Whole Grain Banana Bread We had some bananas get brown really quick, so it was banana bread time! I adapted an old banana bread recipe to make it with whole, natural ingredients and it turned out fantastic! Quick breads are just that quick! It takes only a few minutes to put together and it is delicious. This bread it great for lunchboxes or after school snacks. This recipe features whole spelt flour, whole wheat pastry flour, mascobado sugar, maple syrup, and salted butter. I love using salted butter in recipes like this for a little touch of saltiness to go with the sweet bananas.
Red Palm Superfood Cookies Yes, you read the title right Superfood cookies! If you ve been following along you know I have 3 boys. I like to make treats for them every once in a while because I don t want them to feel like we are weird or different then other kids we know, and who doesn t love cookies? My husband had been making these oat, walnut, and maple cookies and I decided to take them to the next level by using red palm oil. If you haven t heard of this stuff yet it is incredible! Health Benefits Organic virgin red palm oil is the king of all oils. It is better then olive oil, coconut oil, and all the other oils that have great health effects on us. My husband actually just picked it up at the store one day, not even knowing what it
was, so I Googled it and found this article from Dr. Oz describing how amazing it is! Here is an overview of the health benefits: Rich in tocotrienol which is cancer fighting Fights heart disease and high cholesterol by aiding in the removal of plaque buildup in arteries Helps maintain proper blood pressure Antioxidant rich- aids in preventing osteoporosis, asthma, cataracts, macular degeneration, arthritis, and liver disease Slows down premature again by protecting the skin from UV rays from the sun Protects against Alzheimer s by improving blood flow to brain cells and stopping the damage of brain cells from occuring I don t know about you, but sign me up for the Red Palm Oil train right now! The Cookies Not only will you get all the health benefits from the Red Palm Oil, the rest of the ingredients are whole, natural, and also packed with nutrition! These cookies contain oat flour and rolled oats as well as all natural sugar so your body will not experience the crash that comes with refined flours and sugars. The best part, they taste AMAZING! I think sometimes people think of health food as cardboard-like but its 2014 and things have drastically changed! The Oil The most important thing is to choose the right oil. Do not get any type of refined version, as refining processes ruin the health benefits of oils. I d highly recommend Nutivia brand Organic Red Palm Oil. It is relatively inexpensive and
can be found in the organic section of grocery stores. If you are looking among the highly refined oils and can t find it, look in another section. Here is a link to the oil on Amazon if you can t find it locally. Whole Wheat Chocolate Tarts Yesterday was Easter so we had a big celebration at my sisterin-law s house. It was a wonderful day! We had beautiful weather here in Pennsylvania and a delicious meal. They grilled some fresh salmon and we had a really nice variety of side dishes to go along with it. For someone trying to eat unprocessed food there were lots of options and it was nice to see a meal without all the additives at someone else s home!
I made some mini-desserts to take including these delicious Whole Wheat Chocolate Tarts. I had a very hard time finding a recipe with whole ingredients so I adapted my own using this recipe from Martha Stewart. They turned out fantastic! As with all of my dessert recipes, I like to mention sugar is still sugar! Although this is a less refined version that doesn t mean I m going to go crazy with it because I think that it is better. I switched out the all purpose flour for whole wheat pastry flour and the regular sugar for a pure cane sugar. I also used a higher quality cocoa powder as opposed to the standard Hershey s brand. Sometimes you get what you pay for and in this instance I would rather support a company that doesn t use a ton of additives and unknown ingredients in their products. Although Hershey s cocoa powder has only one ingredient, the rest of their products are all filled with
questionable ingredients. Here are links to these products. I also used this wonderful mini-tartlet pan to get a really nice looking shell. It is super easy to use and your end product looks like something straight from a professional bakery. If you have ever wondered how specialty bakeries make their mini products so eye appealing, it is the use of pans like this one.
I filled these chocolate tarts with Mascarpone cheese. I did two varieties of Mascarpone in the shells, one was plain and the other had a hint of coffee in it. The Mascarpone really helps make these delicious because it is creamy and smooth without the use of any additives or extra flavorings. It is simple and allows for the chocolate and fruit to shine and really make this dessert. Sometimes less is more when it comes to sugar in desserts and this is one of those instances.
Whole Wheat Hummingbird Cake As I mentioned before it was my husband s birthday. I made him a chocolate tart and fresh mint ice cream on the actual day then I made this cake to take to my in-law s house. I know sometimes people feel like whole wheat equals a really dense end product but if you choose the right ingredients to substitute for the refined stuff your cake will turn out fantastic! I took the recipe I found here and made a few switches to ensure I was using the best ingredients I possibly could for the cake. I was not able to find a recipe online that used whole wheat flour so I had to adapt my own and pray that for the effort I put in, my husband would enjoy it. I have to say he loved it and I would definitely make it again using the exact same recipe. The cake itself is pretty sweet because of the banana and pineapple so I went for an icing that wasn t overly sweet and it was the perfect combination. I hope your family enjoys this as much as we did! *I used Bob s Red Mill Whole Wheat Pastry Flour. Since discovering this product I use it for most of my baking. It has worked well for cakes, muffins, and pie crusts and is a great alternative to bleached, enriched white flours. If you can t find it in your local grocery store here is a link to
get it online. I also linked the mascobado sugar which is a great alternative to standard white sugar. Although sugar is still sugar and I don t suggest over-doing it because it is healthier, this is an unrefined and pure ingredient. Fresh Mint Ice Cream If there is one thing my household loves it s ice cream! When we started eating unprocessed foods ice cream was one item that disappeared from my freezer. If you take a stroll down the freezer isle in your local grocery store and read some of the ingredient lists one thing is clear there are a ton of additives in ice cream that do not need to be there. I am not talking about tons of sugar because the sugar is the least of worry in this case. Ingredients I have seen on ice cream containers range from carrageenan to polysorbate 80 to propyl paraben. I am guessing you don t have those ingredients in your house and neither do I. So why allow someone else to put them in your food? Making your own ice cream is really simple. All you need is something to freeze the ice cream in and a few real ingredients. For my husband s birthday this year I knew I wanted to make some fresh mint ice cream to go along with a dark chocolate tart. If you have never tasted fresh mint ice cream you are missing out big time! It is so much better then the store bought stuff! Here is the recipe I used for my husband s birthday and it turned out fantastic.
*If you are having trouble finding the Mocobado Sugar at your local grocery store here it is on Amazon.