I originally made these muffins as a healthy alternative to the sugar-filled, buttercream-topped Pioneer Woman vanilla cupcakes I made for Miss G’s 2nd birthday party, and they’ve quickly became a favourite. Gracen loves them, Brad gobbles them up, and I often pack an extra in the diaper bag to eat while on the go. So this morning, on the first football Sunday of the year, Miss G and I whipped up a fresh batch.
Here’s our line up of ingredients…
- very ripe bananas (fresh or previously frozen and defrosted)
- oil (olive or coconut or grapeseed – I actually think olive might be my fave)
- an egg or egg replacer (we’ve used a chia egg or a flax egg* for the last several years and both work perfectly)
- pure vanilla
- wholewheat flour
- baking soda
- baking powder
- cinnamon
- salt (which you can easily leave out if making these for really little ones – there’s not really a noticeable difference if you skip it to be honest)
- walnuts or chocolate chips or a combination of both if you wish (Gracen always wishes for nuts, and I agree – the crunch definitely makes these muffins yummier)
*To make a chia or flax egg, put one tablespoon of ground chia or flax seed into a small bowl and add 3 tablespoons of warm water. Mix it well and let it sit for approximately 10 minutes before using it.
{this post contains affiliate links}
First off, add your bananas and the other wet ingredients to a large mixing bowl.
Mix until mostly smooth and only slightly chunky.
Next, place all of the dry ingredients, except the nuts and or chocolate chips, in a separate bowl.
And give them a good stir.
Once mixed, add the dry mixture to the wet mixture.
Mix just until blended.
If you’re adding nuts to your muffins, crush them up a little bit…
Add them to your muffin batter… If you’re adding chocolate chips, no need to crush them first obviously.
And give the mixture a stir.
Lastly, grease a muffin tin with some oil (or use silicone muffin liners) , scoop the mixute into the cups, and top with a walnut if desired.
Bake until cooked through and golden brown.
The BEST {No Sugar Added} Banana Muffins (adapted from Bob Ewing‘s recipe)
- 4 large ripe bananas
- 1 egg (we use a chia egg or flax egg)
- 1/3 cup of your favourite oil (we use olive or coconut)
- 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla (this vanilla is the BEST)
- 1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt (completely optional – I’d choose to leave it out in the future if making these for littles)
- 1/2 cup of walnuts, crushed – plus more for topping, or chocolate chips (or a 1/4 cup of each)
Preheat oven to 350° . Prepare a 12 cup muffin pan by brushing it with oil or using silicon baking cups.
If you’re using a flax or chia egg, mix 1 tablespoon of ground chia or flax seed with 3 tablespoons of warm water in a small bowl and allow it to sit for 5 or 10 minutes to thicken. Mix the bananas and other wet ingredients until the mixture is mostly smooth and only slightly chunky. In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients (save the walnuts and chocolate chips) well. Gently stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Fold in walnuts and/or chocolate chips if adding them. Fill the prepared muffin tin with the mixture and top each muffin with a whole walnut. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Let cool.
Enjoy!
Here’s our list of ingredients: Plain organic whole milk yogurt, frozen no-sugar-added strawberries and raspberries, a ripe frozen banana, a handful of baby beets, a few teaspoons of chia seeds, and some whole organic milk.
Another must for this recipe? Supergirl and her super girl baby.
Get started by dumping your frozen berries into your blender. Closing your eyes makes for a better challenge. Nothing Supergirl can’t handle though.
Chuck in your frozen banana. Again, amp up this step by trying it with your eyes closed.
Next, add your beets in one. by. one.
And then dump your chia seeds in too.
Next, carefully add your milk. The more you can get into the blender, the better.
Lastly, add a generous scoop of yogurt.
Blend everything up until thick and bright.
Serve with a straw or a spoon. Or both.
Watch your little superhero gobble it up.
In addition to the blueberries, we gathered up some plain organic whole milk yogurt (with just a tiny touch of honey added), our new 
Gracen started us out by putting the blueberries into the food processor (at least the ones that were lucky enough to not be eaten).
Then she added our yogurt and honey…
And we blended it up for a decent amount of time. That’s it. Tout fini!
With some help, Grae scooped a little bit of the mixture into each mould…
Then snapped the lids on and into the freezer they went.
Here they are. 
In the morning, peel a few bananas. (Grae loves this part.)
Then slice them up.
Place the banana coins on a parchment-lined baking sheet and pop them in the freezer for at least a few hours. 
In the afternoon, once they’re completely frozen through, take the bananas out of the freezer.
Place approximately 1/3 of the banana coins into a good food processor. 
Mix through the chunky stage, past the crumby stage, and right into the smooth, soft serve texture stage. You may have to stop the processor once or twice to mix things up a little with a spatula, but it’s not always needed.
Once the mixture is thick and creamy, stop the food processor and add a capful of good vanilla.
Plus another 1/3 of the banana coins and mix to bring to a soft serve texture again.
Then, add the last batch of banana coins and blend again. If you’re feeling like a vanilla-flavoured treat, you can stop here and serve immediately, or put the ice cream into the freezer for a while for a more hard ice cream texture.
BUUUUUUT, if you want peanut butter and jelly neopolitan-esque treat, divide your ice cream into thirds, leaving one portion in the food processor. Place the two other portions in the freezer in the meantime.
First up, make the jelly flavoured ice cream. Add a spoonful of no-sugar-added fruit preserves…
And a few frozen strawberries.
Then blend until smooth. Pop the berry ice cream in the freezer and give your work bowl and blade a quick rinse.
Remove one of your vanilla-flavoured ice cream portions from the freezer, pop it in the processor, add a heaping tablespoon of all-natural peanut butter, and mix. When blended, transfer the peanut butter ice cream back into your bowl and pop it in the freezer.
While you tidy up a tad, let your toddler ferociously lick the bowl and spoon.
If possible, let your soft serve firm up in the freezer for 5 to 10 minutes. Or, if your toddler is like mine, serve immediately to appease the begs for “iceth cleam”.
Enjoy!
You’ll have to excuse our ‘vacation look’… Messy hair, no make-up and comfy clothes is the way to go when in relaxation mode. Plus, you don’t have to look nice to whip up a delicious snack, now do you? ☺
And put it in a pot.
Next, pour in a little water…
And a capful of really good vanilla.
Give everything a little stir…
And pop it on the stove. Cover the pot and let the mixture simmer on medium low for the better part of an hour.
When the fruit is nice and soft, remove it from the heat.
After it’s cooled for a few minutes, arm your little one with giant oven mitts and get mashing.
Eat it while it’s still warm, or transfer it into a mason jar and store in the fridge for later.
Here is everything you need to whip up a batch of your own… A bowl of strawberries (washed and hulled), plain organic full-fat yogurt (the thicker the better), a food processor (or good blender), and some popsicle moulds (these are my makeshift moulds that I love because of their small size – cheap containers with slits cut in the lids). Ooh – and a spoon. Can’t leave that out.
Get started by putting your strawberries into your food processor.
Let them mix until they start to turn into a puree. You can stop while the mixture is still chunky, or blend a little longer for a smoother texture, depending on your child’s preferences.
Take a little taste. If desired, you can add a touch of pure maple syrup or honey at this point and then mix again, but Grae’s enthusiastic “Mmmmmm” and request for more told me that ours was plenty sweet. (Keep in mind that the finished product will be slightly more tart.)
Transfer your strawberry puree into a measuring cup for easy pouring.
Now you’re ready to put the popsicles together. Start by adding a little scoop of yogurt into each mould. (We used plain yogurt because it’s what Gracen is used to eating, but if you don’t mind the added sugar, you could easily use a vanilla, honey, or berry flavoured yogurt. If possible, try to pick a thicker yogurt as it will make the ‘layering’ easier. Greek yogurt would be perfect.) 
Next, cover the yogurt with strawberry puree.
Then add another spoonful of yogurt.
Continue layering until your moulds are nearly full.
Secure the lids onto your moulds and add the popsicle sticks (if needed).
Done! Place your strawberry creamsicles into the freezer overnight (or at least for a few hours)
And now for the best part – let your munchkin slurp up the remaining strawberry juice if there is any. Yuuuuum.
All you need is some plain dinnerware, a Sharpie or two, and in our case, some tape, and a pair of scissors.
Because we chose to decorate bowls, I wanted to tape off the inside of the bowl, where the food goes. Some may say that the Sharpie is sealed in by the end of the process, but something just doesn’t seem right about putting Grae’s food on top of permanent marker. Plus, I think having just the rim decorated looks cute. Painter’s tape would have been the obvious choice here, but since I didn’t have any lying around, we made do with packaging tape and it worked just fine.
Grae got started drawing right away. I explained that we weren’t drawing in the middle of the bowl and that we were just decorating around the edge, and that’s exactly what she did (therefore the tape was pretty much unnecessary, but hey, you never know). 
When I asked Gracen what I should draw on my dish, her immediate response was, “Apple!” I ran with that idea, and since she’s been so interested in colours for the past couple of months, I got started on a little colours of the rainbow theme of sorts.
Gracen drew and drew and drew and never did I have to encourage her to keep going, choose a new colour, or fill in a blank space. She was having so much fun and was so thrilled about the fact that she was using Mama’s ‘special’ markers that she had more than enough motivation for over an hour’s worth of drawing.
Of course, in that hour, she stopped to come over and admire my dish several times. She’d look with big eyes, then nod her head with a slow, enthusiastic “Yaaaaaaa…” and a sweet little smile on her face, in obvious approval. Then she’d go on to point out the colours and pictures she saw {and shared those she wanted to see in the very near future – my apple, tree, birdie, and banana were all ideas she offered}.
The finishing touch was to happily sprinkle her entire rim with dots of different colours. She’d stop a moment, glance at it sideways, then pick up another Sharpie and add more. This continued again and again until one time she took that same sideways glance, then very nonchalantly announced “All done”. And that was that.
Before we could get it in the house to cure in the oven, she wanted to put her new dish to use, so she carefully browsed through the garden for a handful of ripe strawberries and a sprig of mint.
With her snack gone in less than a minute (yes, she shoved that entire thing of mint in her mouth and chowed down on it like the 
One final touch to add – our names, the year, and for Grae, her bright green signature.
And then into the oven they went. In attempt to “bake the marker on better”, I amped up the heat to 400 and left the dishes in for 45 minutes, despite the general recommendation of baking them at 300 degrees for 30 minutes. Bad idea. Although Miss G’s came out fine, my lighter colours really, really faded, some to the point of becoming nearly invisible. Learn from my mistake. The good news is that there’s an easy fix for mistakes such as mine. Just simply redraw your design and then pop it back in the oven for another 30 minutes at 300. 
We let our bowls cool, gave them a good {hand} wash, and used them for dinner. I did try washing them (okay, maybe I even scrubbed a little bit), and so far, so good. The designs still look exactly as they did, and I’m hoping they stay that way for a while at least.
First, we gathered our ingredients – organic baby spinach, olive oil, sea salt, asiago cheese, basil, lemon, a couple of cloves of garlic, and some walnuts. (I did consider using the pine nuts I have stashed away in the freezer, but those things are like gold nowadays, so walnuts it was. On the plus side, my mom, a health fanatic of many, many years recently told me that everyone should be eating a few walnuts a day, so there you go. Our walnut intake for the day is covered.)
Start out by placing your clean, dry spinach leaves directly into your food processor.
Next, add the walnuts…
And asiago. (Parmigiano would obviously be the more traditional choice here, but I like to change things up now and then.)
Next, add a couple of whole raw garlic cloves. Just be warned that the finished result is quite garlicky. If you prefer a more subtle garlic flavour, I suggest just adding one.
Next, give your fresh basil a good whiff…
And then add it to the food processor.
Grind in just a touch of sea salt.
And add a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.
Give everything a couple of pulses first, then turn it on while slowly drizzling the olive oil in. Blend until your desired consistency is reached. We made ours quite smooth this time around, but slightly chunky is just as good.
Next, take a little spoonful and let your toddler dip her finger in.
When you receive enthusiastic nods of approval and shouts for “More!”, you know you’re done.
Transfer into a mason jar for storage in the fridge, or use immediately for lunch (in this case, a warm orzo salad with spinach pesto, roasted red peppers, and toasted pine nuts).
Our line up of ingredients: bananas, all-natural peanut butter, wooden popsicle sticks, and toppings. (Grae picked sesame seeds, organic raisins, sunflower seeds, and organic brown rice puffs, but almost anything would work… Dried cranberries, chopped nuts, and granola would be yummy too.)
To get started, peel a couple of bananas.
And then chop them roughly in half.
Now for the messy part… Spread your peanut butter on the banana halves. (Gracen started by spreading peanut butter on one side, then I’d insert the popsicle stick, flip the banana over, and gently cover the other side.)
It doesn’t have to be perfect, but you want most of your banana covered in a layer of peanut butter by the time you’re through.
Next, take your banana and roll it in the topping(s) of your choice. Larger items, such as raisins, can be added by hand afterwards.
Place your pops on a tray and pop them in the freezer for at least an hour or so.
In the meantime, let your little munchkin {messily} lick the spoon and snack on the leftovers.
Once they’re at least semi-frozen, serve them as a snack or for dessert.
Or heck, why not breakfast?! If there’s ever been a breakfast-appropriate popsicle, this has got to be it.
The best part is that it’s really simple. Here’s everything you need: edamame beans, olive oil, fresh-ground pepper, sea salt, and some cheese (we used asiago).
First things first, run your beans under some cool water for a few minutes to thaw them.
Next, have your sous chef place them all in a large mixing bowl.
Add a drizzle of olive oil…
Your cheese…
A generous grinding of pepper…
And just a tiny touch of sea salt.
Then mix everything together.
Lay your beans out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (who doesn’t love easy clean up?!) and pop them in the oven, flipping them once about half way through.
Take them out when they’re golden brown and have a good crunch to them.
Let cool for a few minutes and serve while still warm. Mmmmm!
Get started by peeling and coring your apples. (I haven’t yet taught Gracen how to peel things, so I peeled and cored our apples while she gathered all of the scraps and placed them in a bowl for composting.)
Next up, chop your apples into smallish pieces. (We both did this job – Gracen using a regular butter knife, of course. FYI: I’ve done this several times with my Kindergarten classes and decent-quality plastic/wooden knives work too.)
Then, chop your strawberries.
Dump everything into a large pot.
Add a little bit of water…
Just a touch of pure maple syrup… (Only if you want some extra sweetness – turns out ours could have easily done without.)
And a good amount of pure vanilla.
Give everything a quick stir and pop it on the stove at medium heat.
Slowly cook the fruit, stirring occasionally, until everything is soft and easily mashed with a fork. 
Remove from the heat and mash until the sauce reaches your desired consistency. If you like a smoother texture, an immersion blender works well.
Dish out a small bowl…
And give it to your extremely excited toddler. Watch her gobble it up and ask for more.
Start off by dumping your pumpkin seeds into a large mixing bowl.
Give the seeds a little mix and set the bowl aside.
Get out a separate smaller bowl, and dump in your onion and garlic.
Stir really well, allowing enough time for the chia seeds to absorb the water and thicken the mixture.
Next, take a few pinches of kosher salt, add them to your mixture, and stir again.
If your monkey is anything like mine, they may try to lick the seeds straight off the pan. (No joke – this really happened. Multiple times in fact. Crazy girl.)
Next, it’s time to pop the pan into the oven.
When you take them out, they should be crispy and golden.
Serve to your very anxious and excited toddler. Be prepared to hear “Mmmmmmmm!” and “More! More! More!” endlessly.
We chopped up a couple of big slices of watermelon, grabbed a lemon and lime from the fridge, and clipped a couple of mint sprigs from the garden, and we were good to go.
Put your watermelon chunks into a blender.
Taste midway through to ensure yumminess.
Next, juice a lime…
And a lemon.
Pull out the seeds and pour the juice and pulp into your blender.
Next, sniff in the deliciousness that is fresh mint.
Then pop it into the blender.
Secure the lid on the blender and blend everything until smooth. (Depending on the juiciness of your watermelon, you may need to pulse and shake the blender a few times in order to build up a little liquid.)
Once fully blended, carefully pour the mixture into your popsicle moulds.
Then add the sticks and pop them into the freezer.
If there’s any leftover, let you toddler have a little taste and watch her eyes light up with excitement. If Grae’s reaction to the frozen pops is anything like the reaction she had to the juice, I know she’ll love them.