#unsweetened

I drink my coffee black, because sweetness lies. Bitterness tells the truth, without asking to be forgiven.

Cocoa Walnut Pecan Banada Bread (No Sugar Added)

(Recipe by @Andria.Cooks on Instagram)

I love banana bread and I have a couple of amazing recipes but I’ve been on a processed sugar detox of late and have been really craving it.  What better way to satisfy a craving than to create a sugar free version of one of my favorite recipes!  This is perectly sweetened using organic dates and over ripe bananas as my sugar subsitute.  I added bananas like I normally would, I added unsweetned cocao for that rich chocolate flavour, and for extra moisture, I added 1/2 cup of 0% fat plain greek yogurt. It’s high in protein and really balances all the flavours really well!  

I hope you love this recipe as much as I do!  If you really love it sweet, add more dates than the recipe calls for, when it bakes, it has a natural caramel taste!  If you make it, let me know how it turns out!

INGREDIENTS: ½ cup of organic butter melted

Sugar Subsitute:  7 Organic dates pitted and chopped & 2 extra ripe medium organic bananas (Add more dates if you like it sweeter)

2 Eggs

1 tsp organic Madagascar vanilla extract (or vanilla extract)

3 medium ripe organic bananas

¼ tsp of organic cinnamon

1 ¼ cups organic all purpose flour

¼ cup organic unseated cocoa 

1 tsp organic baking soda

½ tsp pink Himalayan salt (or sea salt)

½ cup 0% Organic plain greek yogurt

¼ cup chopped organic walnuts 

¼ cup chopped organic pecans 

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (grease loaf pan or add parchment Paper)

Cut open the dates and remove the pit and then add to a mini chopper.  Chop until the dates are fine like a paste.  Add in the 2 ripe banans and continue to chop until it’s all blended (This makes approx 1 cup - which is a 1 to 1 replacement for the sugar). 

In a stand mixer, add 1/2 cup of melted melted butter and the date/banana mixture and blend with a paddle attachment until smooth. Add eggs one at a time and mix on low speed until blended and lastly add the vanilla extract and give it last mix until combined.

In a seperate bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt and cinnamon and I alwasy sift it all together so it’s mixed but also adds air and it makes cakes light and fluffy!  Slowly add it to the wet mixture and mix on low speed until smooth. Add the Smashed up the bananas and mix until combined (don’t over mix, you still want some chunks of bananas in there)

Remove from stand and fold the 1/2 cup of greek yogurt and add the chopped walnuts and pecans and then spread evenly into lined loaf pan. Add a few crushed walnuts and pecans to the top before placing it in the oven for a nice texture on the top. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 60 mins. Check the centre with a tooth pick and if it comes out clean, it’s ready. Cool in loaf pan for 10 mins before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.  

saying chilled makes me smart. smart people write good reviews on chilled teas. so that is what i will be doing on this here evening.

iced tea- iced black tea is a classic. but southern folk enjoy annihilating the immaculate flavor combustion that is black iced tea by sweetening it. now, many people have become accustomed to this indescribably atrocious concoction and it hurts my frail heart. iced tea is for the soul and popular brands ruining its name by adding unneeded sweetness is an outrage to society. there’s many types of iced tea and i don’t know why anyone decided to sweeten its perfect taste! green iced tea is a godsend from gregory’s coffee and whenever the world decides it is done having big boy scary things happening, that will be the first liquid that moistens my parched throat. iced tea brings the most incredible drink to a whole new level and is more socially acceptable at later meals in the day. it is the perfect host for lemon flavoring and a reusable straw. raspberry and passion fruit iced teas (anything fruit really) are all so much fun as long as they aren’t sweetened!! please don’t sweeten your tea it makes my heart shatter all over the ground. it chokes me from the inside and beats me down into rubble on the sidewalk. it terrorizes my brain and pounds me into a thoughtless oblivion. i am an unsweet tea enthusiast and if you are from out of the states apparently any tea that isn’t hot is an abomination but i think you guys are really just missing out xx.

bubble tea- there are like seventy different names for this tea i think maybe and to be quite honest, it’s just sweet tea with choking hazards and milk. i only really drink it when i ask for a sip from my bubble tea addict friends and its fine for a few sips but then the flavor combinations are too overwhelming for my limited palate. the little tapioca boba things are really fun and add some excitement and adrenaline, but there is always so many like why so much maybe i just want tea. anyway i respect everyone who likes bubble tea because it is adventurous and i wish i had your confidence.