I have been on a major baking kick lately, which is extremely unusual for me! Motivated by not being able to find the exact baked goods my body needs (yes, needs!) has brought me to get a little creative and branch out more into the baking world. The baked goods my body needs? Let me explain….

As much as I believe that food is medicine and healing through what we nourish ourselves with is essential, I also believe that at any given point regardless of what our diet is- enjoying delicious treats is a basic human right! I haven’t talked about it much because I am quasi-navigating it through pregnancy, but have been trying to get rid of a case of SIBO (small intestine bacterial overgrowth). While this is hard to battle while also growing a human inside of you, sticking to the diet as best I can is the safest way to address it at this point.

In short, the SIBO elimination protocol that I am (attempting to) follow requires cutting out sugar (except honey), grains and most grain free starchy foods. This makes most paleo baked goods off limits due to their use of root flours like cassava and potato. Thankfully there are ways to bake without those ingredients! I was inspired by the Detoxinista Pumpkin Bar recipe I also love to create a baked good that uses almond butter instead of any flours! I wanted something I could eat for breakfast that wasn’t too sweet (this recipe only uses 2 tbsp honey) and had enough protein to keep me full (each serving has 10 g collagen protein and 7+ g plant protein).

Spotty, browned bananas are a great alkalizing food that encourages good digestion!

Ingredients:

6 ripe spotty bananas
1 egg
2 c almond butter (salt, sugar and oil free is best)
1/2 tsp each spice: nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger
1 tsp vanilla extract (without added sugar is best)
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp honey (local is best)
6 scoops (60 g) Vital Proteins Collagen Peptides
1/2 c shredded raw coconut
12 pecan halves

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and put liners in a 12 muffin tin
Peel and mash the bananas in a large bowl until an even consistency is reached
Add remaining ingredients in order, stirring each in to form a batter
Pour the batter into the muffin liners and top each muffin with a pecan half
Bake for 25 minutes (checking at 20 minutes)- they usually begin to burn after 25
Allow muffins to cool before removing from tin and enjoying (1 serving = 2 muffins, containing 17+ grams of protein!)