Out of all the baking, I think I make banana bread most often. It’s a great thing to make when you have ripe bananas (which I always have), it’s easy and everyone loves it. This is why it is so so weird that there isn’t a single banana bread recipe on my blog yet! How is this even possible?? That needed to change. So I made my favourite ever banana bread, to share it with you. I think it’s a great autumn recipe too, with lots of delicious cinnamon. I do not always feel like it, but you can also add 1/2 a tsp of ginger powder or all spice, to get the taste of autumn a little bit more. It’s up to you! This banana bread recipe is free from refined sugar and made with coconut oil. I don’t think I will ever call it healthy, but let’s say that it is not that bad for you. Unless you eat it with (plant based.. duhh!) vanilla ice cream, like I often do (sooo good!). Just an extra tip.. after it is all cooled down, slice it up and freeze them separately. This way you can have a fresh slice of banana bread for snack whenever you want to.
BANANANANANA
Serves: 8-10
Dry Ingredients:
1,5 cup flour
2 tbs custard powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1,5 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt
Wet ingredients:
1 cup medjool dates
3 ripe bananas
1/2 cup yogurt
1/2 cup oat milk
1/4 cup coconut oil
2 tbs maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbs ground flaxseed
Extra:
1/3 cup rolled oats
2 tbs pumpkin seeds
2 tbs sunflower seeds
1/2 cup pecans
1/3 cup raisins
1 small banana (finely chopped)
1/3 cup chocolate (chopped, optional)
1 banana (cut in length, optional)
-Preheat the oven at 180C.
-Mix all the dry ingredients.
-Mix all the wet ingredients and slowly mix this into the dry ingredients.
-Mix in all the extra things, except the banana you’ve cut in length.
-Grease a baking tin and divide the banana bread mixture in the tin.
-Put the cut banana on top and press it lightly into the mixture.
-Put it in the oven for 55-65 min.
-Let it cool down before slicing it up.
Do you love banana bread? It’s a great thing to make and to share! Please show me your creation. You can do this by tagging e or by using #planetmanel. Thank you! X
An extra recipe this week! Tomorrow my ultimate banana bread recipe will come online, but I wanted to add this one as well, as I already made my first few cups of this and I noticed that people around me are in need of this recipe (I’m not ill or anything, but I started to drink this to prevent this from happening). I thought this recipe was on my blog already, but I was very wrong. I gave this recipe to so many people in the past and I often use it myself. Especially in the colder seasons, which is now. You have probably noticed the (weather) change as soon as autumn started. Rain and moisture in the air.. people are putting their heatings back on (including me! A few times now I was super happy that I’ve got a little heater in my van), spreading germs everywhere.. the perfect recipe for getting a cold and the flu! This needs a counter-recipe and that is exactly what this is. I swear this recipe works. It’s simple, but it saved me so many times and the many people I shared it with benefitted as well. This isn’t only good for when you feel under the weather by the way, but it’s also a great way to prevent getting ill. I hope it will work for you as well!
MAGIC TEA 
Did you have quinoa for breakfast before? It’s not something you will think of as a breakfast, but it’s actually a perfect start of your day. Quinoa is super healthy! It’s high in protein and also contain sufficient amounts of all nine essential amino acids. That is not all, it also contains magnesium, B vitamins, iron, potassium, calcium, phosphorus, vitamin E and it’s high in fiber. Oh and it’s gluten free! I often cook some quinoa in the beginning of the week and keep it in the fridge. This way I can use it in salads etc. during the week, but also for this recipe. Quinoa is actually a seed and it has quite a neutral taste, this is why it’s perfect to enjoy in savoury and sweet dishes. I’m sure that if you’ve had quinoa before, you probably had it for lunch or dinner in a savoury dish, but why not try it like this?
QUINOA START 
The easiest breakfast ever! You probably heard about overnight porridge already. It’s the best, easiest and fastest breakfast you can make and it’s also nutritious and it releases its energy slowly. What more do you want?! The recipe I’m giving you is quite a basic recipe, but it’s how I make it. You can make lots of varieties. This one is a bit like a chia pudding too. Chia seed is full of fiber, protein, omega-3 and it has various micronutrients. This makes it a perfect way to start your day. The best is that it’s very easy to make. You make it before you go to sleep (will only take 1 minute, don’t worry!) and it’ll be ready for you the next morning. What means that even when you’re in a rush, you can still enjoy a nutritious breakfast that will keep you going all morning.
QUICK START 
A very pink morning to you! Did you have breakfast this morning? Or at what time do you break your fast? I often do this between 10:00-12:00 as I like intermittent fasting. Breaking my fast is always a nice moment. If I don’t drink a big glass of celery juice first, I like to start with this pink goodness. It’s a great way to get some extra fruit (vitamins!) and some healthy fats and protein into your system, what means that it’s a great start of your day. I can easily keep going on this for several hours. This is why I tend to have something like this when I break my fast early (10:00). Don’t worry about it not filling you up, because it’s a large portion. You can just sip on it whilst commuting or working or split it in half and drink it as a snack later in the morning or afternoon. This is definitely one of my favourite smoothies!
PINK MORNING
I wanted to put some more basic recipes on my blog. Scrambled tofu is one of the first things that comes to mind and many people have asked me about this recipe. So here it finally is! It’s simple, nutritious and super delicious. I always make it this way and everybody loves this. It’s just so good, I can really crave this. I often eat this for lunch after coming back from a work out or when I’m just very hungry. There is not a lot that can top this! It’s perfect as a scrambled egg substitute, so if you crave scrambled egg, this is what you want to make. When I have left overs (to be honest, this doesn’t happen a lot) I often add 2 big spoons of mayonnaise, mix it up and put it in a sandwich. Perfect for on the way.
TOFUTURE
A while ago I made this for the kids (I’m a nanny) and when I put some pictures on Instagram, I got a lot of reactions. So I made it into a proper recipe and now you can enjoy it too! It’s the perfect recipe to make for a brunch. And you can make ‘the castle’ even bigger if you like, it will look so impressive and festive. Personally I looooove french toast and a lot of people think you need egg to make it, but that is not necessary at all. You can perfectly enjoy it without and it’s super tasty! Instead of topping it with maple syrup, you can also use some butter (I recommend Vitalite butter) and some soft brown sugar. Yum!
FRENCH CASTLE
It’s almost Easter! When I still lived in the Netherlands or whenever I’m visiting the Netherlands at Easter now, I always make an Easter brunch. I used to always make egg/pastry bites, but obviously egg is off the table now. That doesn’t mean I can’t make something similar of course. So that is why I came up with this recipe. I made a filling with tofu and chickpea flour and used a slice of bread as a base. I kept the shapes I cut out to decorate the plates and table (I also put them in the oven, so they get toasted). They will be nice to dip in jam or chocolate.. These slices of toast are delicious with some smashed avocado and mayonnaise. They will look great on an Easter brunch table. Are you going to do a brunch this Easter?
SHAPE IT
Everything you eat, I can eat vegan. Yes, even an omelette! You really do not have to miss out on anything. Except of a bunch of cholesterol. Haha! I heard that you can make omelettes with chickpea flower and tofu and I often eat the chickpea omelette at Paradise Planetbased in London (so good!). So I did some experimenting in the kitchen and eventually created this recipe. It’s so delicious and it definitely hits the spot. It’s so much better than the regular egg omelettes as well. I like to eat mine with a simple salad and avocado. You can also add some (sriracha) mayo if you like. The recipe is for 2 people, so if you just want to just make one, make sure you only use half of all the ingredients. Or you can keep half the omelette batter in the fridge, to make it the next day. Yum!
NO EGGELETTE
Tuesday it’s national pancake day. A very important day if you’d ask me, haha! Pancakes are so goodddd.. and it doesn’t matter what time of the day you eat them. It’s totally acceptable to eat them for breakfast, for lunch or dinner and even as a snack or dessert! I realised though, that there is no pancake recipe on my blog yet. I don’t know how that happened, but shame on me. So here we go, a delicious, easy to make, basic pancake recipe. This way you can easily add things, so they will turn out exactly the way you like them. Add a pinch of cinnamon or a tbs of cacao powder. Eat them with fresh fruit, raisins and/or maple syrup or simply eat them with some jam (
PANCAKE YAY
Planet Manel 