I recently bought  'The How Not to Die' cookbook. As an owner of alot of cookbooks I have to say I pretty impressed with its simplicity. I have added a few ingredients to their chocolate banana smoothie to add in some more fibre (figs), collagen (I need all the support for my hair and nails right now) and to help with inflammation (turmeric). I have made this version almost daily in the last week, its filling and delicious.

Ingredients

1 very ripe banana

1/4 cup Black Genoa semi sun dried figs

1 white nectarine or other fruit such as 1/3 cup blueberries (I use what I have in our fridge at the time)

 2 tblspn cacao powder (or unsweetened cocoa powder)

1 tspn of faxseed oil or 1 tblspn of flaxseed/linseeds ground

1 tblspn of almond butter (I use locally made The Almond Farmer)

1 tspn of sweetener ( I use monkfruit or stevia) 

1 handful of kale

1 tspn of fermented turmeric or grated fresh turmeric

1 tspn of collagen (optional)

4 ice-cubes

Method

Combine all ingredients in a high speed blender and 1 cup of water. Blend until thick. You can add more or less water depending on how thick you would like your smoothie.

Makes approx 2 cups of smoothie

 Full credit to Food 52 for this fantastic recipe. I have rewritten it here with my changes. This is super charged and very lush.

Ingredients

2 cups grated zucchini

1 very ripe banana

1/4 cup Black Genoa sun dried figs

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (I use Four Leaf Milling 85% light flour)

1/4 cup cacao powder

3/4 tspn baking soda

1/2 tspn baking powder

1 tspn sea salt

1/2 cup pecans, chopped

1 1/4 cups dark chocolate, chopped

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

1/2 cup natural yoghurt

1 large egg

3/4 cup light brown sugar

1 tspn vanilla extract

Method

Preheat an oven to 175° C. Grease and line a loaf pan and set it aside.

Place the grated zucchini on a baking tray lined with a lint-free kitchen towel, then place another kitchen towel on top, patting it down gently to absorb any additional moisture. Set aside.

In a large bowl, use a fork to whisk together the flour, cacao, baking soda, baking powder and sea salt. Stir in the chopped pecans and 1 cup of the dark chocolate.

In a separate large bowl, whisk together the butter and yoghurt or use an electric mixer (this is what I did). Add in the egg, light brown sugar, and vanilla, then whisk the liquid ingredients until smooth and uniform. Gently fold in the zucchini, banana and figs.

Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan, then sprinkle the top of the batter with the remaining 1/4 cup of chopped dark chocolate.

Bake, rotating at least once half way through baking, until a skewer inserted into the bread comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes.

Let cool in the loaf pan for 15 - 20 minutes before inverting out onto a cooling rack to finish cooling completely. When cool store in an air tight container.

Now I'm not totally sure I can still call it a Hummingbird cake if there is no pineapple. Probably not but its still delicious and this is my recipe for our annual ode to this family favourite.