Bonus: At the end of this post we’ve included five handy hacks that will change the way you peel, use, and store bananas.

BONUS: 5 Banana Hacks

These helpful hacks will change the way you peel, store, and enjoy bananas from now on.

Roast or Grill with Skin On

Cooking bananas caramelizes their natural sugars, but it also softens the flesh and can make them tricky to flip and serve. For a sweet treat, split bananas lengthwise down the center, then leave the skin on for easy turning in a pan or on the grill. You can also roast or grill them whole in the skin, then slit them open and top with nuts, berries, or cashew cream.

Peel Smarter

If you hate banana strings, this tip’s for you. Instead of peeling from the stem end down, peel from the bottom up. Simply pinch the tip to break the skin and start peeling. It’s faster and a lot less stringy.

Extend Freshness

Bananas release ethylene gas, a ripening hormone, from their stems. Wrapping the stems as a bunch, or individually, in foil or plastic wrap traps the gas and slows the ripening process to keep bananas firm and bright yellow.

Peel and Freeze

Ripe and slightly overripe bananas can be frozen in a resealable bag or freezer container for later. Peel and break the fruit into chunks before freezing so that they can easily be added to recipes or whizzed in a food processor to make nice cream.

Make Pancakes

Bananas make great stand-ins for eggs, sugar, and fat—and in pancake batter they can replace all three. Simply blend 4 large bananas until smooth, then stir in 1 Tbsp. baking powder and ¼ tsp. salt, followed by 1 cup whole wheat flour. Thin the batter to desired consistency with ¼ to ⅓ cup water. Cook the pancakes 2 to 3 minutes per side in a nonstick skillet over medium. (Note: The batter makes delicious waffles too.)

Hungry for More?

We’ve put together a roundup of some of our most-loved vegan recipes of all time. Try one today!

This article was originally published on April 2, 2020, and has been updated.

The post 41 Recipes for Ripe and Overripe Bananas appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

What does arugula taste like? Arugula has a complex peppery flavor with hints of nuttiness and a subtle mustardy bite. It’s wonderfully aromatic: You’re likely to smell arugula before you taste it!

Arugula vs. rocket: In some regions of the world, including the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, arugula is known as rocket or roquette. In Italy, it’s often called rucola. Other names include salad rocket and garden rocket.

The post 19 Arugula Recipes Featuring the Zesty Greens We Can’t Get Enough Of appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

This week marks the 14th anniversary of Forks Over Knives. To celebrate, we caught up with a few of our favorite success stories from over the years. We hope you enjoy their updates as much as we have!

Editor’s note: If you’ve improved your health after going whole-food, plant-based and would like to share your story—or if we’ve published your success story in the past and you’d like to let us know how it’s going today—please do so here!

Aaron Calder: From Severe Liver Disease to Weight Training and Fitter Than Ever

Almost 10 years ago, Aaron Calder reversed severe liver disease and a host of other health complications on a whole-food, plant-based diet. Today, Calder says he’ll never go back, “My overall health and especially my liver disease have continued to improve. I joined the gym back in 2021, and I work out two hours a day, every day—something specialists said would never be possible. I have built a lot of muscle and have never felt better. I have learned plants do indeed have protein, and my physique and strength show it.” Calder says that, over the years, many people have reached out to him about their own struggles with addiction and liver disease. “I have passed on my knowledge of what has helped me, and those people who have gone plant-based have seen their health improve, too.”

Read Story Here

Pamela Footman: ‘I Lost 100 Pounds in a Year on a Plant-Based Diet—and Kept It Off, at 60!’

When we last saw Pamela Footman in 2022, she had just gone plant-based a year earlier and had already shed excess weight that she’d been carrying for decades. Today, Footman is more enthused than ever about the WFPB lifestyle and continues to enjoy her passions, such as swimming. “My doctors are absolutely amazed that I’m not taking medication to control high blood pressure, diabetes, or high cholesterol,” Footman says. Footman, who was 60 when she started on this journey, says, “It’s never too late for anyone to turn their life around and improve their health.”

Read Story Here

Amy Horn: From Overweight With Type 2 Diabetes to Ultramarathons

After going whole-food, plant-based six years ago, Amy Horn beat the disease that had plagued her family for generations: Type 2 diabetes. Her husband, Rod, was motivated to join her in the WFPB lifestyle after he suffered a widowmaker heart attack. Today, Amy and Rod remain plant-strong. Since we originally published her success story in 2021, Amy has run three ultra-marathons and several 50K trail races, and writes, “My diabetes and autoimmune condition continue to be diet-controlled—no meds!” The couple continues sharing their story with others, inspiring several friends to cut back on dairy. Horn notes, “This whole food plant-based lifestyle works. I’ve even found great options in some airports.”

Read Story Here

Anthony Masiello: Young Dad Loses 160 Pounds and Passes Healthy Lifestyle on to the Kids

When he was just 33 years old, Anthony Masiello was denied a 20-year-term life insurance policy due to having high blood pressure and being morbidly obese. Wanting to be around to see his children grow up, Masiello adopted a WFPB diet and transformed his life. Nineteen years later, his dedication to the lifestyle remains strong. He turned his personal transformation into a professional mission, founding Love.Life Telehealth, a platform that connects patients with lifestyle medicine doctors. “I look at the activities I did with my wife and kids as they were growing up—running, skiing, snowboarding, hiking, biking, skateboarding, jumping rope, and finding delicious healthy food in all our travels—and I couldn’t imagine living a better life,” Masiello says. “I sure am grateful that I was able to pass on my healthy lifestyle to my children, and we will never know what that might have looked like if I did not make these changes for myself first.”

Read Story Here

Tim Kaufman: From Sick, Disabled, and on Multiple Meds to Thriving on a Plant-Based Diet

When Tim Kaufman discovered Forks Over Knives 13 years ago, he was over 400 pounds, addicted to painkillers, nearly immobile, and taking more than 20 prescription medications a day. Fast-forward to today, Kaufman is a competitive endurance athlete, completely medication-free, and thriving alongside his wife, Heather. “Together, we’ve lost nearly 300 pounds—and gained a life we never thought possible.” writes Kaufman. Kaufman shares his biggest lessons: “The key to making this way of eating sustainable long-term is building a life I absolutely love. … Without an optimal diet, I can’t live life to its fullest. I used to think it was all about the food—and that a better life was just a bonus. But now I see it differently. My focus is on living fully, with my diet as the foundation, along with gratitude, community, fitness, joy, mental clarity, and spiritual growth. …. I stay on this path not because I have to but because I genuinely love the life it’s given me—one filled with energy, purpose, and joy.”

Read Story Here

Dave Wegener: ‘I Dropped 100 Pounds in One Year by Ditching Animal Products, Processed Foods’

In 2021, we shared the story of Dave Wegener, who had dropped 140 pounds since transitioning to a WFPB diet five years earlier. Today, Dave and his wife, Leah, remain committed to the plant-based lifestyle and say they will be for the rest of their lives. Since we published his story, Wegener says he’s been enjoying travel in comfort and with confidence, crossing off a bucket-list dream: Journey 1,300 miles, only by foot and train,from Centralia, Washington, to the house where he grew up in Northglenn, Colorado. The Wegeners’ home remains a plant-based safe haven. While Wegener has kept off most of the weight, he gained back [some of] the pounds when schools opened up after the pandemic. “I still feel great,” he writes. “People who haven’t seen me in years notice the change, and my medical/physiological issues are still reversed.” Wegener says, “I’ve begun what I call my ‘Phase II.’ Phase II is mindfully applying everything I know and have learned to lose those stubborn, remaining pounds slowly and steadily with the plant-strong, starch-based, minimally processed–plants (MPP) lifestyle—changes I intend to follow until I die.”

Read Story Here

Brittany Jaroudi: From High Blood Pressure and High Cholesterol at 25 to Thriving in Her 30s

Struggling with high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and obesity at only 25 years old, Brittany Jaroudi turned her life around when she adopted a WFPB diet. Since 2019, Jaroudi has grown a YouTube channel dedicated to sharing the plant-based lifestyle, and just gave birth to her first child. Given Jaroudi’s history of hypertension, health care workers pegged her as high-risk and initially expected to only let her pregnancy go to 37 weeks—but she ended up having a smooth, full-term pregnancy. “I felt like every time I showed up at the doctor, I was proving to them, ‘Look what this lifestyle can do,’” she says.

Read Story Here

Evon Dennis: Conquering Addiction to Processed Foods on a Plant-Based Diet

After years of struggling with refined-food addiction and compulsive overeating, Evon Dennis experienced significant improvements to her mental and physical health by going salt, oil, flour, alcohol, sugar (SOFAS) free and eating a diet of nothing but whole plant foods. In addition to weight loss, improved moods, and mental clarity, Dennis says there was one other major benefit: “The most pleasant surprise of all was that I no longer felt driven by addiction to junk foods.” Since we first shared her story in 2021, Dennis has remained chiefly on this diet, with one period of relapse. To stay on track, Dennis says that she focuses on fostering a peaceful life, prioritizing rest and ease—and staying clear on her “why.”

Read Story Here

The post Where Are They Now? Updates from Some of Our All-Time Favorite Success Stories appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

The post Crazy About Carrots: 31 Fresh and Tasty Carrot Recipes appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

To celebrate another year of putting our best recipes and nutrition knowledge forward, we’ve updated our list of most popular recipes ever. A big hat tip to FOK readers who’ve made and shared our recipes over the years. Enjoy one of these tried-and-true favorite dishes today!

The post 30 of the Most Popular FOK Recipes, Ever! (Updated for 2025) appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

Are beets and beetroot the same thing? Yes. In the U.S., “beet” refers to the bulb; in other countries, such as the U.K., the bulb is called beetroot.

What to do with beet greens: If your beets come with healthy-looking green tops, add them to salads and smoothies or cook them like Swiss chard.

For more on beets, check out What Are Beets, and How Do You Cook Them?

The post Beet Bliss! Red and Golden Beet Recipes Packed with Nutrients appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

Looking for gift-worthy baked goods to present to Mom, then check out these delectable Edible Goodies to Gift.

More Vegan Brunch Recipes

Find even more healthy plant-based brunch recipes below! 

Can’t decide between sweet or savory? We’ve rounded up the best vegan waffle and pancake recipes to satisfy both sides of your palate.

From perfectly seasoned hashes to frittatas to muffins and more, these are our favorite healthy vegan recipes to make for brunch.

The post 35 Delicious Recipes for a Memorable Vegan Mother’s Day Brunch appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

The post 42 Mexican-Inspired Recipes You Won’t Believe Are Vegan appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

MORE VEGAN EASTER TREATS

Check out Chocolate Decadence: 10 Vegan Easter Treats for healthy chocolate goodness, including brownies, pies, puddings, and more.

The post Fresh, Festive Vegan Recipes for Your 2025 Easter Menu appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

For more morning inspiration, check out our collection of vegan brunch recipes and healthy breakfast ideas from plant-based pros!

The post 32 Easy Plant-Based Breakfast Recipes to Fuel You Up appeared first on Forks Over Knives.