Gluten Free Banana Bread + How to Make Homemade Oat Flour

Pin It Now!

This blog has moved!!  Please join us over at Sealed With a Whisk!

Long post alert!  We have had quite the exciting dramatic eventful week over here, folks.  Memorial Day weekend brought the unofficial official kickoff to Santa Barbara's fire season - complete with a brand new fire, dubbed the "White Fire":

Around 2:30 Monday afternoon I thought I smelled smoke.  Hubby had said that the neighbors were getting ready to BBQ, so I thought maybe they had tossed some wood into their pit.  A bit later as Chico and I were in the backyard, I noticed the telltale red tinge when I looked around... then looked up and saw a thick, heavy blanket of smoke in the sky.  These images were taken from La Cumbre peak using my iPhone. 

Firefighters here in Santa Barbara work so hard during fire season.  This area is notorious for its many wildfires, and the red, smoky sky is, unfortunately, an all too familiar sight to us locals.  Thankfully, this fire has stayed on the other side of the mountains. Despite strong winds and soaring temps, not a single home has burned and no one has been injured.  Fires in the past (Painted Cave, Tea Fire, Jesusita Fire, Lightning Series Fires) have had devastating, long term effects on California and its residents.  Many of our friends have lost homes over the years, and Hubby's family came extremely close to losing their home during the Painted Cave Fire.  We are very thankful that this one has not come down into town!

Mother Nature couldn't let us get too comfortable once the fire was somewhat controlled... Wednesday as I was about to leave for work, I heard a loud *BANG* as the house lurched and started shaking to the tune of a 4.9 earthquake hitting just 3 miles off of our coast. It was so loud I thought someone/something had crashed into our house!  Dramatic little city, aren't we?  I think I've had enough excitement for one week.

So, anyway, back to the good stuff - food!

You may remember the Flaxseed Nutella Banana Bread recipe that I posted last year.  As delicious as that recipe is, it desperately needed a healthy makeover.  Lately I've been really paying attention to how I feel after I eat certain things; I feel my best when I keep to lean proteins such as fish and chicken.  Sugar gives me an awful headache and a jittery feeling in my gut, so I've been trying my hardest to keep it out of my diet. I allow myself to indulge in moderation, which keeps my sweet tooth satisfied without making me feel like crap.   Win!

This banana bread freezes well, and isn't overly sweet.  Hubby loves it drizzled with local honey.  Feel free to toss in some golden raisins, mini chocolate chips or whatever your heart desires.  At the last minute I decided to top mine with oats mixed with a smidge of brown sugar and cinnamon.  It gives the bread the perfect tiny bit of sweetness.

Gluten Free Banana Bread
| Servings: 1 loaf | Prep: 10 mins. | Bake: 50 Mins |
1/4 c coconut oil, melted
1/2 c plain greek yogurt
1/4 c (scant) agave
1/4 c honey
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
2 c oat flour (see below)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
1 c bananas, overripe, mashed
1/2 c chopped nuts
For the topping
1/4 c oats
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9x5 loaf pan lightly with non-stick spray.  Set aside. {Alternately, you could make this recipe into muffins - bake for about 15-20, or until cake tester comes out clean.)

In a small bowl, mix together the coconut oil, greek yogurt, agave, honey, egg and vanilla and bananas.  Set aside.  In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.  Stir the wet ingredients into flour mixture until thoroughly incorporated.  Gently fold in the chopped nuts and any other additions (dried fruit, choc chips, etc.) and stir until just combined. Pour bread dough into the prepared loaf pan.

In a small bowl, stir together the 1/4 c oats, brown sugar and cinnamon.  Sprinkle over the top of the bread dough.  Bake bread for 45-55 mins., or until a cake tester comes out clean.  Cool completely before slicing and serving.  Or not.  It's really great still warm.

To make the oat flour...

I will not call this a "recipe" because it simply involves one ingredient and one easy step.  "Gluten Free" is everywhere and I personally know several people who are intolerant to gluten, so I wanted to make this recipe accessible to all.  If you have gluten free oats on hand, you can make this oat flour to use in your baking adventures.  Woohoo!

Gluten Free Oat Flour
Makes 2 cups
What you need:
2 cups gluten free oats*
Food processor

Pour the oats into the food processor and pulse until finely ground.  Tada!  Oat flour!

*Not all oats are gluten free.  Trader Joe's carries a large bag of GF oats for $3.99.

This blog has moved!!  Please join us over at Sealed With a Whisk!

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins

Pin It Now!

This blog has moved!!  Please join us over at Sealed With a Whisk!

Originally the idea behind this muffin was to broaden the breakfast horizon.  I'm a sucker for a baked good, and if that baked good happens to have a smidge of chocolate in it, move outta my way.  I'm goin' in.  So it shouldn't surprise anyone that we plowed through these muffins so quickly that they only made it to one breakfast. 

We had a bunch of zucchini on hand from making veggie pizza, so zucchini bread or muffins seemed the natural next step.  No different than using carrots in a cake, right?  Pretty much. 

This recipe makes six muffins, so if you're anything like me you may want to double it so you have plenty on hand for midnight snacks, pinterest surfing snacks, no wait!  I mean...  while dinner is cooking snacks, No really - breakfast.  Yeah, that's it.

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins

|Yields: 6 muffins | Prep time: 5 mins. | Bake time: 20-22 mins.|

3/4 c AP flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 c agave (a bit less if you're adding chocolate chips)

1 egg

1/4 c coconut oil, melted

1 c grated zucchini, extra water squeezed out

1/3 c slivered almonds or walnuts

1/4 c chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly spray a muffin tin with cooking spray, or line with baking cups.  Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.  Set aside.  In a slightly larger bowl, whisk together agave, egg, coconut oil and zucchini.  Stor the dry ingredients into the wet mixture, careful not to over-mix. 

Fold in nuts and chocolate chips until just incorporated.  Fill cups about 2/3 full (I use an ice cream scoop for perfect measuring) and bake 20-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool completely if you have the willpower.
Adapted from taste of home

This blog has moved!!  Please join us over at Sealed With a Whisk!

"Kiss Me I'm Irish" Muffins {Irish Soda Bread Muffins}

Pin It Now! *yawn* G'Mornin'.  I detest daylight savings time, don't you?  I know, I know, we get an hour of extra sunlight at the end of the day blah blah blah, but for the first few days after the "Spring Forward" has sprung forward, I'm a sleepy mess.  I definitely couldn't get through it without a good (read: exhorbitant) amount of coffee.



I'm sure I'll come around and stop being a negative Nelly about it soon enough, but until then I guess you'll have to put up with my excessive coffee drinking and somewhat incoherent rambling. 



Even Chico is feelin' the lost hour :)

So this Saturday is some sort of Irish holiday if I'm not mistaken.  I had to get my butt up off the couch and accomplish a little something this weekend, so in the spirit of all things Irish I whipped up some Irish Soda Bread.  Kinda.  Loaves take longer to bake, so muffins were the way to go here.  I can stay awake for fifteen minutes.  Maybe.

Typically you would find raisins or currents in a traditional loaf of Soda Bread.  I'm not a huge fan of raisins (*gag*) but I do love me some cranberries, so since I'm the boss in my kitchen there will be no raisins in any baked goods.  Only cranberries.

And pistachios.

Mmmm.

I forgot how yummy and buttery pistachios are until I started snacking on taste testing the ingredients for this recipe.

What are your St. Patty's Day plans?  I'm sure you'll find me sleeping in and generally being a couch potato.

Irish Soda Bread Muffins

2 1/4 c AP flour

1/2 c granulated sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 egg

1 c almond milk

1/4 c butter, melted

1/4 c vegetable oil

3/4 c dried cranberries

3/4 c pistachios, unsalted, roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Line a muffin tin with baking cups.  Or spray it with cooking spray if that's what you're into.

In the bowl of a stand mixer (or you can stir it up by hand as well) mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda.  In a separate bowl, stir together the egg, almond milk, melted butter and vegetable oil.  Add the wet mixture into the dry and mix until thoroughly combined, but do not overbeat.  Finally, mix in the dried cranberries and chopped pistachios.

Fill muffin tins about 3/4 full.  Sprinkle the tops with a bit of sugar.  Bake for approx. 15 minutes, or until tops are slightly golden and a tester comes out clean.

Yields 1 dozen muffins.

Recipe adapted from Taste of Home.

Flaxseed Banana Bread with Nutella Surprise

Pin It Now! Happy Valentine's Day to you all!  I know I've been rather absent lately - so sorry.  Are you all still with me?  Hello?  Oh good, you're still there.  We've had loads going on as we are pretty much overhauling our entire apartment.  This week is move-everything-out-and-get-the-carpets-cleaned week.  Joy.

We aren't really into the whole hoopla of Valentine's Day, especially since our anniversary and my birthday are right before, but I do like to whip up a little something for my Valentine just to remind him that I kinda like him.  Since he has to work late tonight, and since we have so much going on this week with the house, we'll make a belated Valentine's dinner later in the week (I promise to post the yummy-ness). 

So, on to today's recipe... I have to make a confession:  I don't eat breakfast.  I KNOW!  Tsk tsk!  I'm so bad.  Either I hit the snooze button one (or four) too many times and have no time to make something, or nothing sounds good.  I'm working on it, I promise.  Today's recipe is a great on-the-go breakfast.  How do I know?  I'm munching on it as we chat. :)

The last banana bread I made was very dense and heavy, which I know some people like.  I much prefer a light crumb, and this recipe definitely delivered.  The addition of ground flaxseeds gives the bread a healthy kick and honestly, you don't even know it's there.  Flaxseeds are loaded with heart healthy Omega-3s (the good fats), lignans (antioxidants) and fiber.  Tiny little seeds with a powerful punch!  I purchase ground flaxseed at Trader Joe's and keep it in the fridge.

And then, there's Nutella.  This is a treat, after all.  After stirring up the banana bread batter I had the brilliant idea to incorporate Nutella - just a little surprise in the center of the bread.  So delish!  If you're a Nutella fan freak like me, you'll be happy you gave this recipe a try. 

Flaxseed & Nutella Banana Bread
1/2 c unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 c sugar
1/4 c brown sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
2 c AP flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 salt
1/4-1/2 c ground flaxseeds
1 c mashed banana (about 2 very ripe bananas)
3 tbsp buttermilk
Nutella

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter and flour a 9x5 loaf pan. 

Cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Add egg and vanilla and beat well.  In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and flaxseeds.  In a separate small bowl, mash the bananas and mix with the buttermilk.  *Note:  I didn't have buttermilk on hand, so I made my own.  3 tbsp milk with a squeeze of lemon juice.  Let stand for several minutes until thick.

Add flour alternately with the banana mixture to the butter/sugar mixture, mixing completely between each addition.  Spread half of the batter in the loaf pan.  Batter is thick, so you have to smoosh it into the corners.  Spoon Nutella down the center of the batter and spread with a spatula over most of the center.

How's THAT for an ugly photo???

Completely cover with the rest of the batter.

Finished product!

Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until tester comes out clean and the top of the loaf is beautfully golden brown.  Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then invert onto a rack to cool completely.  I have no self control and had to cut a slice while it was still hot.  It crumbled, so I had to eat the crumbles too.  Darn.

Adapted from busycooks.com