Thursday, January 21, 2010

Banana: Two Ways

I haven't had sugar in 21 days, and yea, I miss it. Bad. But soon enough, my Adventure Cleanse Tune-Up will be over and I'll be diving into a delicious cupcake (actually, I'm planning a cheat day on Saturday for my best friend Greg's 30th birthday ... so relief will come soon!). Until then, bananas and dates have kept me sane.

I had this too-good-to-be-raw bowl of Banana Buckwheat Crispies with Chocolate Macadamia Nut Milk for breakfast this morning after downing my daily green juice:

The buckwheat crispies are crunchy like granola, but they're made by soaking and then dehydrating raw buckwheat. The instructions are in Ani's Raw Food Kitchen. The chocolate macadamia nut milk (sweetened with dates) is what I had leftover from making Gena's Chocolate Chia Pudding.

Another delicious breakfast this week was inspired by Chocolate Covered Katie — the famed (and sorta dirty sounding) Banana Hammock:

It's a banana, cut in half, and stuffed with raw almond butter, currants, and acai powder. So, so good. Raw almond butter may just be the best stuff on the planet — ever. I could eat a whole jar with a spoon. But I won't ... cause that would be a little excessive.

By the way, I'll be using a random number generator to choose the winner in the $50 iHerb.com shopping spree giveaway Friday morning (around 11 a.m. CST). I'll make the announcement when I blog again on Sunday, but if you're the winner, I'll shoot you an email immediately. Thanks for participating!

Also, for any readers in Middle Tennessee (or West Tennessee and willing to drive), a few dudes from the Farm (an awesome vegan intentional community in Summertown) are playing a Bluegrass & Blues for Haiti benefit show at the Crockett Theater in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee on Sunday, January 24th from 1 to 4 p.m. Check it out for a great cause.

32 comments:

Jenni (aka Vegyogini) said...

You're so right about that...raw almond butter just might be the best-tasting food I've ever eaten!

The Voracious Vegan said...

I love your banana two ways! Both ways look delectable. Aren't bananas one of the most perfect foods? I have at least one every day. Plus, they are the best thing to shove in my purse or bag when I'm in a rush out the door and know I'll be hungry later. They naturally come in such cute packaging! ;-)

miss v said...

oh my, i couldn't live without bananas. the hammock looks dang tasty - kinda like an banana split without the ice cream. yum!

Dani said...

21 days of no sugar, I am in awe! great job girl!
I don't even like bananas, but that looks too cute.

T said...

Those both look like great breakfast options, ACT or not. Especially the banana, yummm.

Cindi said...

I think I'm going to try the buckwheat thing, I love crunchy in tha a.m.!

jessy said...

your banana buckwheat crispies look so yummy, and i love the sound of that chocolate macadamia nut milk, Bianca. macadamia & brazil nuts are my absolute favorite! i have been seeing all those tasty banana hammocks on katei's blog, think i need to jump on the bandwagon and make one, too. i love the idea of raw almond butter - it's sooooo tasty. i agree! enjoy your cheat day this weekend & happy friday!

Chocolate-Covered Katie said...

Ahhh! Once again, it looks SO GOOD! But so does everything else you make. And that breakfast pudding is making me hungry again even though I just had some nice chocolate oatmeal.
I wonder if I could get away with having a third breakfast today...
Too bad I don't have macadamia nuts anyway.

Off to see about this chia pudding... :)

Anonymous said...

LOVE the banana hammock ;-)

Mary said...

I used to love PB & banana sandwiches, but I've been doing a lot of peanut butter and raisin banana hammocks since I can't eat real bread anymore. Your breakfast looks decadent! I want to try raw almond butter...I've had roasted, but the raw is like, $20 a jar. I'm afraid I'll love it and start an expensive new habit!

Leslie Richman said...

Eww..the only banana hammock I can endorse! It looks good!

Anonymous said...

I love buckwheaties! They are super awesome. I always keep a jar in my fridge or at least I have since I got Ani's book this summer. Raw almond butter is the bomb. I have been putting it on sprouted grain bread with raw honey(I know not vegan) but totally yum! You are doing a kick ass job. I lasted 15 days and have fallen back into my cooked, tofu eatin' old habits. It was a tough week, but I'll be back on the saddle with ya next week. Have a great cheat day! I love all these recipes you are sharing. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

I love buckwheaties! They are super awesome. I always keep a jar in my fridge or at least I have since I got Ani's book this summer. Raw almond butter is the bomb. I have been putting it on sprouted grain bread with raw honey(I know not vegan) but totally yum! You are doing a kick ass job. I lasted 15 days and have fallen back into my cooked, tofu eatin' old habits. It was a tough week, but I'll be back on the saddle with ya next week. Have a great cheat day! I love all these recipes you are sharing. Thanks!

Sarah said...

Oh how I love buckwheat crispies. I've been struggling every day to decide between a green smoothie and my other breakfast staple - buckwheat crispies, goji berries, almond milk, chia seeds cherries and some macadamia nuts. Mmmmm... Hungry now!

Sassy-Kitchen said...

I don't know if you've seen this around you, but Chia Goodness cereal is amazing. It's made by the canadian company, Ruth's, and contains raw buckwheat, chia and hemp seeds. You can make it warm or cold and they even have flavored ones, like apple cinnamon. I think you'd like it..

Vegan In The VI said...

I thought a 'banana hammock' was the resulting look when a guy wears a thong...

Cassie - Vegan Fox said...

We've been on a banana kick lately, so I'm really glad to see this post. We did a quick banana fry recently, just folded bananas covered in agave nectar and a little cinnamon in a tortilla and fried. So tasty! I'm excited to try the buckwheat crispies. I just got Ani's book for Christmas, so I will have to try these soon.

Cassie - Vegan Fox said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Cassie - Vegan Fox said...

Oh and forgot to say, wish I was there to enjoy the Bluegrass!

PageRank Check said...

second one seems more tasty i love to try it

Unknown said...

wow no sugar..youre doing great though!! :)
the bananas look awesome, i love anything fun with bananas, they're pretty great :)

Trinity (of haiku tofu) said...

that banana hammock looks amazing!

Christine said...

Mmmm, great banana ideas and I'm a huge fan of almond butter ... almond milk, almond pulp, almonds :-P

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Michal said...

I love be some banana hammocks ;) They are deelish!

Melisser; the Urban Housewife said...

Banana Hammock! ha.

Alice said...

That banana hammock looks amazing! I too like the combination almond butter+banana, I sometimes have the two in a wholemeal bread sandwitch with some maple syrup on top ..as good as peanut butter and banana!

Kristen said...

that banana looks delicious! awesome name for it, too. haha.

Veg-In-Training said...

Wow. Both banana dishes look really awesome. I'm very intrigued by the buckwheat crispies.

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Mary said...

I had to come back to this post and tell you that I MADE some raw almond butter (in my new VitaMix) and it is the BEST! So creamy and rich, and the best part was when it came out of the VitaMix, it was warm. I could have eaten it by the spoonful, it was better than any cookie dough. Next time I'm going to add cinnamon. *drool*

I probably wouldn't have thought to make raw almond butter if you hadn't raved about it, so thanks!