Almond Meal Banana Bread

I decided to buy some Honneyville Almond Flour.  I had been reading about it for several years. I have been using some almond flour from a local source and it worked OK but I wondered if Honeyville's would be better.  I am happy to report that it was better.  It's a finer grind of the almonds which makes a much nicer textured bread.  

I had a few banana's that were very past their prime so I set out to make a banana bread that was free of grains and sugar.  It turned out well and my family even liked it.  That's an accomplishment.  My children have entered another picky phase.  My goal is to greatly reduce the grains and sugars in their diets over the next few months.  After attending a conference with the Institute for Integrative Nutrition a week ago, I was once again reminded how dangerous continual spikes in insulin can be.  It contributes to insulin resistance and diabetes.  I don't want to take that risk with them.

Almond Meal Banana Bread

3 cups blanched almond flour

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup xylitol

Mix together in a large bowl.

2 tsp vanilla extract

3 eggs

2 Tbs oil

4 very ripe bananas (mashed)

Blend well and add to the flour mixture.  Mix wet and dry ingredients together until a cake batter like consistency.  

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Pour batter into a greased loaf pan.  Bake for 45 mins or until the toothpick comes out clean when poked in the center.  

** If the bread gets too brown on top before the center is done, tent the pan with tin foil to slow the browning process down.  

School Lunches

I thought I would share a quick post about school lunches. This is one thing I really hate making. Especially this time of year. It's hot and the kids don't feel like eating a lot. So here is today's *menu*. We use the Bento Laptop Lunch system. We also have the Bento Buddies. The lunch on the left is my son's. His lunch includes strawberries/blueberries, trail mix, applesauce spice bread, pretzels and a cheese stick. My daughter's lunch has strawberries/blueberries, honey roasted peanuts, buttered gluten free applesauce spice bread and cheese cubes.

The Applesauce bread is from Paula Deen and I used Pamela's Baking & Pancake Mix flour blend for the flour. It turned out really good!! Very moist.

And now it's time to start breakfast. I think we will have pancakes.

To your health.....gluten free.

Stephanie

Gluten Free Coffee Banana Bread

I made a WONDERFUL banana bread today. The recipe was originally from The Moosewood Cookbook. However, the recipe was gluten - again. So I had to do some playing in the kitchen with my flours to see if I could get a good texture. My temptation was to use the "Mock Better Batter" mix but I was looking for something a little less spongy and more light and fluffy like a cake. I hit a winner right away. A friend of mine recommended this recipe. She knew I was a coffee-o-holic and said this was her favorite. I have been forgetting about it until today when the banana's were piling up again and needed to be used. I am tired of the same ole recipes and this fit the bill. It's a little fussy to make and probably not for the rookie baker because there are a few odd ingredients but I will tell you that it is so worth it. My daughter, husband and I all loved it. My son has yet to try it. It was even a hit without chocolate. Now that's an accomplishment.

**I wanted to make a special note that my cinnamon, nutmeg, almond extract and orange zest were all from Penzey's Spices which in my opinion are the best spices on the market. You can order them online from their website or if you are lucky you can visit their retail store.

Gluten Free Coffee Banana Bread

2 C Ripe Banana's, Mashed
1 C Very strong black coffee (room temp)

1 1/2 C Butter, Softened
1 3/4 C Brown Sugar
4 Eggs
2 1/2 tsp Vanilla
1/2 tsp Almond Extract
1 tsp Orange Zest
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
2 tsp Cinnamon

3 C Brown Rice Flour
1/2 C Potato Starch (not flour)
1/2 C Corn Starch (can swap for potato starch if issues with corn)
1/2 C Tapioca Starch
2 tsp Xanthan Gum
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 Tbs Baking Powder

Directions

Preheat oven to 350º. Grease the 2 bread pans.

Stir the coffee into the puréed bananas and set aside.

Combine the next group of ingredients & spices in a mixing bowl.

Combine all the dry ingredients in the third grouping.

Gradually combine dry ingredients with the butter/eggs and banana/coffee mixture - don’t overmix.

Spread batter into bread pans and bake for 55-65 minutes, until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Cool for one hour before slicing.

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Doesn't this look fabulous? How about joining me for a great cup of Java to go with this bread? .................. I'll put the pot on. :o)

If you make this bread please report back on what you think.

To your health..... gluten free!

Stephanie

Gluten Free Chocolate Bread

The much awaited bread recipe is here. I scribbled notes as I baked so I hope that I have this correct. Enjoy!

Here is the recipe:

Gluten Free Chocolate Bread

3 Cups of Mock Better Batter Mix
1 Cup Sugar
4 tsp Vegetable Oil
2 Tbs Cocoa Powder
3/4 tsp Salt
1 Cup Milk
2 Eggs
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 Cup Chocolate Chips

Combine sugar, oil, salt, milk and eggs in a mixing bowl and blend. Combine Mock Better Batter, Cocoa powder and baking soda in another and combine. Slowly add the flour mixture to the mixing bowl. Fold in the chocolate chips. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 - 55 mins or until tester is clean.


Stephanie

Eet Smakelijk - Gluten Free Banana Bread

You are probably wondering what I am doing. Eet Smakelijk is Dutch for Eat Heartily or Well. It is also the name of a cookbook with fabulous Dutch recipes. It is a staple item to be received by every new bride to be. I got mine back in 1985. Yikes! I have always loved the banana bread in this cookbook. I think it is the most used recipe since the book opens to it automatically. But since going gluten free we have had to give it up. Today I pulled it out again and decided to use my new flour combo. I just asked my daughter if she thought it was good and she said "I was thinking I would like another slice". The seal of approval from a 6 1/2 year old is a pretty good review.

Eet Smakelijk - Gluten Free Banana Bread

3/4 cup butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

4 eggs

4 bananas, mashed

3 cups Mock Better Batter mix

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Greas 2 8x4x2 loaf pans (or one large and 2 small pans). Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and bananas. Sift together flour, soda and salt. Add sifted ingredients, mixing well. Mix in vanilla. Pour into pans and bake for 60 to 75 mins. Cool 10 minutes and remove from pans.

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Slice and enjoy!

To your health - naturally!

Stephanie

More Baking - Pumpkin Tea Bread

I treated myself to a new bread making book. Bread making was something I was very *scared* of but now that I have to get gluten free products it is something I have enjoyed. I heard over and over from my gluten free friends that this was the one to buy.

I decided yesterday to make some pumpkin bread. I looked through the book and decided to try the Pumpkin Tea Bread. This was WONDERFUL!

It made two loaves. I made one (left) without raisins and the other with. Make sure that if you add raisins you soak them in hot water until soft or they will pull the moisture out of your bread.

PUMPKIN TEA BREAD

Four Flour Bean Mixture 2 Cups
Xanthan Gum 1/2 tsp (rounded)
Baking Powder 3 teaspoons
Baking Soda 1 teaspoon
Pumpkin Pie Spice 2 teaspoons
Dried Orange Peel 1 teaspoon
Salt 1/2 teaspoon
Butter 1 stick
Cream Cheese 3 ounces
Cane Sugar 1 Cup
Brown Sugar 1/2 Cup
Eggs 2
Pumpkin (canned) 1 Cup
Orange Juice 1/2 Cup (scant)
Chopped Pecans (optional) 3/4 Cup

Preheat oven to 375. Grease two loaf pans and line the bottom of each with a piece of parchment paper. Grease the paper and dust with rice flour.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour mix, xanthun gum, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, orange peel and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of your mixer, cream the butter, cream cheese, and both sugars until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the pumkin and orange juice. Mix well. With a spoon stir in the dry ingredients until just mixed and then fold in the nuts.

Spoon the batter into prepared pans and bake about 1 hour (mine needed 45 mins) or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool the loaves in pans for 10 mins before removing. Allow to cool completely before cutting.



Four flour Bean Mix (makes 9 cups - I cut in 1/2 and put the rest in a baggie in the freezer)
2 cups garfava bean flour
1 cup sorghum flour
3 cups cornstarch
3 cups tapioca flour

Gluten Free Banana Bread

I had a few soft banana's on my counter today. Normally I would make banana bread but now that we are gluten free I hesitated. But then I started to dig and found the following recipe and made it. I was waiting for my regular bread to bake and I think my chocolate chips sank to the bottom of the batter. You can see them in the picture. Oh well it still tastes good. It took longer to bake than I thought it would and when it came out we couldn't wait to dig in. So the chocolate was still gooey.



Gluten Free Banana Bread


2 ripe banana's
1 egg
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup coconut oil (or any other vegetable oil)
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup potato starch
1/2 cup corn starch
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp guar gum
1/4 tsp baking soda.
1 tsp ground coriander (optional)
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees.
In a large bowl mix all wet ingredients, sugar and egg.
Add potato starch, cornstarch, baking powder, guar gum, baking soda, salt and coriander.

Batter will be thin. Pour into a greased 9x4 loaf pan.

Bake for 50-60 mins or until the toothpick comes out clean.