Mango Banana Muffins

Mangos and bananas are two of my favorite fruits. Bananas are a staple food in most homes, available year round, perfect pair of peanut butter, and cheap too. Mangos are sadly only around for a very short time every year, expensive, but oh so yummy! If I had to choose 3 things to eat for the rest of my life, mangos and bananas would definitely be on my list. 

I am not a big fan of muffins, but when I came across this recipe I thought they would be a lovely addition to a sunday morning breakfast, specially because I had ripe bananas and some mangos laying around. The muffins were delicious with some homemade strawberry preserve that I got at a strawberry festival, where by the way they had no strawberries for sale! At least, they had really good homemade ice cream with strawberries. 

Happy sunday!

Mango Banana Muffins

Recipe slightly adapted from EatLiveRun

Makes 14-16 muffins

Ingredients

1 big ripe banana, mashed

1 ripe mango

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

2 eggs

1/4 cup canola oil

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 

2. Pure the mango in a blender.

3. In a bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, sugar, baking powder, salt and coconut flakes.

4. In another bowl, whisk mango pure, mashed banana, oil, and eggs. 

5. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix until smooth, try to not over mix (the batter will be thick).

6. Scoop batter into muffin tins (either greased or using cupcake paper liners). Sprinkle top of muffins with sugar. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. I set my timer for 20 minutes and they were perfect.

Enjoy with some homemade jam! 

Banana oatmeal chocolate chip bars

A great bar recipe to use those ripe bananas sitting in your counter! Plus you can have them for breakfast or snack, instead of that protein bar that comes in a box :)

Ingredients

2 ripe bananas

2/3 cups chocolate chips

1/3 cup oil

2/3 cup light brown sugar

3/4 cup of flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups quick or old fashioned oats

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray non stick 8x8 or 9x9 pan.

2. Mash the banana with a fork. Then add the oil and brown sugar until no lumps are left in the mix.

3. In another smaller bowl, mix flour, cinnamon, salt, and oats.

4. Mix into wet ingredients and add chocolate chips.

5. Bake for 15 min or until edges are golden. Let cool before cutting. (I ommited this step because they looked too good :)

Papaya Mango Smoothie

One of the things that I miss the most about Honduras is our wonderful mango season. I used to wait the whole year for this time of the year to come. Every year around March, one could start seeing mangos being sold in the streets, at every stop light, at the supermarkets, in the market, they are all around! Oh I miss mango season and I miss the price of mangos down in Honduras. Three mangos for $1 !

I find it crazy that so many people here have never tried a mango! But then again, I had never had a real raspberry until I moved over here (btw, rasperries just taste like raspberry flavored candy to me). Mangos are hard to find around here and feel like a luxury in my opinion at one mango for $1. But it is a price that I am willing to pay because I LOVE MANGOS!

Now papaya I am not crazy about, but in this smoothie it is awesome! If you have never seen or tried one google it. They are great for your digestive system. If you can't find any at your local supermarket substitute for banana or pineapple.

If you love mango or papaya or both you should definitely give this smoothie a try! It was awesome!!!

Papaya Mango Smoothie

Adapted from Pinch of Yum

Ingredients

1 ripe mango, peeled and diced

2 cups of papaya, cubed (you could use pineapple here too)

1/2 cup orange juice or juice of 1 orange

1/4 cup of milk of your choice

Sweetener of your choice (I used splenda)

1/2 cup of coconut milk, from a can or box

Ice

Directions

Put all your ingredients in your blender and blend until smooth! Enjoy!

Note: for a quick breakfast, I left my fruit ready in the blender the night before and just added the liquids in the morning. I didn't use any ice.

Overnight Oats in a Jar

I love breakfast and lately I am in love with oatmeal. On a normal day, I will have eggs, toast, and cottage cheese for breakfast. Not so long ago though, I discovered baked oatmeal and I liked it so much I've had to include it in my weekly breakfast rotation. That is why when I saw overnight oats in a jar on Pinterest I got curious.

At first I wasn't sure if it was going to turn out any good, but this week I decided to try it. Oh, I am so glad I did! I made it the night before with high hopes, and the next morning I decided it was a keeper! My husband concurred :)

Overnight Oats in a Jar (or any container you can seal!)
Adapted from Kath Eats Real

Serves 1

Ingredients

1/2 cup old fashioned oats (you can use quick oats, steel cut, rolled oats)
1/2 cup of milk (any kind you like, even almond or soy)
2 spoonfuls of your favorite yogurt (I used plain because that was all I had but I will try greek vanilla soon)
Sweetener of your taste, aka splenda, sugar, honey, maple syrup
Handful of blueberries (any berry fresh or frozen)
Half banana
Flax seeds or chia seeds (optional)

Directions

Mix all the ingredients in the jar, shake, and refrigerate overnight!
When you are ready to eat you can add granola, cereal, nuts, more fruit. The possibilities are endless. Just don't add pineapple ;)