Welcome to day five of the Sugar Free Challenge!
My favorite food combination is Peanut Butter, Banana, and Chocolate. You can find many, many recipes with this combo in my recipe page. However, it is rather long to say, “Peanut Butter, Banana, and Chocolate (name food),” so I shortened it to simply, PBC.
Today’s sample menu will focus on my favorite flavors, and give you my new favorite recipe at the end! (Please note that I don’t suggest eating PBC all day long for all your meals. Although it is tasty, it is better to balance your menu with food other that PBC! Here are some ideas to eat on different days).
Breakfast: High Protein Cookie Crisp Cereal topped with sliced bananas.
Lunch: Open-Faced Chocolate Pancakes with Bananas and PB
Snack: If Elvis Liked Chocolate Bites
Dinner: Chocolate Banana Cream Pie with Peanut Crust –ok, fine. This really doesn’t qualify as a “dinner,” but in it’s defense, it is made with only whole food ingredients!
Dessert: PBC Bars
~These Peanut Butter, Banana, Chocolate Bars are gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free, vegan, soy-free, and sugar-free!
Ingredients
- 4 large, ripe bananas, mashed
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 6 Tablespoons ground flax
- 3 Tablespoons chia gel (mix 1 teaspoon chia with 3 tablespoons water and let sit for 15 minutes so it can “puff up”)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/3 cup peanuts
- 3 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- pinch salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350*.
- Mix all ingredients together until well-combined.
- Lightly grease a 8×8 inch baking dish. Pour batter into dish and bake for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Let cool for 5-10 minutes before cutting and serving (because the bars contain no flour, this rest time is essential for proper setting).
These are incredibly easy to make. Simply mix the ingredients and bake. I have made them probably 5 times already since I created the recipe-they are that addicting! They make a great snack, breakfast on-the-go, or dessert. They are made with only whole ingredients, so they’re healthy for anytime of day!
Health Benefits:
- Chocolate: Click HERE for a post I did about all the benefits of chocolate.
- Peanuts: These legumes are full of protein with 7g per ounce. They also have a great monounsaturated fat content that helps your heart and brain. Peanut is a good source of Coenzyme Q10 which protects the heart during the period of lack of oxygen example high altitudes and clogged arteries. It also has a high antioxidant and high niacin content that helps in the recovery of cell damage and provides protection against Alzheimer’s disease and age-related cognitive problem.
- Bananas: Rich in potassium, bananas help the body’s circulatory system deliver oxygen to the brain. This also helps maintain a regular heartbeat and a proper balance of water in the body. It also contains tryptophan to help relax you and lift your spirits!
*This recipe is linked to Wellness Weekend February 9-13.
Exercise Option: For those of you who chose to take part of the exercise challenge, your challenge today is to do 10 crunches, 5 squats, 5 pushups, 10 calf raises.
THOUGHT-PROVOKING, MIND-PRODDING QUESTION OF THE DAY:
Do you enjoy PBC combo as much as me? If not, what is your favorite food combo?
Remember that you can track what you eat on the printable Challenge Checklist.
Yum! Those bars look SO good 🙂 I combine sunflower butter, chocolate and banana all the time. GREAT combo for those allergic to peanuts! Love the name of your chocolate bites, so cute!
They look SO good alex! Do you think an egg would work instead of the chia??
Katie,
Yes! It probably would work! The chia gel works like an egg in the bars, so eggs would work…Let me know how they turn out!
looks delicious. favorite combo is chocolate and mint 🙂
i’m a weird one and my favorite choco combo is dipped in a light layer of tahini! also, bht only time i eat bananas are when they’re frozen but then i enjoy the hell out of them!
Yum! I know my husband would love these. They sound so easy to make and it’s always nice to have a handy whole food snack like this to travel with or just have around the house.
YUM those PBC bars look amazing! I was crazing a little treat tonight so I just mixed greek yogurt, cinnamon, and unsweetened dark chocolate…hit the spot!
PBC bars look amazing! Great gluten-free option…sometimes I want to bake for work and have coworkers who are gluten intolerant. I’m already craving one! Debra
Hi!
I just came across your blog and I absolutely love it! These PBC bars look amazing, kind of like brownies 🙂 Just wondering – I’ve been on a chickpea dessert kick recently, I love how it makes brownies/bars/pies so wonderfully gooey; do you think there’s a way I could incorporate them (either adding or replacing something) into this recipe? Just curious 🙂
Off to bookmark another million recipes for me to make once I buy all the necessary ingredients…
Hi Lena!
So glad you enjoy my blog. I definitely think you could add the chickpeas! I love them in desserts, to (check out my high protein cookies under my recipe page). I would try pureeing the chickpeas and then adding them to the bar. Maybe add 1 cup or so of ground chickpeas? You might have to bake for longer, too. Let me know how it works!
aww man im totally bookmarking this recipe! it looks absolutely delicious!
Those look INCREDIBLE!!!!
I used to LOVE banana, PB & chocolate when I could eat bananas. . . this looks like such a great recipe! Thanks so much for linking up to Wellness Weekend this week! I don’t see a link to the WW page anywhere here. .. did I miss it? If not, would you please add it so I can keep your recipe on the page? Thanks! 😀
Thanks! It is my favorite combo, too! I linked up 😀 (underneath the last photo).
Can you sub an egg for the chia gel? I think I have some ground chia seeds so I could do this either way. I may try it both ways… Looks yummy! I’d like to use these for my son’s school snacks instead of commercial bars.
Magda,
I don’t know if you can sub the egg for chia gel or not. Maybe just one egg, but I definitely would not try substituting all eggs for chia. Let me know if you try it and how it turns out for you.
Hello – I have had this recipe bookmarked for quite awhile and I just made these this past weekend. Your photo of these bars is so enticing!! I looked at the ingredient list and loved every one and even had all on hand. THESE ARE AWESOME – I could not believe how well these came out and with no egg or flour – love that. Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe 🙂
Cindy,
I am so, so happy that you enjoyed them! Yay! Makes me so happy 😀
Just found you blog/web page? I am grain free and loving it. Flaxseed meal in a staple in my ‘fridge.
Flaxseed Wraps
Melt I T. coconut oil or butter
w/1 T. water
Beat in one egg throughly
Add 3 T flaxseed meal
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. paprika
1/8 to 1/4 tsp baking powder
Pour into a greased or baking spray coated dinner plate.
I cook them for two minutes in the microwave, turn over and continue for at least 30 more seconds.
A friend is going to try them by cooking them in a skillet?
These are very versitile and will wrap all of your favorites ingredients. Let them cool for a few minutes before wraping them.
A favorite is to add some black pepper and parmasean(sp?) cheese. Wrap away and God bless. I know I will be coming back to this site often. Everyting in this post seems so simple and has good ingredients that I am alreading using. This gives me more ideas.
Keep up the journey to the blessing in Wellness.
PS> this basic recipe in in Dr. Davis’ book – Wheat Belly
Hi Nannie Mae,
So glad to learn you are grain-free and like my site! LOVE your flax wrap recipe. Sounds amazing! As I don’t have a microwave, I might try it in the skillet, too. If your friend gets to it first, let me know how it turned out for her.
Thanks for the comment, and keep up your wellness journey, too!
Love your site! Havin all these delicious sugar free options is awesome!!! Question on the PBC bars ( which are AMAZING by the way..) . How many do you yield in your recipe?? What is the servings?
They really are VERY VERY GOOD!! would never know they are free of all that stuff ! 🙂
Trisha,
Thanks! So glad you like it. For me, the recipe made about 9 large bars. More if you cut smaller pieces!
Hi Alex. This looks like a delicious recipe. In the photo, there are chocolate chips. Where did you find unsweetened chocolate chips? Also, your link to the benefits of chocolate didn’t work for me, though I would like to read it at some point. Thanks for posting so many healthy recipes. They are surely needed in this sugar/grain centric world.
Cher,
Ghiradelli sells unsweetened chocolate chips, but they are only sold in certain stores. You will have to contact the company in order to find a store near you.
I just called Ghiradelli, and they don’t make the unsweetened chocolate chips any more, just an unsweetened chocolate baking bar. I would still like to find a company that makes the chips, as they sound delicious and easy to use. Any other ideas?
Sorry, Cher, but that is the only one I know of! You can always just chop up the unsweetened chocolate bar (that’s what I always do).
I remember seeing these but then I totally forgot to star the post and I just re-found them. Definitely going to make these soon! Gonna throw in some coconut flour for a bit more bulk 😉
Lauren,
I hope you like it! Let me know how it turns out with the coconut flour. I wonder if it might be too dry because coconut flour really dries things up?
Hi,
I don’t know what I did wrong but I followed the recipe exactly and they never baked in the middle. I baked them over an hour and they were a big, gloppy mess. I’m thinking too many (or too large of bananas) could be the problem.
Laura,
So sorry they never worked out for you! hmmm…that must be the problem because many of my other readers have had good results. Also make sure to let them set for about 10-15 minutes before cutting.