Gluten Free Dairy Free Banana Date loaf

It's been a long time, yes.  Our trip to America, then settling back in in Australia, and now expecting Bub number 4 in a few weeks!!!  But I do have a few recipes I have been trialling and hopefully will post soon once I am happy, including dairy free salted macadamia ice cream, naturally sweetened.... yum and hooray!!!

In Thermomix Australia news, September purchases receive the Thermomix Kitchen Toolkit for free!!!  It's fantastic, I don't even have one but would love one!!!  I am still doing Thermomix consulting, so if you are interested in purchasing a Thermomix or know someone who is, then please contact me via email!  I would love to finalise any deliveries in September if I can before the bub arrives in October.

Anyway, lately I have moved to completely gluten free for one of my sons.  I have been thinking of healthy recipes that are still yummy and easy to eat that I can make and put in the freezer and eat when needed!  So this is based on my Spelt banana bread, but is gluten free.  I trialled it with coconut flour, but as I am very new to cooking with it, I just couldn't get the mix right, so tried what I came up with below, and I think its a winner!!  Again, it just makes a relatively small loaf (I rarely have enough bananas that get to very ripe stage to make a larger loaf!) so you can try to increase quantities for a bigger loaf.  Here we go!

Ingredients:

100g Brown Rice (organic if you can find it)

50g almonds (again, organic is great!)

3 Very Ripe bananas (I measured approx 300g)

1 egg

40g Macadamia oil (could use coconut as well)
45g raw honey

65g dates, cut in half (preservative free)

25g desiccated coconut (I actually used large shredded coconut and it was nice - preservative free)

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

pinch Himalayan salt

1/2 teaspoon Bicarb Soda

1 teaspoon gluten free baking powder (or homemade in the Thermie)

Method:

1.  Put 100g Brown rice into Thermomix.  Grind for 1 min, Speed 9.

2.  Add 50g almonds, Grind 30 seconds, Speed 9.  Scrape down sides of bowl.

3.  Add egg, macadamia oil, honey and bananas, mix 15 seconds, speed 5.

4.  Add dates, shredded coconut, cinnamon, baking powder, bicarb soda and salt, mix 5 - 10 seconds Reverse, Speed 4.

5.  Pour into loaf tin, bake 45 - 50 mins approx 180 Degrees (my oven is new and so it may need a little less or little more time if your oven is cooler/hotter).

Enjoy!!!  This would be nice with nuts added too.

Spelt Banana Bread

I have been wanting to find a yummy healthy banana bread for ages that I didn't feel bad about eating for breakfast or morning tea.  I think this is yummy, however I have only done it once so may need to test again and tweak the recipe if required!  But seriously it was really nice and healthy.

I like to try to use spelt flour wherever possible instead of normal refined white wheat flour.  It is better for you and your body digests it a lot easier.  It is a lot more readily available now too, because more people are looking for the healthier options.  Check in the Health food aisles in bigger supermarkets or health food shops.

I always like it when I have a good dairy free recipe too.  I added oats in because they fill you up more and are good for helping with cholestrol (family history of high cholestrol).  Oh and they are cheap!! That helps!  I used PURE maple syrup as the sweetener, again, better for you!

This is not very sweet so you could add a little more sweetener if needed, but is YUMMY fresh or toasted with just a bit of butter on top (if you aren't worried about the dairy or cholesterol!!!!)

It also makes just a smallish loaf.

So here goes!

Ingredients:

45g Coconut oil (could use other flavourless oil)

45g Pure Maple Syrup

3 Very Ripe Bananas

1 teaspoon vanilla

170g Spelt flour

25g dessicated Coconut (without preservatives if you can find it)

1/2 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoons Bicarb Soda

1 Egg

small pinch salt

30g Wholegrain Oats (could use walnuts or whatever you like instead!)

Method:

Preheat oven to 180C

1.  Add broken up bananas, coconut oil, vanilla and pure maple syrup, mash for 10 Seconds, Speed 4

2.  Add spelt flour, bicarb soda, cinnamon, coconut, oats, salt, and egg, mix for 15 Seconds, Reverse + Speed 4 (or until combined).

3.  Pour into small loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes at 180C (or until skewer comes out clean).  Don't overcook and dry out!

How easy is that!!!  Yummy breakfast on the go option!