Disappearing Gluten Free Banana Bread Recipe - Family Favorite!

Disappearing Gluten-Free Banana Bread Recipe

This is a recipe that we have had around a long while, one of my kids' favorites.  When we discovered our need to go gluten-free, I had to convert this into a tasty gluten-free version for my kids.  I've always enjoyed playing around with creating recipes and making things from scratch.  This gluten-free banana bread disappears within a day at our house! =D  I hope your family enjoys it as much as mine.

Wet Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar (or 3/4 cup natural honey)
4-6 very ripe bananas, smashed up
3 tablespoons almond milk
2 teaspoons vanilla (gluten free)
2 large eggs (we use omega eggs from our own chickens - YUM!)

Dry Ingredients:
2 cups gluten-free flour mix
2/3 cup flax seed meal
1/2 tablespoon baking soda
1 tablespoon guar gum
1/4 teaspoon salt (I use iodized sea salt)
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar (or honey) together.  Add the almond milk and vanilla, then add in the eggs (careful not to over beat the eggs).

In a separate bowl, combine all the dry ingredients together.  Mix well.

Slowly combine the flour mixture with the mixture in the stand mixer.  Mix well, and then slowly add in the smashed bananas.  Mix well, but careful not to over mix.

Pour batter into a loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 40-60 minutes, or until center is cooked through (test with a toothpick).


ENJOY!

Gluten-Free Flour Mixture that I make up and keep in a container for baking:

6 cups white rice flour
2 cups Potato Starch (NOT potato flour)
1 cup Tapioca Starch

Mix well and store in an air tight container.

Amazing Gluten-Free Cookies (and pretty healthy for a cookie!)

Gluten-Free AMAZING Cookies

I enjoy playing around with baking and creating new and flavorful snacks that are also healthy.  Cookies are a family favorite here at our house, and so I’m always trying to figure out ways to make cookies healthier than the average cookie.   Here’s one that was a hit in my house, even friends who were over said they really liked them.  So here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

3 sticks butter, softened (or room temperature)

1 cup creamy peanut butter (I use the natural kind)

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar, packed

4 eggs (I use large, farm fresh, free range, omega 3 eggs)

2 ½ tablespoons raw honey

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

4 ½ cups featherlight flour mix

1 cup flax seed meal (or ground flax seed)

1 tablespoon baking soda

1 tablespoon gaur gum

1 teaspoon salt

2 - 5 ounce boxes of instant vanilla pudding

1 ½ cups chocolate chips

1 cup peanut butter pieces (I used Reeses pieces)

2 cups crushed dried banana pieces (I used the dehydrated banana slices and put them into a closable plastic bag and had the kids smack them with a wooden spoon to break them up.)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a large bowl combine the featherlight flour, flax seed meal, baking soda, gaur gum, salt and pudding mix, stir well and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer cream the butter, peanut butter and sugars.  With the mixer on a low speed, add in the vanilla extract and honey, mix well.  Then add in the four eggs, one at a time, and mix well but do not over mix.  Then slowly add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture a little at a time until all is mixed thoroughly.  Using a wooden spoon, slowly fold in the banana chips, chocolate chips and peanut butter pieces.  

Drop by spoonful onto greased baking sheets about an inch apart.

Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 13-15 minutes.  Remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks.  Cool and enjoy!

To store left over cookies, place them in an air tight container.  If you plan to store them longer than a few days, place the air tight container in the refrigerator.  


Featherlight Flour Mix that I use:
6 cup white rice flour
6 cups corn starch
6 cups tapioca starch
2/3 cup Potato Flour (NOT Potato Starch)

Store in an air tight container. 

Sweet Potato Soup - Gluten Free

Sweet Potato Soup!

Serves 12-15
Ingredients:

5 large sweet potatoes
2 yellow onions, minced
1/2 cup maple syrup
6 gloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried sage
1 teaspoon iodized sea salt
2 teaspoons parsley
32 ounces chicken stock, or broth
4 cups water
1 cup half-and-half
Crisp cooked bacon crumbled (optional - for topping)
Sour Cream (optional for topping)

Directions:

Place top 9 ingredients (everything except the half-and-half, bacon and sour cream) into a 6 quart slow cooker.  Pour broth and water over all ingredients last, give it a little stir and then cover and cook on low for 8 hours.

Using a potato masher (or hand blender) to mash up the soup until desired consistency.  If you want more chunks or more smooth - your choice! ;)  Then whisk in the half-and-half.  Top with sour cream and crumbled bacon if desired.

Enjoy!

BBQ Chicken w/a tangy twist

BBQ Chicken with a tangy twist

Ingerdients:

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
4 bonless skinless chicken thighs
3/4 cup ketchup
1/2 cup orange juice
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon dried parsley
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce (make sure it's GF)
2 teaspoons granulated garlic

Prepared rice (I put 4 cups of rice in the rice cooker with 7 cups of water)

Instructions:

Place chicken pieces in 6 quart slow cooker.  In a bowl combine all other ingredients, whisk together and pour over chicken.  Cover and set to high for 5-6 hours, or low for 8-10 hours.

Serve chicken over rice.

Enjoy!

Sloppy Joes for dinner!

My kids really like sloppy joes, and it seems that by the time 3:00pm rolls around, I just usually don't have much energy left for dinner.  So here is a tasty slow cooker recipe that you can toss in and it will be ready by dinner time!

Gluten-Free Sloppy Joes

Ingredients:

30 ounces tomato sauce
15 ounces diced tomatoes
6 ounces tomato paste
2 pounds ground meat (turkey, beef, pork - it doesn't matter)
1 green bell pepper, diced
2 medium onions, diced
3 ribs of celery, chopped
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon granulated garlic
1 teaspoon turmeric
Burger Bun (about 1 per person, 2 for the bigger eaters, we usually use 9 buns)
Sliced Cheese (optional, we like many different cheeses, and the type of cheese will vary each time we serve this meal)

The meat mixture will serve about 16 sloppy joes, depending on how much meat you like in your bread.

Instructions:

In a large skillet over medium heat brown ground meat, add in onions, celery and bell pepper.  Continue to cook about 10 minutes, or until veggies are soft.  Add into slow cooker.

Add all ingredients into 6 quart slow cooker, stir everything together, cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.  Serve between split bun (like a hamburger bun, open the bun and put meat inside) and top with cheese if desired.

Enjoy!

Do you need a good bun recipe that is Gluten-Free?   Try this one:

Ingredients:

3 cups gluten-free flour mix (I use a mix of White rice flour, potato starch and tapioca flour)
1/2 cup flax seed meal
1/4 cup sugar
1 rounded tablespoon xanthan gum (or guar gum)
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 rounded tablespoon active dry yeast
2 cups warm water
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
3 large eggs

Instructions:

In the bowl of a stand mixer (using dough hooks) mix first 5 ingredients together.  Pour yeast on top of flour mixture - DO NOT MIX IN.   In a separate bowl combine water, oil, and vinegar, mix well.  Pour water mixture on top of yeast, DO NOT MIX IN, let stand for 5 minutes.   Start the mixer on low speed and mix the liquid w/the flour mixture.  When you have most of the flour mixed in, start adding the eggs, one at a time, and mix on high speed for 5 minutes, scraping sides as needed.

Allow dough to rise in mixing bowl for 25 minutes.

While dough is rising, grease two large cookie sheets.  After dough has risen, using water to keep hands moist so dough will not stick, for dough into bun shapes (you should get 10-12 hamburger size buns) and place them on the greased cookie sheets.  Allow to rise for another 20-25 minutes.

While dough is rising again, preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Bake buns for 35 minutes, or until done (golden brown all around, no longer doughy).

Cheesy Ham and Broccoli Rice

Cheesy Ham and Broccoli Rice for your slow cooker

You will need a Gluten-free cream of ... sauce

A basic cream of soup recipe:

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat, whisk in 2 tablespoons of Featherlight Gluten-free flour mix, and 1/4 teaspoon salt.  Whisk continually over medium heat until slightly brown.  Add 1 cup of warm milk.  This will substitute for 1 can of condensed cream of ... soup.

If you want cream of chicken soup, you will need about 1/2 cup cooked cubed or 1/3 cup shredded chicken breast.  You will also want to dissolve one chicken bullion cube into the warm milk before whisking it into the butter/flour mixture.  Add the chicken last.

If you want cream of mushroom soup, you will need 1/4 cup chopped mushrooms and 1 beef bullion cube dissolved into the milk.  Add mushrooms last.

If you want cream of celery soup, you will need 1/3 cup diced celery and 1 chicken bullion cube.

You will also need a cheese sauce recipe.  I buy the cheese sauce powder mix in the bulk section of my grocery store.  I melt 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat, add 2 cups of milk, whisk until milk is warm (not hot, you don't want to scald your milk) and then add in 1 1/2 cups of powdered cheese sauce mix.

Now for the recipe!

Ingredients:

3 cups cooked cubed ham
20 ounces frozen broccoli
1 recipe of cream of soup base (see above) or one can of cream of mushroom soup
1 recipe of cheese sauce (see above)
1 cup almond milk or cows milk
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 onion, minced
salt and pepper to taste.

Instructions:

Place all ingredients into 6 quart slow cooker, stir, cover and set to low for 4 hours.

1 1/2 cups uncooked rice, put into rice cooker with 2 1/2 cups.  Set to cook.  When rice is done cooking, add into slow cooker, stir well, and set to keep warm until ready to serve.

Beans with Turkey Sausage Chili

This is a quick and easy bean soup recipe.  I like to shop the bulk bins at the grocery store, and so my recipes usually contain dried beans.  If you prefer to purchase canned beans, that's perfectly fine!  You don't have to go through the work of soaking and/or boiling dry beans if you do not want to, or don't have time to.  :)  Canned beans will work just as well.

3 Bean Turkey Chili

Ingredients:

1 pound turkey sausage (your favorite flavor, smoked, spicy, whatever you want to use), cut into thin slices

1 cup dried kidney beans, prepared (soaked/boiled)

1 cup dried black beans, prepared (soaked/boiled)

1 cup great northern beans, prepared (soaked/boiled)

1 - 20 ounce package frozen corn

3 cups salsa

1 green bell pepper, diced

1 chili pepper, diced

1 onion, diced

5 cloves garlic, diced

1/2 tablespoon ground cumin

Instructions:

Prepare dried beans, use over night soak method or boil method.  Drain and rinse well.

Cook sausage if you purchased uncooked.  If you purchased the pre-cooked kind, just slice it up and toss it into the slow cooker.  Another option is to fry up the sausage like a ground meat, and then add into slow cooker.  It just depends on how you prefer your meat. ;) 

Put all ingredients into a 6 quart slow cooker, give it a stir, cover and set to low for 6 hours.

Yep - it's that easy!  Enjoy! :)