I decided it was time to make Banana bread. My sister is the reigning queen of banana bread and had pretty much ruined all other banana breads for me. Her's is the moistest most delicious banana bread I've ever had. Of course it's full of gluten AND dairy so neither of us can eat it now. I was determined to modify it.
I was reminded of banana bread every time I would eat the Pineapple cake I listed first on this blog. While obviously not the same, something about it was similar enough that I felt confident that this would work as a base. The trickier modification would be buttermilk. I had read online that you could approximate buttermilk by mixing lemon juice in a milk substitute. But I had decided to try it with Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream instead. I knew you could use real sour cream in cakes and things, though I've never done it, so the Tofutti seemed like a good starting point. But the grocery store was out. And I'm not a patient person so rather than wait until another day I changed course.
In the same cold case where the Better Than Sour Cream should have been were the soy yogurts. Some people use plain yogurt instead of sour cream on potatoes and things so it seamed like a reasonable substitute. But they didn't have any plain soy yogurt either. I was wary of using flavored soy yogurt. I went back and forth on it and in the end decided it was worth $1.19 to try even if it failed. Between vanilla and lemon I chose lemon because lemon was something listed way up above as being part of a buttermilk substitute. I know, very scientific reasoning.
By referencing my sister I learned that it takes 2 bananas per loaf of bread. When mashed up that measured right at 1/2 cup. By adding the entire 6 oz. of yogurt it brought it up to my desired 'about 10 oz.' of wet ingredients. It tasted too lemony at this point and I was pretty sure it wasn't going to turn out the way I wanted it to.
I was going to my parents for dinner so I baked it there. It came out so beautiful I was giddy. I carried it around to everyone right out of the oven so they could smell it. It smelled absolutely perfect. We didn't let it cool. We cut right into it. It was amazingly moist and tasted almost identical to the forbidden banana bread we knew and loved. My ever skeptical father even liked it and was amazed that it was wheat and dairy free. I took some to my sisters on the way home. She liked it too. It was a huge hit. I wouldn't change a thing about it. Well except that it seems to disappear rather quickly. Even my son ate it and that definitely says something.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Holy God Banana Bread
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1/4 cup sorghum flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 tsp baking soda
1 egg
2 mashed ripe bananas (about 1/2 cup)
1/4 cup crushed walnuts
6 oz. cup of lemon flavored soy yogurt
Mix dry ingredients and add wet ingredients mixing until completely combined. Pour into greased loaf pan and bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1/4 cup sorghum flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 tsp baking soda
1 egg
2 mashed ripe bananas (about 1/2 cup)
1/4 cup crushed walnuts
6 oz. cup of lemon flavored soy yogurt
Mix dry ingredients and add wet ingredients mixing until completely combined. Pour into greased loaf pan and bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Halloween Cake.
Ok, it's not quite Halloween. I'm practicing. I modified the earlier Pineapple cake for the Holiday by making it a pumpkin cake. It was very very good. We frosted it with Pillsbury Cream Cheese frosting which amazingly doesn't have dairy or gluten in it (how this is possible we don't question). I colored the frosting orange and used a black gel writer to make a Jack O' Lantern face on our pumpkin cake.
My daughter loved it. My son not so much. I think it would be fun to use fruit leather to cut out fall leaves to decorate a similar cake in the future...
If I do it again I am going to try it with less eggs. It tasted a little eggy. I think I will take it down to 2 and see how that tastes.
My daughter loved it. My son not so much. I think it would be fun to use fruit leather to cut out fall leaves to decorate a similar cake in the future...
If I do it again I am going to try it with less eggs. It tasted a little eggy. I think I will take it down to 2 and see how that tastes.
Pumpkin Cake
1 cup Brown Rice Flour
1/2 cup Sorghum Flour
1/2 cup Tapioca Flour
1 1/2 cup Sugar
2 teaspoons Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Xanthan Gum
3 Eggs
15 oz. can of Pumpkin
6 oz. can of crushed Pineapple
1/2 cup Chopped Nuts
*some Pumpkin Pie Spice
Mix dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Add wet ingredients stirring until completely combined. Pour into greased pan or muffin tin and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes or until it pulls away from the sides. Cool and frost if desired.
*Some is an exact measurement. It refers to 'just the right amount'. I think in this case some was about 1 1/2 tablespoons but I could be wrong.
1/2 cup Sorghum Flour
1/2 cup Tapioca Flour
1 1/2 cup Sugar
2 teaspoons Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Xanthan Gum
3 Eggs
15 oz. can of Pumpkin
6 oz. can of crushed Pineapple
1/2 cup Chopped Nuts
*some Pumpkin Pie Spice
Mix dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Add wet ingredients stirring until completely combined. Pour into greased pan or muffin tin and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes or until it pulls away from the sides. Cool and frost if desired.
*Some is an exact measurement. It refers to 'just the right amount'. I think in this case some was about 1 1/2 tablespoons but I could be wrong.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Kat's Pineapple Nut Cake
INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup Brown Rice Flour
- 1/2 cup Tapioca Flour
- 1/2 cup Sorghum Flour
- 1/2 teaspoon Xanthan Gum
- 1 1/2 cup Sugar (or an appropriate amount of sugar substitute)
- 2 teaspoons Baking Soda
- 3 eggs (or 3/4 cup liquid egg substitute)
- 1/2 cup Chopped Nuts
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 20 oz. can of Crushed Pineapple (with the juice)
Mix dry ingredients together. Add eggs, nuts, vanilla, and pineapple. Mix with spoon until all dry ingredients are wet. Pour in greased 9x13 pan and bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until cake starts to pull away from the sides.
This makes an unbelievably moist and wonderful cake. I've also made it as muffins and I think it's even better (because the best part is the 'crust') . I mixed in frozen blueberries (tasty) the last time and next time I plan to incorporate some canned pumpkin. I will post the results.
How it Began
I've always thought that going gluten free and dairy free would be impossible for me. When my sister was diagnosed with a Celiac Disorder several years back I concluded it would be easier for me (if the same sad fate were to befall me) to just eat so much gluten I exploded than to actually stop eating it. I watched my sister as she embarked on this new life style. She found that all of the 'replacement' foods were unbelievable gross and opted instead to just go without. So she lives on mostly chicken, beans, veggies and corn tortillas. Not a bad diet really.
When I chose to make the switch though I was bringing the kids along. In fact I was doing it more for them than for me. I knew that they would balk at chicken, beans veggies and corn tortillas. In fact I anticipated the battle would be waged for about three days before I was waving a white flag and serving up macaroni and cheese.
Immediately preceding going GFCF my daughter was suffering from a terrible bout of gas and diarrhea. School had started and she had decided that the best breakfast was Nouriche yogurt drinks every morning. She actually got to the point where she was throwing up. It may have been a stomach flu. I can't say for sure but I decided then and there. No more dairy. I think this was harder for me than it might be fore other parents. I've always been pretty laid back with my kids. We don't have a lot of restrictions or rules in my house particularly where food is concerned. My daughter had been though the intestinal issues herself though which helped to cement that decision.
She wasn't' much of a milk drinker to begin with and took to the 'fake milks' for cereal just fine. She was also an adventurous eater so she was pretty willing to go along with whatever I would attempt to make dairy free. I figured if I could just get rid of the obvious dairy in her diet she could tolerate the hidden dairy in many things.
Around the same time I had made contact with an old friend who was already gluten and casein free. There are many other things their family doesn't eat and my friend was a very creative cook. Her lifestyle was daunting to me. I went back and forth convincing myself that I too could do something like that or convincing myself there was no way in hell that I could invest that much energy worrying about food.
The turning point was the GFCF Pineapple Nut Cake my friend made and let me sample. It was so unbeliavably good. And I was noticeable uncontested after eating it. I believe it was that cake that convinced me that I could do this.
So where are we now. We have been mostly gluten free and casein free at home for over a months now. I've notice a big change but we still have a ways to go. As I said we are GFCG AT HOME. The kids go to school five days a week where they eat school lunch (because it's free). What this means is that most days involve pizza. Which is decidedly NOT gluten or casein free. I know the logic of this is going to be lost on many but my son's behaviour is inextricably tied to what he eats, so as much as gluten and casein affect his behaviour not eating at all, because mom sent a lunch he hated, would affect him even more seriously. I've been turning a blind eye to school lunches while trying to sort out enough GFCF kid friendly meals to embark on sending cold lunches.
The plan was to start lunches from home after Thanksgiving break. I may have to start sooner though because the kids are begging for cold lunches. I've sorted out the basics: pizza, spaghetti, PB&J, all in all I think I have enough creativity to muster lunches for a week and then repeat. That's pretty much how the school lunches work anyway. There's still the matter of lunchboxes and making sure they get emptied out each day and then packed again. It's all very daunting to me. I'm just not a very organized person. But it's all for the good of my kids right?
When I chose to make the switch though I was bringing the kids along. In fact I was doing it more for them than for me. I knew that they would balk at chicken, beans veggies and corn tortillas. In fact I anticipated the battle would be waged for about three days before I was waving a white flag and serving up macaroni and cheese.
Immediately preceding going GFCF my daughter was suffering from a terrible bout of gas and diarrhea. School had started and she had decided that the best breakfast was Nouriche yogurt drinks every morning. She actually got to the point where she was throwing up. It may have been a stomach flu. I can't say for sure but I decided then and there. No more dairy. I think this was harder for me than it might be fore other parents. I've always been pretty laid back with my kids. We don't have a lot of restrictions or rules in my house particularly where food is concerned. My daughter had been though the intestinal issues herself though which helped to cement that decision.
She wasn't' much of a milk drinker to begin with and took to the 'fake milks' for cereal just fine. She was also an adventurous eater so she was pretty willing to go along with whatever I would attempt to make dairy free. I figured if I could just get rid of the obvious dairy in her diet she could tolerate the hidden dairy in many things.
Around the same time I had made contact with an old friend who was already gluten and casein free. There are many other things their family doesn't eat and my friend was a very creative cook. Her lifestyle was daunting to me. I went back and forth convincing myself that I too could do something like that or convincing myself there was no way in hell that I could invest that much energy worrying about food.
The turning point was the GFCF Pineapple Nut Cake my friend made and let me sample. It was so unbeliavably good. And I was noticeable uncontested after eating it. I believe it was that cake that convinced me that I could do this.
So where are we now. We have been mostly gluten free and casein free at home for over a months now. I've notice a big change but we still have a ways to go. As I said we are GFCG AT HOME. The kids go to school five days a week where they eat school lunch (because it's free). What this means is that most days involve pizza. Which is decidedly NOT gluten or casein free. I know the logic of this is going to be lost on many but my son's behaviour is inextricably tied to what he eats, so as much as gluten and casein affect his behaviour not eating at all, because mom sent a lunch he hated, would affect him even more seriously. I've been turning a blind eye to school lunches while trying to sort out enough GFCF kid friendly meals to embark on sending cold lunches.
The plan was to start lunches from home after Thanksgiving break. I may have to start sooner though because the kids are begging for cold lunches. I've sorted out the basics: pizza, spaghetti, PB&J, all in all I think I have enough creativity to muster lunches for a week and then repeat. That's pretty much how the school lunches work anyway. There's still the matter of lunchboxes and making sure they get emptied out each day and then packed again. It's all very daunting to me. I'm just not a very organized person. But it's all for the good of my kids right?
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