Gratuitous banana shot

I've been travelling a little too much lately, so right off the bat I'm going to admit that this is going to be a pretty lame blog posting -- yet not as lame as you would think.

Why am I changing my mind mid-sentence?

First of all, this post is going to inform you that I've been in both Grenada and Montreal over the past week, and have eaten sublimely on each island. Some of my culinary findings will be showing up in future stories in House & Home magazine, on the Food & Wine blog, in the National Post, and yes, right here on the National Nosh.

There's the housekeeping bit out of the way.

So why else isn't this blog posting super lame? Because it includes a photo of a monkey eating a banana!!

My morning smoothie

I’m not a morning person. At all. And as far as breakfast is concerned (which I never miss), I usually don’t even want to have to chew anything. (Exhausting.)

And that’s where the frozen banana peanut butter smoothie comes in handy.

Here’s now to make it: Take one frozen banana (that you’ve previously peeled and have wrapped in plastic wrap) from the freezer. Unwrap and break into a few chunks. Pop it in the blender and top with about ½ cup of milk, 1/2 cup plain low fat yoghurt, a tsp of honey and 2 tsp of peanut butter. Blitz until smooth and then pour into a tall glass.

Now you’re ready to start the day.

Chocolate cherry breakfast bars

Gluten free, low in fat, can be made dairy free, are easy to prepare, both kiddies and adults alike eat them up, and they’re the perfect solution to all of those overripe bananas taking up prime ice cream real estate in the freezer. Is there nothing these soft and chewy breakfast bars can’t do? 

This recipe is adapted from the blog chocolate & zucchini, which adapted it from Nikki’s Healthy Cookies, adapted on Heidi’s 101 Cookbooks, so I’m not 100% sure what the recipe looked like to begin with, but I’ve done it up with variations including dark chocolate chunks with toasted almond, milk chocolate and pecan, and this version, with sour cherries and chocolate chips. Mix up a batch yourself as a litmus test then make adaptations of your own. Think of these as the Cold Stone Creamery of the breakfast bar world. The possibilities are endless. Let me know how it goes.

CHOCOLATE CHERRY BREAKFAST BARS

Ingredients:

4 medium very ripe bananas (defrosted from freezer so that they get all mushy, is ideal)

½ tsp vanilla extract

¼ cup smooth peanut butter

2 cups regular rolled oats (not steel cut or likewise long cooking)

1/3 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

2/3 cup ground almonds

¼ tsp salt

½ cup chocolate chips

¼ cup dried sour cherries

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a medium sized baking dish with vegetable oil.

To a bowl add bananas and mash thoroughly. Add vanilla and peanut butter and stir to combine. Add rolled oats, ground almonds, salt, chocolate and cherries. Stir well, then pour into prepared baking dish and evenly smooth top. Bake in preheated oven for about 25 minutes. Let cool then cut into handy bars.  

My daily snack

Banana and peanut butter -- good to go any time of the day. And it's a snack I have all the time simply because I always have bananas and peanut butter on hand. 

And yet, there's more to it than that. It tastes great, and nutritionally speaking, it's what I'd call a complete snack. 

Just remember to spread the peanut butter on the banana before slicing. 

My breakfast

Days like these call for breakfasts like this: Organic oats, non organic banana, Quebec maple syrup. 

You know you want it.