This banana bread is so good, I literally hide bananas from the kids, so they get a chance to over-ripen before being eaten! My new motto might be, “when life gives you brown bananas… make banana bread!”
This week I’m focusing on eliminating grains, dairy and sugar to detox a bit, and I love to do that every so often. It’s SO hard to kick a sugar addition, and takes some serious effort, but once you get past the first week, you start to feel so much better! My trick to getting through the first week, is tackling sweet tooth cravings with fresh fruits or healthy banana bread.
Guilt-Free Chocolate Chip Banana Bread is the perfect breakfast food for busy weekday mornings, combining healthy fats and protein to keep you feeling full until lunch.
I’m not kidding when I say you won’t miss the flour, the butter or the sugar – this banana chocolate chip bread is DELISH! Sweetened only with low-glycemic coconut palm nectar and over ripe bananas, the substance of this banana bread comes from the almond butter and eggs, eliminating the need for oil, butter, sugar or flour. Guess what? It tastes identical to any other banana bread you’ve ever or never made!
In our family, we limit red meat consumption to just a couple of times a month and talk a lot about balancing foods and nutrients. I’ve seen for myself that eating more plant foods is the best thing I can do for my health, but giving up beef, feels impossible to me. I could never do it! I love the flavor and the countless recipes that use red meat – including meatballs. Swapping beef for turkey in a this Healthy Turkey Meatballs recipe, is an easy way to make a healthier meal with lean protein. I use Healthy Turkey Meatballs as an opportunity to sneak in some vegetables that contribute to flavor and moisture. Then I top the meatballs with microgreens to amp up the nutrient profile with plants.
Red meat provides some essential nutrients such as iron and vitamins, but it also comes with health risks. With your iron and vitamins, you’re also getting a dose of saturated fat and cholesterol. Studies show that long-term consumption of red meat carries increased risk of mortality, cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes.
It’s important to practice balance when it comes to food. Limit red meat consumption to twice a month and strive to add other sources of protein into the rotation.
You can enjoy red meat less frequently and get IRON from other sources such as legumes, pumpkin seeds, spinach, quinoa, shellfish and… TURKEY!
PROTEIN is an important factor in a well-balanced diet, and can be found in other animal foods as well as plant foods. Some of my favorite sources of protein are legumes, quinoa, nuts, seeds, eggs, turkey, chicken, wild salmon and red meat. Getting your protein from plants whenever possible, is the best thing for our planet and the healthiest for your body. Poultry (turkey and chicken for example) and wild salmon are also good options. In the case of meatballs, turkey makes a great option!
Another nutrient in red meat that is essential for wellbeing, is ZINC. Our bodies need zinc on a daily basis to metabolize nutrients, repair tissue and keep our immune system strong. Unfortunately, our bodies don’t store zinc, so it’s one of those things you need to make sure to add into your diet every day. A great, plant-based alternative source of zinc is hemp seeds! Including hemp seeds in Healthy Turkey Meatballs adds up to 43% of a women’s daily need for zinc, as well as healthy fats, fiber, vitamins and minerals.
B VITAMINS help your body make energy, and include thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), niacin (B3), pantothenic acid (B5), pyridoxine (B6), biotin (B7), folate (B9) and cobalamin (B12). Similarly to zinc, most of these cannot be stored by your body, so to achieve a balanced diet you need to obtain them through a variety of foods. We aren’t using red meat for Healthy Turkey Meatballs, but turkey is a great source for B vitamins! Cook up some spinach to eat along with it, and you’re increasing your vitamin B consumption, along with adding more iron.
When I make Healthy Turkey Meatballs, I always choose organic ground turkey to ensure we aren’t getting pesticides through the animal feed in our diet. I mix the ground turkey with spices and herbs, hemp seeds, and finely cut veggies to round out the nutrient profile. I make these grain-free and skip the breadcrumbs traditionally added to meatballs, so expect them to be a little “wet” when shaping them. Since turkey dries out easily when cooking, skipping breadcrumbs also helps retain moisture and keeping the texture similar to beef meatballs.
Are you following a Whole 30 diet? Healthy Turkey Meatballs are free of trigger foods like dairy, grains and legumes and it’s easy to make this into a complete Whole 30 approved entree. Instead of eating Healthy Turkey Meatballs over pasta, I serve mine with steamed spinach and simple roasted golden potatoes. You can still add red sauce if you’re a traditionalist, but be sure to check the ingredients and avoid added sugar as that would not fit into the Whole 30 plan. Thinking about trying Whole 30 for the first time, or wondering what it’s all about? Check out The Kitchn for an easy to read list of do’s and dont’s. While I am not a fan of any kind of dieting, I am a fan of paying attention to which foods feel good and which don’t. Trying a Whole 30 diet for 30 days, can be a good way for those with digestive upset to “reset” and see if eliminating trigger foods helps them feel better.
The mild, earthy flavor of naturally gluten-free sorghum combines so well with the warming spices in this dish! Did you know that sorghum contains high levels of magnesium, iron, calcium, protein and fiber, making it a super nutritious grain to switch things up? With more than double the amount of protein per cup and plenty of healthy fats to round out your meal, sorghum definitely deserves some shelf space in your pantry. 20 grams of protein guys! In ONE cup! Sorghum also contains some really important antioxidants not commonly found in other foods and it’s directly linked to reducing ones chances of developing certain cancers. While the nutrient profile is totally awesome in my book, my personal favorite reason to use sorghum, is for the texture! It resembles pearl couscous, my previously favorite grain which actually has little to offer in the way of nutrients. * When you click on my favorite product links, I may earn a tiny commission from qualifying purchases, at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting Big Little Bites blog*
It would be really ‘comfortable’ to just add steak or chicken to the Roasted Eggplant and Chickpea Sheet Pan, but we aren’t going to do that. I’m not saying steak or chicken wouldn’t be delicious, I’m sure it would be – but I believe eating plant based multiple times a week is really important for a balanced diet with enough vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients from plants. Replacing meat and poultry at least a few days a week, leaves room for subbing in important plant foods that most Americans are not getting enough of. In this recipe, I use sprouted chickpeas in place of animal protein.
I use sprouted chickpeas as the meat alternative in this recipe, because their flavor is neutral and sort of takes on whatever herbs and spices you cook it in. If you really want to amp up the protein power, check out how to sprout the chickpeas here.
Soaking chickpeas, let alone sprouting them, can seem daunting and be time consuming. It would be a lot faster to use canned chickpeas, but here’s why I don’t suggest it. Metals enter your body through the food we eat, and can accumulate over time in our bones and organs, damaging them over time and contributing to or causing behavior changes and trouble with memory and thinking clearly. While small amounts of aluminum in our environment could be detoxed by our bodies naturally, aluminum already exists in so many foods, is present in most homes pots, pans and serving utensils, is an ingredient in many vaccines, is laced in common deodorants… the list goes on, and the exposure is regular! In my post about How to Make Pumpkin Puree, I talk some more about why I avoid canned foods.
I first made this roasted eggplant and chickpea dinner for the family on a cool, rainy night and it was just the perfect, cozy meal. The bulk of the Roasted Eggplant and Chickpea Sheet Pan with Sorghum dinner is cooked on one sheet pan. This means clean up is INSANELY easy!!
When I’m cooking in the oven, I choose parchment paper EVERY time, over aluminum foil. Aluminum foil is definitely the more common choice for most people, so what do I have against it? Simply put, the same reason I don’t purchase canned foods (as described above), is to limit my familys exposure to metals.
Once the Roasted Eggplant and Chickpea Sheet Pan comes out of the oven, I love to immediately top it with freshly chopped cilantro and sliced avocado. A squeeze of a lime can add that little bit of acid that rounds the whole thing out.
I alternate between two favorite ways of serving this healthy, plant-based meal. On a night when you’re not rushed, it’s fun to serve this sheet pan dinner as a DIY bar on the island countertop, setting out toppings in individual miniature serving bowls and letting kids and husband build-their-own-bowl. On a busy night, I prefer to divide the precooked sorghum evenly between six dinner bowls, and top it with the roasted eggplant and chickpea mixture myself. This way, I can get the littles fed as soon as possible.
Either way you choose to do it, the second best part of this meal (flavor is first!) is the easy cleanup! Simply toss the parchment paper in the trash once dinner is over, give your sheet pan a quick cleaning (because thanks to the parchment, there won’t be any debris stuck to it) and place the dinner bowls in the dishwasher!
Have you made this recipe? Please reach out in the comments below, to let me know what you think!
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