer stocked with these will ease what will soon be very busy weekday mornings. I like big life events that I can prepare [read: cook/bake] for.

This recipe came about as I cruised the kids aisle at the grocery store and found all the snack items to have sugar listed in the top ingredients. I am trying to avoid giving any to our 13 month old. Not entirely, just not on a routine basis. So i whipped these up (I think the photos are from the fourth batch I’ve made this summer) and skipped adding any sugar or maple syrup and don’t even miss it! Naturally sweet bananas and dates work so well together. Feel free to throw in some chocolate chips if you like but we thought these were pretty delicious as is. Recipe makes 12 regular sized muffins, or 18 smaller sized muffins for baby/toddler hands. I just fill the empty muffin cups with water when I bake the second round. These freeze well too, but don’t generally last very long in my house. Topping one with almond butter is my favourite breakfast this week. Wishing you happy summer adventures big and small.

no sugar banana muffins

1 cup oats
3/4 cup flour (or gluten free alternative)
1 + 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 + 1/2 teaspoon baking powder (use 2 tsp if using gluten free flour)
1/2 tsp salt
5 dates pits removed and chopped into small chunks
1/2 cup walnuts chopped
1 tsp vanillia extract
4 ripe bananas peeled and mashed
1 egg
1/3 cup melted coconut oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix wet and dry ingredients in two separate bowls. Combine them being careful not to over mix. Batter should be lumpy. Use muffin liners, or lightly grease the muffin pan with coconut oil or non stick spray and scoop out batter, filling each cup about 2/3 full. I bake these for exactly 17 minutes in my oven (which runs hot) and they come out perfect every time. Bake until a knife comes out clean and tops are slightly golden. Let muffins cool for a few minutes in pan before removing.