Peanut Butter Banana Pops

Easy nutritious summer treat!  Thanks again to Catherine McCord from weelicous.com for posting this idea! These were so easy to make, full of protein and taste like peanut butter ice cream...YUM.

 
Peanut Butter Banana Pops
Recipe adapted by www.weelicious.com

Ingredients
1/2 cup peanut butter (or any nut butter will do).
1 cup almond milk (or any milk you drink).
2 Tb. honey
1/2 banana chopped

Directions
Whisk together  peanut butter, almond milk, and honey.  Mix in chopped bananas.  Divide mixture into Popsicle molds or Dixie cups with Popsicle sticks. Freeze and enjoy!!

Vegan Hazelnut Muffins

If you have seen my post on nut milk, you will now know what to do with the left over pulp.   Don't let the word "vegan" scare you off please, these are just as good if not better than the conventional muffin.  These muffins are so incredibly moist, not to dense and packed with protein and fiber. There are plenty of variations with them too. I used hazelnuts as I had made hazelnut milk. However, any nut should work just fine I am sure. Try it and let me know how it is!

Hazelnut Muffins
Recipe adapted by www.onegreenplanet.org

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups hazelnut milk pulp
• 1 cup hazelnut milk (or any milk will do)
• 1/4 cup  walnut oil
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup Sucanat or light brown sugar, not packed
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup  semisweet chocolate chips or raisins (optional)
• 1 1/2 cups  whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 tablespoon  baking powder

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a standard muffin tin with paper liners.
2. Combine pulp, milk, oil, vanilla, Sucanat or sugar, salt, and cinnamon in a blender. Blend until smooth.
3. Combine raisins or chips, flour, and baking powder in a large bowl.
4. Fold wet ingredients into dry, being careful not to over mix.
5. Divide batter into prepared muffin tin.
6. Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.
7. Let cool on a wire rack for a few minutes before transferring muffins directly onto rack.
8. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge, for up to 3 days.

Nut Milk

I haven't had a glass of cows milk in at least 10 years. I have no problem eating cheese, yogurt or ice cream, but milk on it's own just grosses me out for some reason. I have a million reasons actually, but I won't share them all with you, I will just tell you that there is a better milk you should be pouring over your cereal in the morning and washing down your cookies with : ) NUT MILK!

I started off with soy milk before I knew better. It tasted fine, but the more I learn about soy, the more I steered away. I then found almond, rice and coconut milk. I made the change. Rice milk has a lot of sugar (not as much as cows milk (13 grams) believe it or not) and doesn't seem to have many nutrients. Coconut milk is so good in many things, but drinking on it's own, it's a little too thick and calorie dense for me, so I made the switch to almond milk. This was a good choice, but most of the store bought brands contain too many ingredients, oils and sugar included. I was a little turned off, so I started to make my own a couple years ago. It's easy, delicious and nutritious!
Here's the recipe:

Nut Milk

2 cups soaked raw almonds (or hazelnuts, peanuts, any nut you want (organic preferred))
5-6 cups water
1 Tb. agave nectar or honey (optional)
1 Tb. vanilla extract (optional, or use almond extract in it's place)
1 Tb. molasses (optional, but it's good for extra iron)
pinch of salt

You can make this without soaking the nuts first, but by soaking you are taking the nut out of it's dormant stage and increase the nutrient benefits and absorption to your body. I feel like you get more milk out it by soaking it as well.

Soak almonds overnight in enough water to fully cover them by an inch or so. Place nuts in blender and add 5-6 cups of water, agave, vanilla, molasses and salt. Blend on high for 2 minutes. Strain through cheese cloth or a nut milk bag and squeeze as much liquid out as possible. Refrigerate and enjoy!

Save the nut pulp as well! I am posting an amazing moist vegan muffin recipe you can use it for! You can also add it to your oatmeal or smoothies, or pie crust, pancakes, etc... So many uses! If you can't use it right away, it's freezable and ready for you when you are ready to use it!