Happy Monday Morning to you! How was the weekend? What all went down? I had a really great day Saturday because my sister came to Phoenix for a one-day visit. It was soooo awesome to hang out with her and I posted some cute pictures of us, too.
Sunday I went to a Pumpkin Patch with my hubs and Skylar. She loved the horses, pumpkins, and the hay ride. It was 102 F so we only lasted about an hour, but here’s a few pics from our day.
I love this one because her eyes are the color of the beads on the turquoise necklace she’s holding
And if you missed My Highlights of the Week post where I recapped some raw vegan desserts from the past week, check that out, too!
Moving onto the Vegan Peanut Butter Banana Bread…
Recently, I had seen Janetha make a great banana bread based on Veggie Girl’s Recipe and it got my thinking about making a banana bread or cake of my own. I scoured the internet for various vegan, gluten, and soy free recipes that didn’t add any additional oil or margarine and really wasn’t finding what I wanted so finally decided just to create my own. Necessity is the mother of invention, right?
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Peanut Butter Banana Bread (Or Banana Cake)
3/4 c Oats (that I ground into oat flour)
1 c Almond Flour (or 1 c almonds that you grind)
3 Large Ripe Bananas (Optional: reserve approx 8 little slices for garnishing your loaf or cake)
1 Peeled & Cored Apple (Med to Large)
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup White Sugar
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1 Tbsp Blackstrap Molasses
1 Tsp Baking Soda
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
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Everything went into my Blendtec
And I tried to blend all those ingredients together.
But Technical Difficulties Stuck Big Time with the Blendtec. It wasn’t able to mix the ingredients. I tried self-mashing the already super soft bananas with a wooden spoon to try to give it some help. But I guess this wasn’t the right machine for this recipe.
I do like the openness of the Blendtec’s canister for easy food removal, but for this recipe, I was in need of a tamper stick like the Vitahas.
So I put the Blendtecto rest…
…And transferred the entire mixture into the Vita-Mix. You can imagine that this transfer and the extra cleanup really generated some choice words from my mouth. I’ll let you use your imagination.
Now in business with the Vita, I blended the whole thing in 20 seconds flat…
…And the mixture was looking and tasting (finger-licking) good!
But, then I added 1 c (1 generous cup!) of Peanut Butter. Which just upped the delish factor.
Blended Again
Poured the mixture into a bread pan (9 x 5) **see caveat below. Garnished with a few banana slices (that I reserved from the 3 large bananas as noted in the recipe). And baked at 325 F in a Convection Oven for 1 hour.
After an hour, I took it out and let the loaf cool.
During that hour, I wanted to reach into my oven and devour the whole thing because between the bananas, the vanilla extract, and the peanut butter, it smelled beyond amazing in my house!
Here’s an up close shot of the finished product. Can you see the ridic amount of moistness this bread has??
Or try this one on for size
For me, a dessert is not worth eating if it’s dry! I am really pleased with the moistness of this bread which really ended up being more like a banana cake. If you like really ooey-gooey desserts and are a fan of underbaked treats because you love the moistness, then look no further than this recipe! Plus, it’s not overwhelmingly peanut buttery which for some people, is a good thing. If you want it overwhelmingly PB’ish, then just add more PB!
One critique I will give myself is this…the loaf was on the verge of getting too brown on the outside before it was cooking through completely on the inside. If you’re a fan of slightly underbaked treats, no worries, make it in the loaf pan, you’ll be in heaven.
**Caveat: But, I think for optimal results because of the density and richness of the batter (3 bananas, 1 c of PB, and 1 c of almond meal will do that to a recipe!), use a 9 x 13 pan and bake at 325F for approx 40 minutes, but start checking it at 30 and you may have to go til 50 minutes depending on your oven and how well-done you like your breads or cakes.
What’s your favorite cake or bread? I have to say growing up, mine was banana bread. But going gluten/soy-free and vegan puts a damper on most traditional recipes, banana bread included. So I created my own! So tell me all about what makes you say yuuummm! I may just veganize and raw-ify it on the blog!
Stay tuned for 4 ingredient (and 45 second) homemade hummus…..
haha seriously, the word verification will make or break if i leave a comment on someones blog — such a hassle!
those sun dried tomatos are fabbbbbbie! one of my favorite sandwich toppers but I can't seem to find any that don't come packed in oil. No me gusta :(
don't even get me started on that bread… hot damn!
have a great run with your lovies :) tres cute!!
happy happy weekend, Averie! love you!
OMG I'm glad you asked. Thanks for the opportunity to vent! A man I know (who is by no means vegetarian or vegan) told me he is planning a vegan raw food workshop aimed at helping diabetics. Considering he just discovered raw food a few days ago and doesn't even believe in this way of life, I think he is not qualified to teach this class and (quite frankly) is a hypocrite. I'm angry at him and worried about the potential attendees at the workshop who might get incorrect info on raw food.
Whew! Thanks, it feels better to get it off my chest. This is the best blog ever :D
Dear Averie,
Please slow down with all the awesome recipes you have been blogging about. Me and my kitchen can't keep up with all the vegan goodness!
xo
Sheri from Green & Crunchy
Seriously Averie…these desserts are making me crazy! So good!!!
Horray for NO word verification!!!
Wow, that peanut butter banana cake looks delicious and just made my stomach growl!!!
I saw your comment about the pumpkin oatmeal chocolate chip cookies – I've made it a goal to upload the recipe today and you will be the first to know when I do!! :) xoxo!
Averie, you're both HOT and RAW!
Girl! Could you possibly have ANY foods on here that I don't want to eat?!? They are look divine. I considered switching to vegetarian a few months ago, but never made the full switch. With your goodies I feel like I could do it.
Lovin' all the goodies and the boat pose! Another favorite :)
Hope the run was fun (oh look, I can rhyme…)
OMG, so making that banana bread cake this weekend! And the snowballs.
I tend to bake and cook a lot more on the weekends. During the week I don't have the time. Really though, the weekends are just totally laid back, no pressure. Love that.
I love that you share so many great recipes. Now I just need an Excalibur…
I would LOVE to beeotch about how UNSUNNY 'sunny' Perth Australia is right now!! In the middle of 'Spring'! Is it sunny all year round in Arizona?
Kudos to the amazing yoga body ;)
How anyone can dog out a vegan/raw diet when someone that follows it is as athletically capable as you, is beyond me!
xx
Wow, do you do Yoga everyday?
You look so helathy and great :)
<3
Amanda
Guess I'm ahead of the game :P
Could your pb/banana cake BE any more sexy??
Can't wait until someday I have a dehydrator. Yum.
I love that you turned the banana bread into banana bread cake, it is a really stunning dessert topped with those pretty slices. Awww have fun on your family run and the block party, that is going to be a lot of fun!
And YUM for the homemade sundried tomatoes, I can't wait to make my own!
I eat the same foods on the weekend that I eat during the weekdays. If I actually went out that may be different. But, I spend weekend nights in with my family or at school in the lab :)
oh my gosh!! you have had my mouth watering with all of these posts with banana baked goods. Banana bread is one of my all time TOP favorite foods. I actually haven't made it in wayy too long- probably because I can't have it around….no self control!!
I love that yoga pose- it's called a teaser in Pilates, and it's one of my favorite exercises!!
those dehydrated toms look soo yummy as well!
Someday I'll spend the cash to get me a dehydrator!!
HAVE SO MUCH FUN TODAYYYYYY!
And I agree with Alison- word verification IS THE WORST. So frustrating!!
Look at me ahead of the game already commenting on Saturday's mornings post! And I'm FIRST!
OMG no word verification YES YES YES!
Hmmm, I can't think of anything different I have on the weekends that I don't have during the week. I do feel like the weekends are little more lax though – I think that's just ingrained us from an early age!
I meant to say thanks too for your email response to my Ashtanga questions – thanks for getting me pointed in the right direction. I'm on it.