Can you imagine that it took me 30 years and a trip to Australia to get introduced to banana bread? I know, it sounds crazy, doesn’t it? I guess in Austria people just prefer richer chocolate cakes like “Sachertorte”, and maybe concentrate more on baking cakes with seasonal Austrian berries and fruits….and we don’t grow bananas!

Anyway, now that I know what it tastes like, I can’t get enough of it.

There are a lot of good reasons to make banana bread. One is that it’s the best thing to make when you have a pile of almost black bananas on top of your fruit bowl that have reached their life’s expectancy. Another is if you simply love things that are unquestionable delicious 😉

The good thing about it is that bananas are an excellent energy dense fruit and a great source of potassium, an essential mineral for maintaining normal blood pressure and heart function. They add sweetness and moisture to baked goods, which means you can reduce the amount of sweetener and oil considerably.
    Ingredients:

• 3 over ripe bananas plus 1 for topping
• 1  1/2 cup almond flour
• 1/2 cup buckwheat flour
• 1/2 cup desiccated coconut
• 1 tsp vanilla powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp flaxseed
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3 eggs
• 4 tbsp rice malt syrup
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• sprinkle pink himalayan salt

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 160°C.
2. In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients (almond meal, buckwheat flour, coconut, vanilla, cinnamon, flaxseed, baking powder and salt).
3. Mash the bananas with a fork in a small bowl and add rice malt syrup, eggs and coconut oil.
4. Mix wet ingredients with dry ingredients and pour into a loaf tin lined with baking paper.
5. Top with sliced banana and bake for about 45 minutes.

Lentils are definitely in the top 10 of foods I simply love to cook with. I also really enjoy to eat them and I’m grateful for that because they are not only super-healthy for you, they are also a great medium for all sorts of flavours and textures. I myself like to make lentil stews and soups the most, but there are a lot of options such as lentil-lasagne, lentil salads, lentil pies, dahl, lentil pasta, lentil patties and so on.

The health benefits of lentils include a high protein content, improved digestion, a healthy heart, diabetes control, control of cancer, weight loss, a solution for anemia, and better electrolytic activity due to potassium. It is good for pregnant women, the prevention of atherosclerosis, and it helps in maintaining a healthy nervous system.

Primarily I cooked this for my son Noah, but it was so delicious that mummy couldn’t resist and had 2 bowls for herself.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup red lentils, rinsed
• 2 carrots, peeled and grated
• 1 potato, peeled and cut into small cubes
• 4 cups of water /or vegetable stock
• 1 tomato, cut into small cubes
• 2 stalks of celery, finely diced
• 1/2 onion, finely diced
• 1 tsp tomato paste
• 1 garlic clove, finely diced
• 1 tbsp olive oil
•  salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add onion and let cook until golden brown.
2. Add garlic, celery and potatoes and cook for about 5 minutes, then add lentils, carrot, tomato, tomato paste and water and bring to the boil. Let cook on a medium heat for about 15-20 minutes.
3. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve with rice or bread (or whatever you feel like 😉 )