Vegan Banana Breakfast Cookies {plus a Day in the Life of a Food Blogger}

These banana breakfast cookies help fuel our busy kitchen days here at Fit Mitten Kitchen.

Thanks to Cascade for partnering with Fit Mitten Kitchen on this post. As always, all opinions and thoughts are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that help me bring you new content! 

I’m also taking you behind the scenes of a day in the life of a food blogger. Or, at least this food blogger. Hint: there are lots of dishes involved. But thanks to new Cascade pure essentials, our job in the kitchen is made much easier!

A Day in the Life of a Food Blogger

This behind the scenes look at a “day in the life” covers mainly what one day could look like here at Fit Mitten Kitchen. Every day is different, which makes the job exciting but my Type-A self needs some structure – which is why I’ve found setting specific days dedicated to certain tasks to be helpful in creating a routine. On what I call “Kitchen Days” my assistant Liv is often my right hand woman helping me out with various tasks. 

On the morning of a “Kitchen Day” I’m often found running into Meijer to pick up ingredients needed and any other supplies I may need that we’re low on.

Now through the month of April, receive $1 off Cascade pure essentials item (bag or tub) using the Meijer’s mPerks App. In honor of Earth Day, Meijer is offering buy one, get one 30% off all pure essentials during from 4/14-4/20 available at checkout.

As you can imagine, we do A LOT of dishes around here. We were already using Cascade ActionPacs™ but when Cascade reached out to me about their new Cascade pure essentials, I was excited to switch to their brand new simplified formula.

Spoiler alert: they’re awesome.

But before we get to the dishes, there is obviously a lot that happens leading up to the cleanup…

I’ve typically created my “Kitchen Day” plan the night or two before, so I know exactly what I need. Once I have shopped for all of my ingredients at the store, it’s back home to get busy in the kitchen.

I shoot in natural light which means we only have so much of the day to work with. I am able to both work and photograph in my kitchen, which helps save me some time (versus having to shoot the recipe in another location) but overall Kitchen Days can be busy, busy!

While I am typing up the recipe and making notes, Liv is working behind the scenes on SEO (search engine optimization) or getting ingredients around and starting to set the recipe up for me.

Having someone else there to help me in the kitchen not only keeps me on track, but it allows me to get a lot more recipes done in one day. Once I begin photographing the first recipe, Liv is usually helping prep the ingredients for the next recipe and getting a head start on dishes. 

The quicker we can get dishes done, the more space I have to continue working on the next recipes without having too much downtime. 

You may seen on Instagram stories what a disaster my kitchen can be on days I am photographing and recipe testing – mostly on days Liv is not there because I am only one person and my focus is to shoot recipes, then attack cleanup. 

Anyways, we’ve been using the Cascade pure essentials dishwasher detergent ActionPacs™ for the past month and I am so impressed with how powerful they are considering their simple formula.  The pure essentials ActionPacs are made with 1/3 bio-based ingredients, no phosphates or chlorine bleach and is Cascade’s only dye-free liquid top.

I’ve been making an effort to use household cleaners that are better for me and my family and I am happy we’re able to make the switch for products like dishwasher detergent too!

To Recap FMK Kitchen Days

• Morning of – Shop for ingredients. If I am using a lot of fresh produce I want to make sure it looks fresh for photos.

• Liv arrives – we go over what’s on the agenda for the day and start on prepping ingredients and setting up the shoot.

• Ashley starts making notes for recipes, beings photographing recipe(s) while Liv starts prepping the next one and/or starts dishes.

• Once the photoshoot is wrapped up (usually lasts a good 3 hours + cleanup depending on the recipes) Ashley starts on editing photos.
• We try to wrap up about 3pm – this gives me about an hour to get through some editing before I call it quits for the day and try to get an evening workout in!

Now let’s chat about these banana oatmeal cookies!

These banana oatmeal cookies the perfect easy recipe! Great for lunch boxes, breakfast, or in our case the perfect snack after a long kitchen day. 

Main ingredients needed for Vegan Oat Banana Breakfast Cookies

Ripe bananas – Make sure your bananas are at least somewhat spotty. 

Flaxseed meal – Acts as a binder and egg replacer. Also adds healthy Omega 3’s.

Rolled oats – Make sure you use rolled oats here, not quick. And use gluten-free if needed. 

Plant based protein powder – I added some plant based vegan protein powder here to kick the protein count up a bit. Hearty snacks are the best snacks. 

Maple syrup – I used just a couple of tablespoons here to add some more sweetness to the cookies. However, if your bananas are black you can omit. If you’re sharing these with sweet teeth peeps (i.e. those with a sweet tooth) probably best to keep.

Creamy nut butter – You can really use your choice of nut butter here. Peanut butter would be delicious if you like that with bananas. Cashew or almond will lend itself to a more neutral taste. If you need a nut-free option, use sunflower seed butter but omit the baking soda (unless you don’t mind green baked goods). Tahini will also work but the flavor isn’t for everyone. I do not recommend coconut butter.

These banana oatmeal cookies come together in no time

Once you’ve mixed together the ingredients and shaped them into cookies, you just bake them for 8-10 minutes and let them cool on the pan.

Basically the recipe takes less than 30 minutes from start to finish and you should get about 16 cookies.

If you make this recipe, be sure to leave a comment and review on the blog! I love hearing from you and seeing what you’ve made! #fitmittenkitchen on Instagram.

Xx Ashley 

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Any questions about food blogging? What other days look like?

Let me know if you’re interested in more “behind the scenes” here on the blog!