bonellilou

          I love peanut butter and banana sandwiches and I wanted to try out this delicious combo in a cake and also, I got tired of making banana breads whenever I had overripe bananas (which was practically every time I bought bananas ), so last time I made this cake with them. I have followed this recipe from here, but made a few changes to make it eggless and also left out the chocolate chips. There's no butter or any other dairy products used in this cake, so it's vegan too. The cake came out super moist and tasted so good, do try this cake if you like peanut butter and bananas..

Need To Have

• Whole Wheat Flour - 1 cup
• Ripe Bananas - 2 big ones
• Peanut Butter - 1/2 cup
• Brown Sugar - 2/3 cup
• Oil - 1/4 cup
• Flax Seeds Powder - 1 tablespoon
• Vanilla Extract - 1 teaspoon
• Baking Powder - 1/2 teaspoon
• Baking Soda - 1 teaspoon
• Cinnamon Powder - 1 teaspoon

Method


          Soak the flax seed powder in 3 tablespoons warm water for about 10 minutes. Blend together the bananas, peanut butter, soaked flax seed powder and oil, then add the brown sugar and blend it one more time.


          Finally add the vanilla extract and cinnamon powder and blend it once more. Sift together the flour, baking soda and baking powder.


          Add the blended banana mixture to the dry ingredients and mix it well.


          Pour it in a baking tray, lined with parchment paper and bake it at 190 C for 35 to 40 minutes, remove cool and cut the cake. Melt some peanut butter with a little milk, apply it on the pieces with a fork and enjoy.


Note
The bananas and peanut butter, all have sugar, so the 2/3 cups of sugar was enough, but if the bananas are not overripe or the peanut butter does not have sugar in it, then increase accordingly, in case of a doubt, I taste the batter and then bake.
Just add enough milk to make a paste with the peanut butter, to keep it vegan, you can add some almond milk or soy milk instead of regular milk.

          Couple of months back, my husband on his trip to the US, had bought me two big packets of dried blueberries. Now, I have to find ways of using the berries, apart from eating it alone or with cereal ( with a family that's not a big fan of cereals ). I was browsing the web for blueberry recipes, I also I had bananas with me that day, so I was looking for a recipe to use blueberries along with bananas, then I saw this here. An easy dish that takes just about 4 to 5 minutes in the microwave, great for breakfast or snack..

Need To Have

• Quick Cooking Oats - 1/2 cup
• Banana - 1 big
• Dried Sweetened Blueberries - 3 tablespoons
• Cinnamon Powder - 1 teaspoon

Method


          Peel and mash the bananas, mix in the oats, blueberries and cinnamon powder.


          Grease a microwave safe dish, add the oats banana mixture, smooth it out with a spoon and microwave it for about 4 to 5 minutes till dry. Cool it for a few minutes, take it out and slice.


Note
The original recipe used fresh blueberries, they are not readily available in India.
Fresh berries don't have any taste, so 1/4 brown sugar is added.
The texture will be on the chewier side.

          Roasted Vegetables, this is an easy and healthy side to any meal, I have sauteed vegetables on stove top, and oven roasted pumpkins and onions for a soup, but this is the first time I tried roasting a bunch of vegetables in the oven. I wouldn't even call this as a big recipe, it's just mixed vegetables roasted with some herbs and oil. Serve it with burgers, pasta or even roll it in a roti or chappathi topped with some chutney..

Need To Have

• Broccoli - a small head
• Red Capsicum - 1 medium
• Onion - 1 medium
• Baby Corns - 6
• Garlic - 8 small cloves
• Olive Oil - 1 to 2 tablespoons
• Dried Basil - 1 teaspoon
• Dried Oregano - 1 teaspoon
• Salt  and Crushed Pepper to taste

Method


          Separate the broccoli into small florets, add to boiling water, remove immediately and add to cold water, remove and keep. Dice the capsicum into big pieces, dice the onion into big pieces, separate the layers and keep. Slice and dice the baby corns into 2' pieces and chop the garlic finely. Now mix everything together along with dried herbs, salt, pepper and oil. Spread it on a baking sheet, lined with aluminium foil, bake it in a pre-heated oven at 190 C . Mix the vegetables, halfway through, remove it when you see the vegetables are roasted, it took about 30 minutes.


Note
Oven timings vary, I kept the tray in the center of the oven.
Keep checking, the vegetables should be roasted, not burnt.
You can also add baby carrots, asparagus, and you can add fresh herbs instead of dried ones and red chilly flakes too.
To make it more tasty, you can serve it topped with some parmesan cheese.