The weather in Northeast Pennsylvania has been all but predictable lately. With back-to-back Nor-easters, it’s easy to imagine that everyone gets sent into a panic about what the impending storm will bring. Due to fears of heavy and consistent snow, I got a snow day from work today, which gave me a lot of free time to catch up on some much needed cleaning I needed to do around my apartment. Once that was finished, and my GRE studying was complete too, I was at a loss for what to do with myself.
I really needed to use up one lone, over-ripe banana. I knew that one banana would not be enough for banana bread, and besides, I have given up bread for Lent, so that was out. I purused on Pinterest, but couldn’t find anything that really peaked my interest, so I decided to try a recipe of my own. The result was tasty, crispy, granola bites loaded with almond butter, flax seed, sunflower seeds, and banana. So if you have a banana laying around and aren’t quite sure what to do with it, why not give these quick and simple granola bites a try?
Ingredients:
- 1 cup of oats
- 1 over-ripe banana
- 1/4 almond butter or nut butter of your choice
- 1 tbsp flax seeds
- 1 tbsp sunflower seeds
- Other nuts and seeds of your choice
Directions:
- While pre-heating oven to 350, toast oats on the stove over medium heat for about 10 minutes, stirring and flipping often
- Mash banana in a small mixing bowl until well-mashed and no lumps remain and add almond butter
- Pour warmed, toasted oats into the almond butter and banana mixture and stir until well combined
- Sprinkle in flax seeds, sunflower seeds, and any additional seeds you want to add! I just used whatever was available in my pantry
- Form into patties in a small muffin tray and bake for 12 minutes
This recipe is really so simple, yet so delicious. It can also be customized with whatever nuts, seeds, or spices you have in your cabinet. Next time I make this, I may try adding in some shaved apple and cinnamon! Let me know in the comments if you tried this recipe, what you think, and how you made it your own!
Christine in Korea 