BANANA BREAD

Ok, second attempt at banana bread. This time.....total success! I used my mom's recipe which is my favorite. The original recipe comes from the book, Nutbread and Nostalgia. I was nervous substituting rice flour for regular flour, but it turned out fine and tastes just like my mom's!

Ingredients:
1 cup softened butter
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
4 cups rice flour (white rice flour)
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
7 medium ripe bananas, mashed

Optional: 1 cup finely chopped pecans, 1 tbsp shredded coconut, 1/2 cup chocolate chips (semi-sweet)

Grease and flour 3 9 x 5 inch loave pans. Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour or until done (might take longer because rice flour takes longer to cook through).

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine flour, baking soda, salt. Gradually add flour mixture alternately with bananas to creamed butter and sugar mixture. If adding optional ingredients, stir in well, until evenly distributed.

p.s. I did not travel to the future to make the banana bread...my camera changed the date.

Namaste Brownies

If you LOVE brownies....these are too good to pass up! I haven't tried making homemade gluten free brownies yet, but these are amazing. I added chocolate chips to make them extra yummy!

Directions:
1 package of Namaste Brownie Mix
eggs
water
milk

Follow directions on package.

Updates....and chicken

Over the weekend I re-introduced wheat (and all its forms) back into my diet. Well I have been sick for the past two days with all the symptoms previously experienced before the elimination began. I am taking wheat (and all its forms) out of my diet atleast for now...re-test later on down the road. However, I also made hummus over the weekend....was and still is yummy!!!!!  Also tonight I made home-made chicken nuggets using brown rice flour....this ingredient has become a new favorite!

Black Beans, Yellow Rice, Chicken, and Brussel Sprouts

Tonight was epic.....I had four pots cooking food and all of my food came out hot and cooked perfectly. The black beans cooked all day (crockpot) and were amazing, the yellow rice (although I prefer the packaged in the yellow wrapper) was really yummy, chicken with smoked chipotle seasonings, and brussel sprouts. I cooked enough food to feed an army...too bad I ate by myself tonight.
Black Beans Recipe:
1 cup dry black beans, soaked overnight and drained
4 cups of water
1 small onion, chopped
1 small carrot, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
1 tsp. cumin

In a 3-quart saucepan, combine beans, water, onion, carrot, garlic, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil over medium heat and simmer, uncovered, about 2 1/2 hours, or until beans are tender and almost all liquid is absorbed. Discard bay leaf. (May be made up to 2 days ahead; reheat before serving).

Yellow Rice Recipe:
2 cups chicken stock
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 tsp. olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. tumeric
1 cup uncooked long-grain brown rice

In a 2-quart saucepan over low heat, sautee onions in oil until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and sautee 1 minute. Stir in tumeric, then rice. Add stock. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer 45 minutes over low heat, or until rice is tender and all liquid is absorbed. Do not Stir. Spoon beans over rice.

Homemade Black Beans and Yellow Rice.....

Recipe to come this evening!!!! I soaked the blackbeans last night and have them doctored up and in the crock pot! I have been craving mexican style food for a while now and I am thrilled that I can enjoy the comforts of real food! Pictures to come later tonight.

Breakfast Rice Pudding

Love rice pudding, then you will Love this recipe....I double this recipe so I have breakfast for the whole work week.
1 cup uncooked short grain brown rice
1 1/4 cups cocunut milk
1 1/4 cups water
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. brown rice syrup or malasses
1 tsp. cinnamon
Chopped almonds or sunflower seeds or other nuts of choice.
Raisins (optional)

Combine water and coconut milk in heavy pot; bring to boil, adding rice and salt. Simmer, covered (do NOT stir) for about 45 minutes or more, until liquid is mostly absorbed and rice is soft. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 15 minutes. stir in brown rice syrup, cinnamon, and raisins and top with with nuts or seeds as desired.  Just reheat desired amount in microwave before eating.

Banana Bread

For those who miss carbs as much as I do, try this recipe!!! I have been eating a gluten, dairy, corn, egg, and sugar free diet for the past two weeks and was beginning to go "nuts" for breads and figured I would try this recipe. Just make sure you use "apple juice conentrate" not appe juice. I made that mistake last weekend and had soup berry muffins....ugh! New learning process with all new ingredients.
1/3 cup walnuts, ground finely in blender
1 3/4 cups brown rice flour
1/2 cup arrowroot
2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cups chopped walnuts
1 1/2 cups ripe mashed bananas
1/4 cup safflower oil or canola oil
6 Tbsp. apple juice concentrate
Egg replacer to equal two eggs (recipe below)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1tsp. lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix finely ground walnuts with flour, arrowroot, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Stir in the chopped walnuts. In a separate bowl, mix together the banana, oil, apple juice, egg replacer, lemon, and vanilla. Add to the flour mixture and stir until just moistened. Do not over mix. Pour into a greased 9"X5" loaf pan and bake for 55-60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and cool on wire rack.

Egg Replacer: equals 1 egg
1/3 cup water
1 Tbsp. ground flaxseed

Place the water and flaxseed together and allow to gel for about 5 minutes. The mixture will bind patties, meat loaves, cookies, and cakes as well as eggs do, but will not leaven like eggs for souffles or sponge cakes. Increase amount accordingly for additional egg replacement.

Nutty Green Rice

Awesome recipe, but I almost lost it when I cooked my rice on a high heat. Thank goodness I caught it in time because now I have tons of yummy rice to eat. I hope you enjoy this as much as I do! FYI: I don't garnish my rice with the cucumber.

1 cup brown basmati rice
2 cups water
1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup almonds
1 bunch of parsley
1 clove garlic
1 1/2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 cucumber, diced (optional)
pepper to taste

Bring water to a boil, add rice and salt, stir and simmer, covered, for 45 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit for another 10 minutes; then removie cover and allow to cool. While the rice is cooking, blend almonds, parsley, garlic, lemon juice, and olice oil in a food processor. When rice is cool, stir with nut mixture and add pepper to taste. Garnish with cucumber if desired.

Sauteed Apples!

Recipe:2 apples, washed
1/2 Tbsp. safflower oil or canola oil
2 tsp. cinnamon
2-3 Tbsp. apple juice
1-3 Tbsp. raisins

Thinly slice apples and sautee in oil until softened. Add cinnamon and apple jucie and simmer, stirring, uncovered for a few minutes. Add raisins and stir until mixed.

First Post (not first dish)

If you are fortunate enough to visit my blog you will see that I am doing a food blog because I love to cook. However, lately I have been cooking without the following ingredients: Gluten, Dairy, Eggs, Corn, and Sugar. At first this was a challenge but now I am getting used to the new way of cooking. I even have a few favorites (recipes and pictures coming soon). Feel free to try out these recipes and know that I only put up recipes that have worked out and taste delicious!