Lately, this has been my favourite dish to bring as a hostess gift to a dinner or the dessert of choice to share at a potluck. Usually, there isn't much left at the end of the meal and in my opinion, those are the best dishes. Those finger licking good ones that disappear so quickly, no one even finds the time to ask what's not in it.
Wait, it's vegan?
But it's so juicy, fluffy and moist? 🤷♀️
This recipe is low fuss to throw together and it's made with simple ingredients that you might already have in your pantry. If not, in my experience, the ingredients are easy purchase with minimal packaging from the store. I also wanted to note that this recipe utilizes a bit of homemade almond milk for which I will link my video recipe here. Unsweetened store-bought almond milk will work just as well, but for me my simple zero waste nut milk has so many perks that convenience can't sway me to buy packaged nut milks with an ingredient list a mile long.
I recently noticed that my passion for zero waste and sustainable living shows a little bit in everything I do.
Even when I bake.
From the way I buy ingredients, to making things from scratch from bulk items (like the milk I use) to the type of utensils and cookware I use.
T R A N S I T I O N I N G T O A S U S T A I N A B L E + Z E R O W A S T E K I T C H E N
Even when I bake.
From the way I buy ingredients, to making things from scratch from bulk items (like the milk I use) to the type of utensils and cookware I use.
T R A N S I T I O N I N G T O A S U S T A I N A B L E + Z E R O W A S T E K I T C H E N
On principle, I try to avoid buying food in plastic packaging whenever I can, but I also try to use safe cooking vessels, utensils and food storage containers. My rule with kitchen items is that I try to avoid pieces with plastic parts or questionable materials for anything that touches food. To me the material is especially important for anything that gets warmed or heated or for long term food storage.
2018 was the year for me in which I let go of non-stick cookware and cheap plastic cooking utensils and I invested into a stainless steel pot (mainly for boiling water), a cast iron frying pan, a small enameled cast iron pot (for cooking vegetables) and practical glass pantry storage containers with a glass lid. I opted for Weck glass storage jars for because their wide mouth makes them easy to clean and because the glass lids don't have a plastic coating that could interact with the food stored inside the jars.
I've slowly implemented all these changes after reading books on non-toxic and sustainable living.
I like to give an excerpt from Chantal Plamondon and Jay Sinha's book Life Without Plastic:
"If you must continue to use plastic containers for food, don't microwave them or expose them to temperature extremes because this causes them to break down faster and leach chemicals more readily. Also avoid using oily and acidic foods in plastics for the same reason. You know that old Tupperware container you put tomato sauce in and it now has a reddish residue embedded in the plastic? Well, if there's tomato sauce in the plastic, then there is plastic in the tomato sauce, and you are the one eating the tomato sauce." (You can find this quote on their blog Life Without Plastic.)
2018 was the year for me in which I let go of non-stick cookware and cheap plastic cooking utensils and I invested into a stainless steel pot (mainly for boiling water), a cast iron frying pan, a small enameled cast iron pot (for cooking vegetables) and practical glass pantry storage containers with a glass lid. I opted for Weck glass storage jars for because their wide mouth makes them easy to clean and because the glass lids don't have a plastic coating that could interact with the food stored inside the jars.
I've slowly implemented all these changes after reading books on non-toxic and sustainable living.
I like to give an excerpt from Chantal Plamondon and Jay Sinha's book Life Without Plastic:
"If you must continue to use plastic containers for food, don't microwave them or expose them to temperature extremes because this causes them to break down faster and leach chemicals more readily. Also avoid using oily and acidic foods in plastics for the same reason. You know that old Tupperware container you put tomato sauce in and it now has a reddish residue embedded in the plastic? Well, if there's tomato sauce in the plastic, then there is plastic in the tomato sauce, and you are the one eating the tomato sauce." (You can find this quote on their blog Life Without Plastic.)
Of course, I don't have a picture perfect, natural, plastic free kitchen. With what's provided in rental kitchens - that's what I'm dealing with - and with the way appliances are made these days, being plastic free really seems impossible. When I look around my kitchen, I see plastic everywhere. Plastic floors, plastic windows, plastic oven and dishwasher parts... the list goes on.
From appliances to pre-made food, lots of things are difficult to get without plastic or plastic packaging. Tofu and vegan butter, for example, are staples in our home, but they do come in plastic.
On the bright side, there have been so many positive changes in my kitchen since I started being more intentional in this realm. And to me, I much prefer living my values to affect change and to keep going with the sustainable systems I have already implemented than to fret about things I can't control.
B A N A N A B R E A D R E C I P E
This recipe makes enough slices of banana bread for 4-6 people.
I N G R E D I E N T S
I N G R E D I E N T S
3 ripe Bananas
1 cup (or 200 grams) vegan Sugar
1/2 cup (or 105 grams) Coconut Oil; melted
1 tsp. (or 5ml) Vanilla Extract
1/4 cup (or 59 ml) unsweetened Almond Milk
1 tsp. (or 5 ml) Apple Cider Vinegar
3/4 tsp. (or 4 grams) Baking Soda
1/2 tsp. (or 3 grams) Salt
1/2 cup (or 56 grams) Walnuts; roughly chopped
1/2 cup (or 50 grams) Rolled Oats
2 cups (or 240 grams) All-Purpose Flour
1 cup (or 166 grams) fresh Blueberries
Vegan Butter (I use Earth Balance); to grease the pan
Before starting on the banana bread, I recommend preheating the oven to 350° Fahrenheit (or 350° Celsius).
Next, peel three ripe bananas and add them to a medium sized bowls.
Add the sugar, coconut oil, vanilla extract and apple cider vinegar and then mash the whole mixture. To make things easier I usually do things with a small potato masher. This works nicely to break down the bananas and to work the ingredients together.
When these ingredients are evenly mixed, lumps of bananas are fine, add the baking soda, salt, chopped walnuts and lastly the flour. You could use the same potato masher to mix these dry ingredients into the banana bread batter.
Prep a loaf pan with a coating of vegan butter. There is no need to line the pan with paper when the pan is buttered and the finished banana bread pops out of the baking form quite nicely.
I usually spread a layer of the batter in the loaf pan and then top it with blueberries and then repeat this step until all the batter is used up. The rest of the blueberries get sprinkled on top. I'm adding the berries in this manner to insure even distribution of pops of juicy berries throughout the banana bread.
Bake the loaf for 1 hour and 10 minutes. Test it for doneness with a clean chopstick. If it has still some batter or stuck to it add 5 more minutes of baking time. Repeat the 'chopstick test'. The banana bread is done when the chopstick comes out clean.
After I pull the loaf from the oven, I let it rest for 10 minutes before loosening the sides from the pan with a butter knife. Right afterwards, I flip over the loaf pan to pop the banana bread out.
Wait for as long as you can stand to wait before slicing into it and enjoying a piece. It's good on its own, but a bit of butter spread on it is a nice addition.
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