Banana Bread (GF)

by whatchulove | May 4, 2015 | Recipes |

Gluten Free Banana Bread

Hey there

Things have been a bit quiet on this blog however life has been busy – and yes cooking / baking has still been happening – it never ends 🙂  Two weeks ago, I had just finished our Lifestyle Challenge where I had been following a strictly paleo diet for 8 weeks! It has been interesting with lots and lots of cooking, awesome recipes that I cannot share and a result of 3.5% loss in body fat. More on that in a post sooner than later!

For today, a beautiful banana bread I made last night to have for breakfast/ snack during the week. Banana bread on its own is heavenly however I opted to also add some dark chocolate in there just because! Throw in some coconut milk dark chocolate and the bread is paleo! The result is some delicious chocolate gooey surprise as you indulge in the bread! The batter was soooo delicious and I just knew the bread was going to be awesome!  The original recipe is from Teresa Cutter – The Healthy Chef.

Banana Bread (GF)

Ingredients:

• 3 smashed ripe banana
• 3 free range / organic eggs
• 2 tablespoons raw honey (or organic maple syrup)
•  1/4 cup grassfed butter / coconut oil (the original recipe asks for macadamia/olive oil)
• Half teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp baking soda ( bicarb soda) + 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 200 g ( 2 cups/ 7 oz) ) almond meal
• 25 g (1/4 cup / 3/4 oz) ground flaxseed (linseed) (or chia seed)
• Handful of chopped dark chocolate

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 160 C.

2. Combine smashed banana, honey, oil, cinnamon, vanilla, eggs, bicarb and lemon juice, by hand in a large bowl.

3. Add the almond meal, flaxseed and chocolate pieces and mix well.

4. Lightly oil one loaf tin and then coat liberally with extra almond meal or desiccated coconut – this will prevent the cake from sticking. I used a silicon mould so needed none of the above!

5. Spoon batter into the tin and bake 1 hour ( a skewer inserted into the centre should come out dry).

6. Cover the top with foil if over-browning.

7. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before turning out the loaf.

* Made from almond meal, expect the bread to be dense and moist. It is best had  the next day (if you can wait!) and toasted with some butter! YUM.

Recipe from: https://www.thehealthychef.com/2013/01/gluten-free-banana-bread/

Sweet Potato Tuna Fishcakes (w coconut flour, Paleo & GF)

by whatchulove | Jan 28, 2015 | Recipes |

Healthy Quinoa Cookies (with banana and avocado) GF

by whatchulove | Nov 3, 2014 | Recipes |

Our love story with quinoa continues tonight with those cute little cookies. One look at the ingredients and I was sold. The grilled quinoa gave these cookie the crunch you want whilst the banana and avocado gave them that moist inside. These will be great for mid-afternoon snacks, or mid morning!

Enjoy xx

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Healthy Quinoa Cookies (with banana and avocado) GF

• 1 ripe banana
• ¼ avocado
• 2 tablespoons peanut butter
• 1 cup puffed rice
• 1/2 sunflower seeds
• 2 tablespoons raw unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 tablespoons quinoa flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons honey

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and grease a cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray.
2. In a small mixing bowl, completely mash the banana, avocado and nut butter together, until creamy and smooth.
3. Add the remaining ingredients and mix until fully combined.
4. Spoon the cookie dough on the cookie sheet, and gently flatten with the back of a spoon.
5. Bake 15 – 17 minutes, until browned and only slightly tender to the touch. Remove from oven, transfer to a wire rack and cool.
6. Store in a covered container for 2 – 3 days.

Notes:

Sweet Potato Salmon Cakes/ Patties (GF)

by whatchulove | Nov 3, 2014 | Recipes |

Tonight turned out to be a quinoa fest and why not? Quinoa is high in protein, iron and fibre and is gluten free.

For all recipes involving quinoa, even the most unimaginable ones – quinoa milkshakes anyone? – one should subscribe to Simply Quinoa (www.simplyquinoa.com). As I browsed through her website, two recipes caught my eyes. Why? Because they looked so easy and totally delicious. Being a Monday night and after an evening crossfit session, the last thing I want to do is spend a considerable amount of time in the kitchen (though I did as I tried to multitask cooking for the furry babies and also making a fudge for tomorrow’s work do. Eeek.)

Sweet potato salmon cakes/patties sounded divine. I had to make these as I just knew sweet potatoes and salmon were a match made in heaven as they are two of my most favourite foods ever! And heck did they not disappoint. The sweetness of the potatoes combined with the salmon and fresh herbs tasted just amazing! You would be forgiven to forget that there was actually quinoa in these babies! Delish.

Enjoy xx

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup cooked quinoa (I used white quinoa for this recipe but red would add a nice color)
• 1 medium sweet potato, boiled and mashed
• 2 can wild salmon (skinless and boneless if possible)
• 2 large eggs
• 4 leaves of spring onions, chopped
• 1 small bunch of mint, chopped
• 1 small bunch of coriander, chopped
• 2 tablespoons tapioca flour
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Spray oil for cooking

Method

1. Preheat oven at 180 degrees Celsius.

2. Add all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix with a wooden spoon (or your hands!) until everything is combined and a dough has formed.

3. Form the dough into 6 patties or more depending on what size you are going for, place on a plate and set aside.

4. Heat the oil in a 10″ skillet over medium heat. Saute the salmon cakes for 3 – 5 minutes per side, until browned, crispy and heated through.

5. Put in the oven for ten minutes and flip on the other side for another ten minutes.

5. Serve warm.

Adapted from: http://www.simplyquinoa.com/sweet-potato-salmon-cakes/

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting (GF and Nut Free)

by whatchulove | Aug 21, 2014 | Recipes |

It was Paula’s last WOD at the box tonight *sad face* and I made her favorite cake for us all to enjoy after the work out. To cater for everyone’s diet requirements, the cake had to be gluten free and nut free. I was a bit nervous as the cake seemed quite hard unlike your normal fluffy non gf ones. This one turned out to be dense, moist and pretty yummy I must say – all the flavours were there! Of course if you do not have any nut allergies, feel free to add walnuts! I must admit though, that I did not miss the crunchiness of the walnuts like I thought I would. It just was a different version, in a good way. And no carrot cake is complete without cream cheese frosting so I made sure to slap 2 layers of it 🙂

Enjoy x

ps: Good luck Paula, we love you and will miss you muchly at Fibre.

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting (GF and Nut Free)

Ingredients

1 cup brown sugar
½ cup raw honey
1 cup coconut oil
3 eggs
2 cups gluten-free flour (I used Woolworths brand)
1½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
sprinkle of Himalayan salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon nutmeg
½ cup milk
2-3 cups carrots, shredded ( 3 big carrots)

FROSTING
2 packs cream cheese, room temperature (use only one if you are not have a double layer cake)
1 teaspoon butter, room temperature
3 teaspoon raw honey (you can also use icing sugar)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius
2. Grease and flour (with Pamela’s flour) 2 (9-inch) cake pans. Set aside
3. In a large bowl cream together oil, sugars, and eggs. Set aside
4. In a separate bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon
5. Gradually add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, alternating with the milk
6. Mix just until fully combined (careful not to over mix)
7. Fold in shredded carrots
8. Pour batter evenly into prepared pans
9. Bake for 30 minutes until center is set (do not over bake!)

Frosting:
10. Cream together the coconut oil and cream cheese.
12. Add in the honey or icing sugar
13. Mix until silky and creamy.

14. When cakes are cooled, remove them from pan and frost.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Almond Meal (GF and SF)

by whatchulove | Aug 15, 2014 | Recipes |

What a glorious, beautiful and sunny Friday morning in Perth. Since there was some leftover almond meal from Wednesday’s baking, that called for some chocolate cupcakes. Almond meal makes these cupcakes moist with a beautiful crumb. You can add more honey to the recipe if you prefer your cupcakes more on the sweeter side 🙂

They took 5 minutes to make and are delicious and wholesome. I like them warm with a homemade strawberry sauce 🙂

Enjoy xx

Chocolate Cupcakes with Almond Meal (GF)

Ingredients

• 1 ½  cups (150g) almond meal / ground almonds
• ¼ cup (21 g) unsweetened good quality cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon gluten free baking powder
• 2 free range/ organic eggs
• 60 ml (1/4 cup)  macadamia nut oil, light olive oil, or cold pressed coconut oil (I used olive oil)
  
• 60 ml milk (¼ cup) your choice of dairy, almond or soy (I used cow’s milk)
  
• 2 tablespoons honey, maple syrup or rice malt syrup (I used honey)
  

Method

1. Preheat oven to 160 C – fan forced. 180 C no fan.
2. Combine almond meal, cocoa powder and baking powder.
3. Add the eggs, oil, milk and honey then mix well to form a smooth batter.
4. Spoon into 12 small individual cupcake tins.
5. Bake for 25 minutes until puffed and cooked through.