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Power Protein Banana Bread

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There is nothing like waking up to the smell of homemade banana bread!!  I had a roommate in college that used to make banana bread of Sundays.  The scents from our tiny shared kitchen would flow into my room and wow was that not always a good excuse to take a study break!! Bananas are a key staple in our house.  We throw them in our smoothies, mash them into overnight oats, put them on seed butter toast, whip them up into 'nice cream' or throw them in pancake, muffins or this yummy Power Protein Banana Bread!!  Given it's harder to buy super ripe bananas at our usual grocery stores, every few weeks I tend to buy several dozen bananas  and let them go nice and brown and spotty or super ripe.  Super ripe bananas are easily mashable and add natural sweetness to your baked goods, smoothies or oats.  I also like to freeze the spotted brown bananas for the same reason.  Friends or neighbors have been shocked to see the numbers of bananas we have ripening in our window sills at times but … [Read more...]

Go -Bars

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I am a little late in posting this blog, but the week of Thanksgiving was a little nuts for us. We had family in town then my youngest got really sick and needed to be hospitalized for 3 days. Not the Thanksgiving we envisioned! Nonetheless, I wanted to post these for this time of year when every week seemed to have a lot going on! They are inspired and based off of Angela Liddon’s Present Glow Bars from her  OH SHE GLOWS COOKBOOK. I wrap them individually and keep them in a container in the freezer so we can grab one when we need one. They are filling, delicious and filled with nutrients to balance off some the less healthy holiday treats we may eat. Go Bars 1½ cups gluten-free oats 1 cup puffed millet or rice cereal ½ cup almond flour (or additional oats to make nut-free) ¼ cup sunflower seeds ¼ cup non-dairy chocolate chips (our favorite Enjoy Life) 1 tsp cinnamon ¼ tsp fine sea salt ½ cup brown rice syrup (see TIP below) ¼ cup almond or sunflower butter (to make … [Read more...]

Pumpkin Oat Muffins

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Did I mention our family is nuts about pumpkin? You’d never guess that from the number of pumpkin blogs I have written over the past couple of weeks, but we are we love pumpkin!! We love adding it to everything! We throw it in our oatmeal, smoothies, pancake and waffle batter, we make cookies out of it, soup, pasta cream sauces, chicken curries, you name it. Pretty much any type of dish we have added pumpkin! So we didn’t go vary long this season before whipping up a few versions of pumpkin muffins. I usually make gluten-free Pumpkin Buckwheat Muffin recipe but one morning I was out of buckwheat and low on my gluten-free mix so I had to improvise. The result was the recipe below, which in a recent taste test, two out of three of my tasters preferred. Though it was a very close decision that required multiple muffins to decide! Option to use canned pumpkin puree or roast and puree your own pumpkin (see Roasted Sugar Pumpkin).   Pumpkin Oat Muffins Healthy wheat-free, … [Read more...]

Warm Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

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Oh dear its getting nippy in the morning chez les Jamiesons!  I don’t know if it’s my childhood memories of coming down for breakfast, seeing my mum over the stove stirring a pot of hot oatmeal (or porridge as we called it), that makes me crave a bowl of something warm in the cooler mornings, or do we just naturally want something warm in our bellies when the weather changes?  I’m not sure, but I find when the mornings start off requiring slippers and robes when I get up, my morning cravings start to change too and I find myself pulling a big pot out of the cupboard to carry on the porridge tradition with my little ladies. Now, I am usually not a “big” breakfast kind of person but rather more of what I’d call a morning grazer.  Fruit and veggie juice or smoothies are morning staples for me because I digest them well, they give me a boost of energy and I really feel best when I start my day off with a fresh juice or smoothie.  They are always accompanied with or followed up by a hot … [Read more...]

Pearlicious Smoothie

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I wanted to make a smoothie for my girlfriends who were over for lunch that was green but not too overpowering with “greenness”. This turned out to be a perfect addition to our salad based lunch and had the right about of creaminess, not too sweet and very refreshing. I remade it for the kiddos a few days later as their breakfast smoothie but added in some extra mango to sweeten it a bit more for them. The result was two empty glasses and two happy campers. Give it a worth and let me know how your crew likes it!   Pearlicious Smoothie 1 cup coconut water ½ cup non-dairy milk 1 pear (organic)* ½ cucumber (organic)* ½ avocado 1 cup mango, frozen (optional sweetener for kids) 1 tsp cinnamon (mixed in or sprinkled on top) * If not using organic fruit and vegetables, remember to peel off the skin before adding to the high-speed blender. Measure liquids into the high-speed blender then add remaining fruit and vegetables. Process until smooth and serve … [Read more...]

Basic Strawberry Banana Smoothie (Kids favorite)

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This was probably the very first smoothie I made for my girls when I started making smoothies in my old blender. I hadn’t yet bit the bullet and bought a vitamix so my smoothies were a little lumpier then but the strawberry banana was my starting point. Around 18 months twin-A decided she would no longer drink milk or nurse and only drank a little water. As a nervous, sleep-deprived mom I started to panic and worry about my daughter getting dehydrated, not enough calories and of course no calcium in her diet. What would happen to her beautiful, new baby teeth? How would I keep her little belly full? Enter the smoothie. She had tried my smoothies from the local organic health food store before so I began trying to replicate these at home. I tried a little too hard at first, packing in way too many nutritional goodies into a picky baby’s smoothie (spinach, rice milk, flax, avocado and only a little fruit). This didn’t go over well with either of my daughters or my blender. Taking a step … [Read more...]

Breakfast Banana Buns

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So by February my girls are sick of oatmeal. Even if I mix in berries or chocolate chips or turn breakfast into dessert by topping the oats with cookie crumbs, we get a huge protest over oatmeal for breakfast “Not oatmeal again!!”. Not willing to give up, I look for alternatives ways to get some filling, fiber rich oats into my girls. I needed something that is yummy, fun and of course quick to prep and eat for those busy school day mornings. Plus recently we have three big front very wiggly teeth (two in twin A’s and one in twin B’s mouth) so eating toast or their favorite crunchy sandwiches at lunch have become challenging. I had to find something healthy, nutritious and that they would eat. I came up with these and called them “buns” largely because if I have one bread monster who could easily eat bread and nothing else all day. If you don’t count the chocolate chips, there is no added sugar, instead they are naturally sweetened by the frozen bananas and dates. You could also use … [Read more...]

Blueberry Frozen Greens Smoothie Bowl

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After the kids went to bed last night, I chopped and prepped a bunch of veg to go into my vitamix, then poured a huge glass of water and put it next to nice big lemon. I had the good intention of starting my day out by detoxing my liver with a refreshing lemon water followed by a very green vegetable smoothie.   Instead, Gabi woke up at 5am telling me her tummy was requesting breakfast, specifically “mommy waffles”. When a hungry tummy speaks we must listen, especially when it speaks for homemade waffles! So did I do this while sticking to my good intention set the night before? Well I had half the glass of water (16 ounces) but without the lemon and only after I guzzled down my left over milky iced coffee from the fridge!! Smelling the waffles and also having an opportunity to have breakfast alone with my youngest daughter while her sister and dad still dozed, it was a no brainer, I had to share in the waffle fun instead of my green smoothie. Plus I didn’t want to wake up the … [Read more...]

Post Tracy Anderson Workout Smoothie

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Yah!! I am having such an awesome day so far! This morning I made time for a good workout. I got my groove on and did a hard but energizing Tracy Anderson mat routine and then one of Tracy Anderson’s great cardio dance workout. Wow an hour of working out! Getting a full hour in can sometime be tough with work and kids stuff but I always feel so great when I make the time. I recently started doing Tracy's TA Video Streaming but today I went back to Continuity where I left off and did the muscular structure and cardio from these DVDs.  I am still getting used to the longer Streaming episodes, which are AMAZING but longer, so I have to carefully plan my "me time" to get my workouts in.  Usually not a problem but it does mean waking up a little earlier to get these in before work and this morning my body need that little extra z-time!  Regardless it was a great workout and left me feeling strong, energy and very thirsty! I took today off from work so the kids are in school, hubby is at … [Read more...]

Green Magic Smoothie

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Smoothies are a staple in our house.  I love them because they are usually vegan milk based, a beverage one of my daughters will otherwise refuse to drink, and are filled with fresh or frozen fruit and enhanced by a few nutritional powerhouses likes greens, flax, chia, probiotics, plant-based protein, omega-3s and they’re naturally sweetened.  We often make them as a dessert with lots of frozen fruit and ice so they are more ice-cream like than a drink and we make enough that the leftovers become the kids morning smoothies.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE morning smoothies!  Not only for myself but for the kids it’s perfect because they sip (or often guzzle) them while we prep the rest of breakfast and it provides them with a bunch of yummy nutrients and the fiber helps keep them full through their busy mornings.  Smoothies are also a great hydration tool.  I have one twin that loves her glass of almond milk every morning, but the other kiddie barely drinks a thing unless it’s sweet.  While she … [Read more...]