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?
I love your posts, Katie! (Especially the running one–I feel like at some point in the future, I’ll near a similar point myself, and it’s so nice to hear personal, informed stories from someone I really respect.)
But, my favourite meatless (breakfast) meal is definitely… OATMEAL. Think of ALL the variations! For dinners, I love making a vegetable/bean/sweet potato mix with your Sloppy Joe seasonings, too!
My favorite meatless meal is Sweet Potato enchiladas. My fiance makes the most delicious rendition of these and you don’t miss the meat or dairy!
At the moment, I’m eating an excessive amount of roasted sweet potatoes and cauliflower. But anything with chocolate also floats my boat. =)
This bread pudding looks awesome! The addition of chocolate is perfect – it just belongs.
I’d have to say that my favorite meatless meal is a dish that I make pretty often with Quinoa and veggies fried up in coconut oil, almost like Chinese fried rice – it is so good.
Pinning this!
I go through phases, but right now my favorite meatless meal is this brussel sprout “quesadilla” – never knew how much I liked brussel sprouts until this recipe! http://www.peasoupeats.com/2012/10/20/smoky-toasty-vegan-quesadilla-for-one/
I love sweet potato patties with cauliflower mashed potato and spinach salad. Would love to win this vegetarian cookbook. Thanks, Katie
I’m about to make avocado spinach pasta pesto… I’ve never tried it before, but it has all of my favourite ingredients in it, so it very well might become my next favourite meatless meal! Until then, I’d have to say stew with lots of greensand red kidney beans! Yum. 🙂
Here’s the recipe I’m making now! http://healthyblenderrecipes.com/recipes/raw_or_cooked_gluten_free_vegan_avocado_pesto_pasta/
My favorite meatless meal is a fresh salad! I love raw veggies 🙂
Obviously my favorite meatless meal would be any dessert involving chocolate :p
I love to have a meatless meal here and there and am slowly warming my other half up to it, too! I love this Southwest Stuffed Sweet Potato that I make and he has made a Quinoa Mac and Cheese that was really tasty, too!
That would be pizza, Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner if I could…
I have 2 favorite vegan meals right now lol. Shepherds pie which I never had before since my hubby introduced it to me this year and I love it with lentils. My other one is veggie casserole, it’s like green bean casserole but with veggies. I love comfort vegan food 🙂
Katie,
Oh my, I could seriously dive into a huge bowl of that bread pudding!! Will have to make it this week now and it’s all your fault. LOL
I would have to say my favorite meatless meal is a nice black bean burger or even crumbling those burgers and using them for yummy nachos!
Thanks…now I”m hungry! LOL
My absolute favorite is Eggplant Parmesan and since I’m often too lazy to make it from scratch, I love using Dominex brand Eggplant Cutlets or the ones from Trader Joes. Thanks for this recipe, I just bought a big casserole dish for a Thanksgiving recipe that ended up failing so now I have something else to use it for!
Seriously, there are too many to chose from since all I eat is meatless :). I’ve been a vegetarian for 17 years. One of my favorite things to eat is taco salad, so I will say that.
My favorite meatless meal is spaghetti with black pepper and parmesan.