I bought 365 Vegan Smoothies by Kathy Patalsky, which I loved, and was making a smoothie a day from. I had been on smoothies for about 2 months before I started getting sick. It was always in the morning, about 20 minutes after I drank my smoothie. I originally traced it back to a bunch I had bought, thinking it was a non-organic bunch, and maybe that's what happened. But even with the next batch, I got super nauseous about 20 minutes after drinking my smoothie.


I was trying to be healthier and eat something better for me in the morning, and the smoothies in Kathy Patalsky's book were great. I stocked up on all the smoothie essentials. But after a few months, I just couldn't tolerate the bananas anymore.  I tried forcing myself to eat them, insisting that if I just kept eating them, my body would stop rejecting them and we could live in harmony again. I kept thinking I could "beat" it, and that it's just a banana, how could it be making me so sick?


After puking for a week straight, I gave up. Almost all the recipes in her book include a banana, and the smoothies I've made without them just aren't anywhere near as good. I like using coconut yogurt instead sometimes, but I can never keep enough of it on hand to make a smoothie a day. Everyone keeps posting pictures of banana ice cream and their smoothies and everything but I'm so mad that I can't eat them without getting sick! It makes no sense!

The smoothie that ended it all was this chocolate banana date smoothie with peanut butter. It was delicious. Then it ruined the rest of my night. Can anyone help me? Has this happened to anyone else? I have done a little research and nothing seems to apply. I don't have fructose malabsorption, I eat lots of other fruits with no problem, it's not a gluten thing, and the nuts aren't bothering me either. Someone said it was potassium overdose, but according to what I've read, I'd need to eat about 30 bananas a second to reach those kinds of levels, and even so, the symptoms don't match up. Until further notice, I am on vega chocolate protein shakes for breakfast. And man, they do not taste good.

Often times I dabble, and make my own recipes. But there's such a wide array of vegan recipes out there that might be better than mine (gasp) that I should always try. This one is from Isa's blog, and if you're looking for a go-to quickbread, she's highly reliable.


I always seem to have a stack of bananas going bad on my counter screaming to be turned into bread or muffins. That was too much personification for comfort. Anyhow, I had 4 overripe bananas and this recipe called for 3. I used 4 anyways and it came out a little more dense. It'll still do the trick. Bananas in the trash are just sad.

I don't remember if I've ever actually eaten a banana split in my life. I should make a point to. The only difference between this cake and a banana split is that the latter involves, or revolves around ice cream. Mine revolves around cake. Both sound good.


I bought a 9" cake board for my cake, and I was hoping it would be big enough to support my cake so I could lift it into a box. Alas, it wasn't and my cake covered it entirely and the piping ran off the edge of the board. I was not sure how I was going to lift this cake into a box in the first place, but realized it is too tall for both sizes of boxes I have. So I carried it on the turntable. I carried it to the car, somehow protected it from harm during the traffic-laden and bumpy ride there, and walked it up the stairs to her apartment smudge-free! Talent, folks. Talent.


It's 3 layers of banana cake frosted with vanilla buttercream, then circled with a chocolate sauce waterfall, a ring of cherries and a shower of jimmy-style sprinkles.

I love when the day allows me to peacefully rise and find my happy place. Muffins happen.



Twenty minutes later I have muffins that have puffed up nicely and are speckled both by chocolate chips and sucanat crystals.

Okay, let's be real, the mini chips were not an accident. I wanted to make this breakfast-y but couldn't resist a handful of mini chips. Necessary? You decide!

 Peanut butter Banana bread