Without a doubt, the best part of publishing a personal post like my Why I Gave Up Running post is reading all of the amazing responses people share.
Seriously, thank you all so much.
I’ll try to make the blog a little more personal in the future, although it’s difficult because most of the personal stuff in my life involves other people. To respect the privacy of my real-world friends, I have a rule to not write about them or post their photos, which is why most of the pictures you see on this blog are of just me.
For today, you get another recipe… with chocolate. Hopefully you won’t mind. 😉
I’m honored to feature a recipe today from Tosca Reno, a New York Times best-selling author and one of the most well-respected and influential figures in the world of healthy food. This bread pudding recipe comes from her Eat Clean Diet Vegetarian Cookbook, which contains 150 meat-free recipes free of processed ingredients, refined sugars, and anything artificial (note to vegetarians: there is a chapter on fish).
The book, which comes with complete nutritional information for every recipe, is divided into ten chapters from breakfast to dessert. It also covers topics such as how to be a healthy vegetarian, eating vegetarian on a budget, and making fast-food and holiday recipes. Upon receiving the cookbook in the mail, I right away bookmarked at least fifteen things I wanted to make. With bananas, cinnamon, and chocolate chips, this healthy bread pudding was obviously on top of the list!
Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Pudding
(Adapted from Eat Clean Diet Vegetarian Cookbook, reprinted with permission)
- 2 1/2 cups (640ml) milk of choice
- 3 tbsp (45ml) arrowroot or cornstarch
- 1/4 cup (60ml) sucanat or sugar of choice
- 1/3 cup (80ml) pure maple syrup
- 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 5 cups day-old bread, torn into 1-to-2-inch pieces, lightly packed
- 2 extra-ripe bananas, peeled and sliced
- 1/2 to 1 cup (120-240ml) chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350F (177C). Grease a 1.5 to 2-quart ceramic dish and set aside. Thoroughly whisk together all but last three ingredients in a large bowl. Add remaining ingredients, and stir to combine, mashing the bananas a little and allowing the bread to absorb most of the liquid. Scrape into the prepared dish, and press down to smooth the top. Let sit 15 minutes so bread absorbs more liquid, then bake uncovered until lightly brown and firm (about 30 minutes). Serve warm. For questions about this recipe or substitutions, please feel free to ask this recipe’s creator, Tosca Reno!
View Bread Pudding Nutrition Facts
Quick Giveaway!
For the chance to win your own copy of Tosca Reno’s Eat Clean Diet Vegetarian Cookbook, simply leave a comment answering the following question: What is your favorite meatless meal?
This looks so good! My roomies will love this! We’re pretty obsessed with the chocolate banana combo.
One of my favorite meatless meals is chickpea curry 🙂
My favorite meatless meal is a big stack of pancakes, fixed up with fruit and scrambled tofu if I’m feeling fancy!
I love your sweet potato chili recipe!!!
Eggplant Parmesan
My favorite meatless meal is eggplant parmesan.
A favorite because it’s an easy, family-friendly weeknight meal: baked potato (or baked sweet potato) bar. Set up at least 4-5 toppings and have fun building then devouring! Thank you for the book opportunity….have always loved Tosca and Clean Eating!
Bean chili is my favorite this time of year. On occasion, I make it for my dad (who is a vegetarian)…but everyone else in the house ends up eating it as well! So I guess it’s a family favorite as well.
My favorite meatless meal is a Greek salad.
I discovered my favorite meatless meal this summer when I was living on an island in Northwest Washington called San Juan Island (if you Google it, you’ll probably find lots of articles about Orca whales because the island is famous for the Orcas that live in the surrounding waters). The island has one very small town, lots of lush fields and forests and tons of deer, since they have no predators. When you are there in early fall, you notice how the green bushes turn purple–with blackberries! I went on a blackberry picking-spree with friends with one goal in mind: to make coconut blackberry ice cream. There are essentially three ingredients: creamy coconut milk, mashed freshly-picked blackberries, and maple syrup (or another sweetener). If dessert counts as a meal, this coconut San Juan Island blackberry maple ice cream is the best food I have ever eaten in my life. Not only did it taste fantastic, but it is also my favorite because my fellow berry-harvesters are the people with whom I lived this summer and created wonderful memories: kayaking with Orca whales, playing driftwood crochet, jumping off the dock into the bay at midnight, and going out in the boats during a new moon to watch the bioluminescence make our kayaks, paddles, and all the curious seals around us glow as if trailing with fairy dust. Then going back to the “Dandelion House” and eating coconut San Juan Island blackberry maple ice cream really makes it something special. I’m sure you can understand now why this is my favorite meatless meal–even if dessert doesn’t count as a meal, I eat it for breakfast, too!
My favorite meatless meal is any of your baked oatmeals. I’ll eat them any time of the day.
Indian anything! Saag and dahl and basmati rice! Yum!
Also ethiopian split peas, lentils and injera bread! Sooo good! And vegan!
Coconut curry with quinoa!
Wow, looks like a free give away is what it takes to open up the vocal cords of us lurkers. Good luck choosing!
My current favourite is last night’s dinner: earth burgers
(http://www.thehealthychef.com/2012/04/earth-burgers/). We had them with cinnamon roast sweet potatoes, braised turnips and a carrot top salad. Amazing stuff, and so simple. Everyone should try these!
My favorite meatless meal is probably hummus topped with Greek yogurt, topped with cucumbers, tomatoes, cilantro and eaten with carrot sticks and akmak crackers.
Favorite meatless meal would be baked sweet potato with avocado and sauerkraut.
My favorite meatless meal? Well, spaghetti is always good, but I really like quinoa and black beans. Throw in veggies and spices, depending on my mood. Filling, covers food groups, and yummy!