Banana Bread Heaven

I made THE MOST amazing Banana Bread I have ever made. Period.

And I've made banana bread following many, many recipes: some good, some awful, some ok, some healthy, some full of fat. But this time, I hit the jackpot. And its gluten free and could easily be dairy free but I have this love affair with butter that I just can't shake.

I stumbled on this delicious recipe while browsing past posts of the Gluten Free Ratio Rally.  A few months ago the item of choice was "quick breads".  This particular recipe originated with Tara  of A Baking Life, who blogs and cooks gluten free. 

I followed her basic recipe (go to her blog to get the full monty) with a few minor changes:

• I used the GF flour I had on hand, not her recipe for pastry flour.  
• I used canola oil instead of coconut oil. One, its what I had on hand, and two, coconut oil is not cheap.
• I didn't have almond flour, but I did have almond meal, so that's what I used. Maybe they are the same thing??? 
• I used Rice Milk, not whole milk.

 I certainly have to give her credit for posting the recipe, and hope you click on the link to go check out her other great recipes.

My version turned out fabulous, as everyone who tasted it will quickly testify. This recipe is going to be my new go-to banana bread...and I've already got requests to bring it to my upcoming event.

 

Happy Baking! ~ Laurie

A few great recipes

I've fallen in love with a new cookbook, Cooking for Isaiah.  The author, Silvana Nardone, is in tight competition with Nigella Lawson as being my favorite kitchen diva ever.  (Sorry, Nigella, I need to learn to cook GF and then I'll come back to my beloved cookbooks of yours.) And because Silvana has put together such an amazing cookbook that is full of diary free and gluten free recipes, I'm fairly certain I can't put the full recipe on my blog: I'm not sure how many people actually read my blog, but I would rather not infringe on someones copyright. 

What I will do is give you critique and quick peak and link you to her blog for the details. If you are dairy free and gluten free as I am you will most certainly want to buy this cookbook!

My first assignment was heading to stores in town to find the best deals and stock up on gluten free (GF) ingredients. Whew! Talk about information overload....it's a GF jungle out there! I found a good selection at Fred Meyers, but expensive! Whole Foods had the best selection & price combination. Trader Joes has the least expensive products, but not the best selection. And surprisingly found a good source at Food For Less. 

But the internet....wow! There are hundreds of blogs abounding with delicious recipes and helpful information on cooking GF.  There are dedicated blogs from moms who cook only GF; blogs from bakers trying new GF recipes to test the market; cooking clubs sharing recipes that are GF and focus on a new item each month (I can't wait to make this Glazed Meyer Lemon Muffin!!!) . I hit the jackpot on the GF quickbread list...will be baking some banana struesel bread as soon as I finish posting.

My first recipe was Silvana's pancake's...banana pancakes with cinnamon goo. My kids loved that I added chocolate chips to her recipe. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo...or more honestly, the kids ate the pancakes before I could grab the camera.  The "goo" was a big hit with my kids and my hubby and I loved the moist pancakes.

Next I made these delicious Berry Corn Muffins:

 

I had fresh marion berries and raspberries from the farmers market. Silvana uses a mixture of flour and cornmeal, but this is no cornbread! My kids liked them. Ate 12 of them in two days.

For dessert I made her Rocky Road Rice Crispy Treats:

Let me just say that there were NONE of these left after I put them out for my family. There was no indication from appearance or taste that these were GF.  They were sooooo good!  Can you tell...

My only complaint with this cookbook is she cooks like the Pioneer Woman...lots of sugar. A lot of sugar.  I'll be working on a way to decrease and adapt these recipes in the future.

For dinner I made Scrambled Eggs and Ham stuffed corn-chive crepe wraps.

My kids said "this was the best dinner ever mom!"  It's definitly different working with GF flours. I'm still working on getting the knack of it. 

Silvana says (ok, its a little weird that I keep calling Silvana by her first name as if we were BFF's, but how else do I refer to her???) these make great on-the-go breakfast wraps, but as I made them last night, I would never let my kids eat these on the go: there would be food droppings all over my car.  They do not hold up well. And the recipe as is barely made enough to satisfy the hunger of me and two children, even though the cookbook says it serves 4-6.  I will make it again and double everything.

Okay, I'm signing off to get that banana bread in the oven.  Happy GF baking!

~~Laurie

On Going Gluten Free

It's obviously been a while since I've posted to this blog.  There are lots of reasons. Lots of excuses.  But now,  I'm back. And hopefully frequent.

Going forward there's a whole new twist on my posts....we've gone Gluten Free.  I'm already Dairy Free and have 1 child who can't take much lactose, now I'm adding Gluten Intolerance to my list and early stage Celiac to the kid list. 

This is my pantry within the past month. Stocked full of healthy, non-transfat, non-processed foods. Full of gluten.

This is the majority of products in my pantry containing gluten

This is my newly cleaned, organized pantry minus gluten

Kinda sparse isn't it?  I'll be searching new GF blogs, new GF cookbooks and trying all sorts of new products and mixes.  I'm somewhat overwhelmed and partly relieved that many of our digestive and health issues are going to  hopefully be successfully changed.

Hang on! Here I go...   
baking & learning,  joyfullytiredmom

Pecan Tarts

Snow outside my window always creates a desire for a cup of tea and something sweet.  And baking. Something to fill the oven with tempting aromas. Like pie. Like when you crave pecan pie during the holidays, but pecan pie is almost always so sickening sweet that you can hardly finish a piece of pie....well, these little morsels are just the perfect bite size treat. They melt in your mouth and satisfy the cravings without the guilt of eating an entire pie... or piece of pie.  

This recipe came from my Aunt Jeri in California and has remained a favorite recipe since she passed on the ingredient list. 

Here's what you'll need for making about 36 Tart Shells :
½ lb butter (yes, thats 2 (two) sticks of real butter!!)
6 ounces cream cheese substitue (I prefer Rice Cream, but its difficult to find)
2 cup flour
½ tsp salt
And for the *** FILLING ***
1 ½ cups brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 cups pecans, chopped

Blend butter and cream cheese substitute until creamy and well blended.

Add flour and salt and mix until flour is just blended. Dough will be very sticky.

Set aside to rest. While you mix the filling.

I've always been  Kitchen Aid kinda gal....until this beautiful item arrived at Christmas:  Cuisinart Food Processor.  The BIG one! Oh yes! My loyalties are quickly changing as I find all sorts of wonderful short cuts in the kitchen with this baby.

Place pecans in a food processor and pulse 3-6 times until chopped almost fine. Or chop them by hand. 

 
How can you not love 4 pulses and taaaaadaaaaa...

Now melt your butter in the microwave. 

What? That brown thing?

Why yes, that is a coffee filter!  Its unbleached and it fits just perfect on top of almost everything that needs to be reheated in the microwave. I keep a box of them in the drawer next to the microwave.

Add egg, brown sugar and melted butter.

Pulse again until all ingredients are well mixed.

You do not need muffin liners, but you will need to make sure to grease your muffin pan if you are not using a DeMarle pan.

I have these nifty kitchen gadets from Pampered Chef and DeMarle that make scooping dough and pressing tarts almost effortless:




I like the lean-manufacturing process of making rolling all the balls, then pressing all the tarts, then filling each shell.  So on to the dough..... Using a Pampered Chef small scoop, make a ball of dough and drop it into mini muffin tins.

Using dough press, or your thumb, press down ball of dough to form a hollow center.


You do not want to see thru the tart shell. If your shell looks like this, then re-roll it and press it again:

This is what you want:

Fill each center pastry shell with 1 teaspon of filling. When finished, go back and add another 1/2 tsp if your shells have room.

Bake at 350 convection for 12-16 minutes.  I bake everything on Convection bake.  I also bake at a high altitude so you will need to watch your baking times for your oven.
 
Bake for 375 standard for 15-20 minutes

Allow tarts to rest in pan for 5 minutes before removing to cooling rack.

Now share the love with your family, or make your kids teachers really happy to see you on Monday morning!