Grain-Free Baking -- Banana Bread!

Our friend, Sarah, came for a visit this past weekend. In the last few months, she has made some dietary lifestyle changes. Sarah and I both don't love the word "diet", but her changes do fall in line with the Paleo Diet (no grains, dairy, refined sugar, legumes -- big focus on organic meats/fish/eggs and veggies).

Last week, before she arrived, I did some recipe searching so that she wouldn't have to fall off the wagon...too badly! While I had heard about almond flour, I had never actually cooked with it. All it is, is ground blanched almonds. For dinner on Friday night, I made a taco pie with an almond flour crust. We loaded it up with veggies when it came out of the oven.

Unlike many conventional flours, almond flour is packed with nutrients. It is a great source of protein, good fats, vitamin E and magnesium, among other things. Grains, even gluten-free, can be unknowingly tough on our digestive systems, especially in very young children. I generally try to avoid wheat products. As I've mentioned before, wheat is not only heavily processed which removes most of the nutrients, it is almost always GMO (unless it is organic).

On Saturday, Sarah forwarded me a great banana bread recipe from paleOMG. It turned out to be fantastic; light and very moist. I ended up making French toast with it the next morning as well! I modified the recipe slightly. I used pure maple syrup, which does not fall in line with the Paleo diet (use raw honey instead). Here it is:

Ingredients

• 3 medium (brown) bananas
• 1/2 cup almond butter
• 1 cup of almond flour (although I found that it needed a bit more)
• 2 tbsp. coconut oil (butter or olive oil could be used as well)
• 2 eggs, whisked
• 1 tbsp. pure maple syrup
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract 
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• pinch of salt

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Mash bananas and add almond butter and then add whisked eggs.
• Then add the rest of the ingredients. 
• Grease bread pan and bake for 25-30 minutes. I found that my oven required an extra 8-10 minutes. 

I was thrilled with how this turned out so I gave almond flour blueberry-coconut mini muffins a try this week. The girls devoured them! They actually had to be cut off because they wouldn't stop eating.

I promise that your family won't know that this is grain-free! Almond flour can be purchased at any health food store. It is also easily purchased online.