Coconut Banana Chia Pudding

So when I first started seeing all the chia seed recipes all over the place (and by that I mean Pinterest), I actually laughed. People eat chia seeds? Really? And make "pudding" out of them? No way. All I could picture was a chia pet style bowl with green stuff growing out of it. Ummm, no. But I eventually caved. The first recipe I tried was chia seeds, milk, cocoa, and maple syrup. Even after blending it, it was still weird. The taste wasn't bad, but I couldn't get over the texture. The only reason I even tried again was because I had bought a bag of chia seeds, and I was going to use them one way or another!

The first recipe I used called for almond milk. I don't keep almond milk around the house. We are big fans of dairy, real dairy. Preferably full fat dairy. So I used whole milk instead. For round two, I decided to use coconut milk; I always have that in the pantry. And I had a couple of bananas that were about to disintegrate on the counter, so I figured they would be perfect. 

Ingredients: 

One can coconut milk (unsweetened)

1/3 c chia seeds

2 bananas (the riper the better) 

The recipe couldn't be much easier-mash bananas and mix the rest of it together, then wait for the chia seeds to expand and make the "pudding". 

It had to be the coconut milk that made the difference, because the texture of this was perfect-not weird. It was different for sure, but in a good way this time! And because the bananas were so ripe, no sweeteners are needed! 

Chia seeds are a bit heavy on the carbs, but over 80% of the carbs come from the fiber so in the world of carbs, that's not bad at all. And I can totally admit that it looks weird. It doesn't look like food, or appetizing food anyway. But I promise, it tastes great! 

Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

The husband and I were watching Food Network the other night when they made Banana Split Cookies. He was inspired. Well, inspired to pick up the ingredients for me to make them anyway. The show we were watching, Tough Cookies, didn't give a recipe, so I just made it up as I went. Here's what we came up with:

Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter flavored Crisco
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
• 1 ripe banana
• 1 teaspoon banana extract

Directions

PREHEAT oven to 375° F.

COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat crisco, granulated sugar, brown sugar, banana, banana extract and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add egg. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

 Now on the show, they used took the cookies and filled them with white chocolate ganache and strawberries, then topped them with whipped cream, chocolate sauce and a cherry. We didn't do all that. Instead, we filled them with a ganache/frosting mixture.
To make the filling, finely chop one bag of white chocolate chips.

In a small saucepan, heat one cup of heavy cream until hot, but not boiling. Stir into white chocolate until fully incorporated. Add half a teaspoon of banana extract. Chill.

Spread on cookies and enjoy!




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chocolate chip banana bread

this is one of those things i make quite a bit. i usually end up bringing it into work because we don't need two loaves of banana bread at home!

2 eggs
1 c sugar
1/2 c oil (substitute applesauce)
3 T milk
2 c flour
1/2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 t vanilla
3 large bananas, mashed
chocolate chips

mix all ingredients, except chocolate chips, well. stir in chocolate chips and pour evenly into two pregreased loaf pans. bake at 350 for 55 minutes. when bread is done, let cool in pan on wire cooking rack for 10 minutes then remove from pan and finish cooling on rack.