Gluten-Free One Bowl Banana Bread

When I make breads and muffins I try to decrease the sweetener as much as possible. As far as sugar level goes, I've found that in some (not all) recipes you can significantly decrease the amount with minimal sacrifice, particularly recipes that are also sweetened with fruits like bananas, dates and prunes. But if you'd like to make a "special occasion" banana bread, you might increase the coconut sugar from 1/2 cup to 2/3 cup. Conversely, and particularly if you’re using raisins as one of your add-ins, you could even go as low as 1/3 cup coconut sugar.

This bread always goes fast at our house. It is especially welcome in the afternoon with a cup of tea or decaf coffee.

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Gluten-Free One Bowl Banana Bread
Adapted from the One Bowl Banana Bread on 101cookbooks.com

Note: The coconut milk here is from a can, not the milk substitute beverage that comes in cartons. If you don't have a can on hand, the original recipe says you can sub in yogurt or sour cream - I haven't tried either but trust that they work.

2 large eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 large bananas)
1/2 cup coconut sugar (see text above)
1/3 cup melted coconut oil, plus more for oiling the loaf pan
1/4 cup full-fat coconut milk (from a can, see note)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
60 grams teff flour
60 grams brown rice flour (I use sprouted)
65 grams sorghum flour (I use sprouted)
80 grams arrowroot OR tapioca starch (also called flour)
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt

Optional Add-Ins:
1/3 cup dark chocolate chips / chunks or 
1/4 cup raisins plus 1/4 cup chopped walnuts or
1/4 cup raisins plus 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and use coconut oil to grease your loaf pan.

Break the eggs into a large bowl and blend well. Add the mashed banana, coconut sugar, coconut oil, coconut milk and vanilla extract and mix well. Add the flours and arrowroot powder and mix again. Then sprinkle the baking soda and sea salt over the top of the batter and quickly mix one more time just until combined. Add the chocolate chips / raisins / walnuts if using, briefly stir once more and turn the batter out into your prepared loaf pan.

Bake until done about 50-60 minutes, when the top is golden brown and a knife inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean, or mostly clean. Exactly how long this will take depends on your oven and what kind of loaf pan you're baking in. I use a cast iron pan (which requires a longer bake time) and bake this bread for 58 minutes.

Turn out onto a cooling rack after the bread has been out of the oven for a few minutes, let cool, slice and serve.

Curried Cabbage Soup

One of my favorite soups - it's hearty and filling without being heavy. It tastes good the day you make it, but by day 2 or 3, it’s amazing.

I’ve found that kids usually like curry flavoring. Hammie happily eats this soup. Daniel takes a little cajoling, which is normal for him, but in the end he will eat it as well. Teaching a picky eater to have an appreciation for a wide range of healthy foods isn’t for the faint of heart :)

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Curried Cabbage Soup
Adapted from the Cabbage Soup recipe in Super Natural Every Day by Heidi Swanson.

2-3 tablespoons virgin coconut oil
1 medium/large yellow potato, cut into small cubes
1 yellow onion, chopped
4-5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon (7 teaspoons) curry powder
5 1/2 - 6 cups water
15-oz can white beans, chickpeas or pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 medium head of green cabbage, shredded
15-oz can full-fat coconut milk
Sea salt to taste (I usually use about 3 teaspoons)

Heat 2 tablespoons of coconut oil in a large stockpot over medium heat and add the potatoes and a sprinkle of sea salt. Cook, covered, for about 5-6 minutes, stirring several times and scraping the bottom of the pan really well, until the potatoes are browned a bit.

Next add a little more coconut oil if needed and toss in the onion and cook (now uncovered) for several minutes until the onion starts to soften (stirring frequently). Add the garlic, and cook for a couple minutes more (still stirring often), then add the curry powder and stir for another minute.

Pour in 5 1/2 cups of water, add in the beans and bring to a simmer. Toss in the cabbage (it will look like a lot but it cooks down significantly), stir and simmer for another 5-8 more minutes (if the cabbage isn’t totally covered, then pour in a bit more water). Finally pour in the coconut milk and season with sea salt to taste. Depending on how soft you prefer your cabbage, you may choose to simmer the soup for several more minutes at the end.

Enjoy!

Serves 8

Chocolate Port Balls

This is my version of a traditional Czech recipe for rum balls (rumovi kulicky) that my mom made every December when I was growing up. I've made them a little healthier, but both of my parents have declared them just as delicious.

These are vegan because they use coconut oil instead of butter (as in the original recipe). You could easily use either. I also use coconut sugar here instead of refined white sugar and you don’t miss a thing.

This recipe isn't hard to make, but it does involve a 3-step process so read it all the way through before beginning. First you soak the chopped raisins in port for 24 hours (you can let them soak for several days in the refrigerator, which is what I usually do). Then you make the chocolate mixture, but you need to let it sit and harden a bit before rolling them into balls. Usually letting it sit in the fridge for 30 minutes does the trick.

Enjoy!

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Chocolate Port Balls

Notes: For the dark chocolate I use either 70% dark chocolate chips or one and a half Trader Joe's fair trade organic 73% dark chocolate bars (100g each).

Special equipment:
Food processor

150 grams seedless raisins, chopped (such as Thompson)
Port to cover the raisins (about 1 cup)
150 grams walnuts, ground
150 grams dark chocolate
50 grams coconut oil
100 grams coconut sugar
Unsweetened cocoa powder for rolling (you'll need about 1/4 cup)

Place the chopped raisins into a bowl and pour in the port until they are just submerged. Cover the bowl and place it in the fridge for 2-24 hours.

When you're ready to make the chocolate balls, first grind the walnuts in a food processor so that they're finely ground but not yet walnut butter. (Walnut butter will start to form along the bottom edge of the bowl quite quickly if you're not careful.) If you don't have a food processor, you can chop them very finely by hand.

Next set up a double broiler with two saucepans adding about an inch of water to the bigger one and setting it on the stove over low to medium heat (just enough to get it to a very low simmer). Add the dark chocolate and coconut oil to the smaller saucepan, place it inside the bigger one, and stir until the chocolate and coconut oil are melted and smooth. Turn off the heat, remove the top pan (the one with the chocolate and oil mixture), dry off the bottom and place it on the counter (using a hot pad if needed).

Quickly strain the raisins the discard the port. I use a fine mesh strainer for this and give it a quick shake or two, but I let the raisins stay quite moist with port (this will make you very popular with family and friends).

Add the raisins, ground walnuts and coconut sugar to the chocolate mixture and stir well. It'll be too runny to form into balls at this point, so let it sit on the countertop or in the fridge long enough to solidify a bit, but still be pliable enough to roll. If the mixture gets to hard, just leave it out somewhere to soften again.

When you have a rollable consistency, set up a large plate with cocoa powder (I don't measure it out I just pour some onto the plate and pour more as I go if needed) and a glass bowl for storage. Scoop out some of the chocolate mixture (I use about one tablespoon full, although you can certainly go bigger or smaller), quickly use your hands to roll the mixture into a ball, roll in cocoa powder to coat, and place into the glass bowl. Work like this until you're through the entire chocolate mixture. Your hands will be a chocolate mess by the time you're through.

We store these in the freezer and take one or two out and let sit at room temperature for 10-20 minutes before eating. I like to have one with a cup of tea, my husband likes a small bit of port. Either way, they don't disappoint :)