Oat Banana Chocolate Bread. Vegan. Gluten free.

I’m working full throttle today on several recipes for a new client delivery tomorrow.  I think they’re going to love this recipe. I don’t know about you, but when I have many ripe bananas and haven’t frozen them – I quickly turn my sights to banana bread or muffins.  Easy grab and go breakfast for kids heading off to school, snacking after a long day or when your craving a punch of protein and chocolate… ummm me daily!  Ha.  The nut butter & hemp hearts add heart healthy fat & proteins to help you rebuild muscles & keep you satiated.  Seriously… no better combination than banana, nut butter and chocolate… right? Okay, okay… let’s get started.

Ingredients:

1 cup regular cut oats
2 ripe bananas
2 flax eggs (2 tbl of flax seed meal mixed with 6 tbl of water)
1/3 cup of nut butter (I used creamy cashew)
2 tablespoons of coconut sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
Pinch of sea salt
1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon of hemp hearts
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
Vegan chocolate (I shaved a 4 oz bar) but you can also use 1/2 cup of chocolate chips as well

Optional drizzle:
1/4 cup chocolate chips and 1 teaspoon of canola or coconut oil.  Melt in the microwave on the melting setting.  Stir well and drizzle over the loaf with a fork in back and forth motions.

Method:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Spray your loaf pan or line with parchment.  Set aside.

Process oats in a food processor to process to flour consistency.  Make the flax egg and set that aside (2 tbl of flax meal mixed with 6 tbl of water – let sit for 3 minutes to thicken).  Add the bananas through vanilla.  Pulse several times to combine.  Stop the machine and scrape down as necessary.  Add your chocolate and pulse 2-3 times to incorporate.  Ladle gently into the prepared pan and place in the preheated oven.  Bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Let cool completely before removing from the loaf pan.  Store in an airtight container or freeze.

Yum.


Sorry for the quick update but lots of cooking going on my kitchen before my client delivery tomorrow.  I’ve been starting each day before 4:30a and getting to the gym the minute they open to get my workouts in.  My daughter doesn’t have bussing yet so mom taxi is running 🙂

Sunday: 21 hilly trail miles on our bikes, 1.65 miles running slowly on the trail
Monday: 65 minutes elliptical/60 minutes treadmill (elevation 10), legs and core.
Tuesday: 60 minutes elliptical/30 minutes treadmill (elevation 8), bi’s/tri’s/back/core
Wednesday: 60 minutes elliptical/30 minutes treadmill (elevation 10.5), leg day & core
Thursday: .38 warm-up on treadmill, 2 mile run, 2 minute cool down/30 minute elliptical, upper body & core.

That’s a wrap!

— Knead to Cook