Lottie's Oat Banana Peanut Butter Bread.

Happy 2015!

It’s been an exciting, unhealthy (thanks to the flu), holiday season. My youngest got sick on Christmas Eve. Missed church and stayed home. Sick on Christmas and then recovered nicely. Apparently, she shared her sickness gift with me. Sunday I ran and felt very “off”. Tired 7 miles got done, however, I felt like I was dragging. Monday I had a flaming sore throat and planned to go to the doc on Tuesday. However, I woke up with a raging fever on Tuesday and off to the doc I went. I got a rx for Tamiflu and stayed in bed. Great way to end 2014. One day in bed. The next I felt pretty good. Hubs and I hit up the grocery store. Got ready for NYE dinner. Low key and early to bed for me.

Yesterday we planned on spending the day in New York City and that’s just what we did. Despite not getting to meet up with everyone on my list – I did have lunch with my buddy, Lottie from runningonveggies. We’ve become fast friends who text, lunch and just share our love of all things vegan food related and running. I just adore her! She was so thoughtful to bring this delectable bread for my family and I asked if I could share it with you all. She agreed! I hope you love this as much as we do! I can’t stop eating it.

Lottie (then genius behind this recipe) and me doing a little sale shopping post lunch.

Now onto the good stuff… the recipe!

Makes 2 loaves or 24 regular muffins.

Dry Ingredients:
3 cups of gluten free rolled oats – ground into flour
1/2 cup flax seed meal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Wet ingredients:
2 cups of dates (soaked in hot water for about 15-20 minutes to soften)
1/2 cup of peanut butter
3 ripe bananas
2 tablespoons of coconut oil (melted)
2 cups of almond milk (unsweetened)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Topping:
1 cup of rolled oats
1 cup of vegan chocolate chips
Banana slices

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spray your loaf pan with baking spray and set aside.

Blend the 3 cups of oats in your food processor until flour is achieved. Then add the remaining ingredients through cinnamon. Remove your dates from hot water and add that to your food processor along with the remaining ingredients through vanilla. Blend.

Pour your batter into your prepared pan. Then in a separate bowl, blend in the oats by hand and then add the vegan chips to the top. Place banana slices on top as well. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Muffins I baked about 28-32 minutes. This is very moist bread so be aware that cooking time may increase significantly depending on your oven.

Some fun pics from NYC yesterday. Great way to kick off 2015!

Empire State Building all in Christmas colors.

Beautifully renovated St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

A beautiful Christmas tree at The Plaza.

And this trio of fun confetti pics and my youngest.

On the fitness front:

This is my end-of-the-year recap of running. I was super excited I got this many miles in for December having surgery and not able to run for 2 weeks post op and getting the flu. I did hit my yearly goal so I was pleased. Now onto 2015!