SRC: Life and Kitchen’s Banana Oatmeal Bread & Grilled Peanut Butter Apple Sandwiches

For January’s Secret Recipe Club, I was paired with Lindsay of Life and Kitchen. Lindsay has been a vegetarian since the beginning of 2012, so most of her recipes are meat free! As well as tons of delicious recipes, she includes lots of commentary on her life outside of the kitchen – including her ridiculously cute daughter, Lily, and their adventures with a growing kid.

But speaking of delicious recipes, I literally looked through 20 pages of her blog and was so indecisive about what I should make! Some of the recipes that caught my eye were her: Bacon and Goat Cheese Muffins, Cucumber Hummus Cups, and her Broccoli Salad with Raisins and Sunflower Seeds, (which is a variation of a favourite of ours, but since I’ve already made it, I decided not to make it again.

When I saw Lindsay’s recipe for  Grilled Peanut Butter Apple Sandwiches, I knew what I was going to make: her Banana Oatmeal Bread!  It’s super easy to make, is healthy and is super tasty! I made a few variations – making it gluten and egg free, reducing the sugar and adding more bananas. The only thing I didn’t like about it is that the some of gluten free oats were still uncooked after baking – apparently they take longer than regular, so next time I think I’ll either up the liquid in the loaf or soak the oats for a few minutes before mixing them in.

Gluten Free, Vegan Banana Oatmeal Bread

1/3 c. each brown rice flour, sorghum flour and tapioca starch
1/4 c. millet flour
1/2 tsp. xanthan gum
1/3 c. unpacked brown sugar
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 egg replacers (1 tbsp. powder, 1/4 c. almond milk – make according to the directions on package)
1 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
4 ripe bananas, mashed
1 c. old fashioned GF oats

1. Line a 8 x 4″ loaf pan with parchment paper and preheat your oven to 350F.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.
3. Add in egg replacers, oil and vinegar and mix until combined (mine was a bit dry at the moment as instead of adding the equivalent of another egg, I added another banana).
4. Mix in banana and oatmeal and then scrape into pan.
5. Bake for 45 – 50 minutes or until a few toothpicks inserted into the loaf come out clean.
6. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then let cool on a rack.
7. Enjoy by itself or in a grilled peanut butter apple sandwich!

Grilled Peanut Butter Apple Sandwich

2 slices banana bread
Peanut Butter
Apple Slices
Margarine (or soy-free spread)

1. Butter one side of each piece of banana bread and place butter side down on a board/plate/etc.
2. Spread peanut butter on both sides of the bread and arrange apple slices on one pieces.
3. Assemble your sandwich and cook in a preheated pan for about 5 min a side or until each side is golden brown.
4. Enjoy!

Please check out the rest of Group D’s recipes by clicking the link below!

SRC: Kudos Kitchen by Renee Peanut Butter Banana Bread

For this month’s Secret Recipe Club, I had Renee of Kudo’s Kitchen by Renee. Renee is a super creative person – she is incredibly talented at painting on glass – I am so impressed with everything she does! On top of that, she has tons of tasty looking recipes such as this rainbow chicken salad, bangers and mash and orange creme brulee. Plus, she has Boston Terriers – my kind of gal!

I chose to make her Peanut Butter Banana Loaf. I asked Mr. Bean if he would cry about it –  to which he replied “Only tears of joy”. Secret Recipe Club Choice for the win! As usual, I did adapt it – I reduced the sugar by 1 cup, made it gluten free, used egg replacer instead of the eggs and dairy-free margarine instead of butter. I didn’t have any coconut extract and many honey roasted peanuts have gluten in them, so I added some shredded coconut. Even with all those changes, it still turned out great and was super tasty! It’s a perfect breakfast loaf – not too sweet, has lots of fibre and protein and goes really well with a little margarine and a cup of tea.

Gluten Free Vegan Peanut Butter Banana Bread

2/3 c. brown rice flour
2/3 c. sorghum flour
1/3 c. tapioca starch
1/3 c. potato starch
1 tsp. xathan gum
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking powder
4 bananas, mashed
2 egg replacers (1 tbsp. egg replacer powder + 1/4 c. almond milk)
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 1/2 c. smooth peanut butter at room temperature (I used Kraft unsweetened creamy that I wanted to use up)
1/2 c. dairy free margarine, softened
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
1 – 2 tbsp. almond milk
1/3 c. shredded unsweetened coconut

1. Line a 5 x 9″ pan with parchment paper and preheat oven to 350F.
2. Whisk together flours, xanthan gum, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl. Set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the mashed bananas, egg replacers and brown sugar.
4. Whisk in peanut butter, margarine, vanilla, apple cider vinegar and almond milk.
5. Stir in flour with a wooden spoon. Once combined, stir in coconut.
6. Scrape into pan and smooth top.
7. Bake in oven for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in a few places comes out clean.
8. Remove from pan and parchment paper and allow to cool before slicing.
9. Enjoy!

If you want to make this non vegan, you can substitute the egg replacer with two eggs. If you don’t want to make it gluten free, use 2 c. of wheat flour for the flours & xathan gum and if you’re using eggs, reduce the baking powder to 1/2 tsp. and don’t add the apple cider vinegar.

Renee, it was great to have your blog and have the opportunity to witness all of your creativity! I look forward to trying more of your recipes!

Please check out the rest of Group D’s recipes by clicking the link below!

SRC: Jeanette’s Healthy Living Gluten-Free Pumpkin Spice Banana Bread

For October’s Secret Recipe Club, I was paired with Jeanette of Jeanette’s Healthy Living. Jeanette is a mother of four boys and loves to create healthy, tasty and delicious looking recipes that her kids actually want to eat.  Her youngest son has allergies to gluten and dairy, so all of her recent-er recipes are gluten and dairy free, which made this allergy conscious girl very happy! She has TONS of beautiful food – Soups – I bought Soba noodles to try after looking through her blog, Gluten and Dairy free recipes, including this Pumpkin Coffee Cake and Chocolate Marble Coffee Cake.

After spending at least 6 hours (I am not kidding) looking through her blog and being indecisive, I ended up choosing her Gluten-Free Pumpkin Spice Banana Bread and it did not dissapoint!

I did make a few changes to this loaf. Sometimes I’m a genius and assume something is a certain way based on what I want to see  (Does that ever happen to you?) and this loaf was the same. I read the recipe and was super excited to find a loaf that had both bananas and pumpkin, so I went and bought some pumpkin. Then when I was making the loaf, I re-read the ingredients list and it was “pumpkin spice” not pumpkin. (I had been confused as to why Jeanette said that she had substituted the spice for cinnamon as I assumed that all pumpkin loafs would have Pumpkin-y spices in them, not just cinnamon – way to go for reading things thoroughly.)

Being very stubborn, I decided to add pumpkin to the mix as I went and bought pumpkin specifically for this purpose. So, I added 1/2 c. of pumpkin puree in addition to the bananas. I also added some chopped up dairy-free dark chocolate (from a bar – way better than chips, in my opinion) and reduced the sugar by a couple tablespoons.

In the past, I’ve had issues baking with almond flour and bananas without eggs, so I was quite surprised to find a recipe with that criteria. Since there were other flours in the mix (it’s only half almond flour), it did work better than I expected it to, but I increased the cooking time to 55 minutes and it was still quite soft (I could have cooked it for another 5-10 minutes and it probably would have helped). I had a difficult time cutting the loaf (hence the ragged looking pieces), so to cut up the rest of the loaf, I stuck it in the freezer for an hour and it worked like a charm.

I took this loaf to a Halloween party and everyone loved it (it disappeared very quickly). It’s not too sweet, has a great depth of flavour thanks to the molasses and coconut palm sugar and is super moist and soft. I definitely recommend making this as it’s delicious! I almost didn’t want to take it to the party as it was so good – my waistline thanks me.

Please go and check out all the other recipes from group D by clicking the link below!

Gluten Free Vegan Pumpkin Cinnamon Buns

Last weekend was Canadian Thanksgiving and Mr. Bean and I were fortunate enough to spend it with family. On Sunday we had the turkey dinner with his side of the family, where I made an apple pie pretty similar to this one but in the oven – not the BBQ – with this xanthan gum free crust by Amy of Simply Sugar and Gluten Free.

On Monday, we had dinner with my brother and his wife, where I made these pumpkin cinnamon buns. They turned out quite well, but I forget that since it’s so dry here and my pumpkin puree was quite thick, I need to add more liquid to make them as light and fluffy as possible. The drizzling on of the extra margarine helps make the bottoms of the cinnamon buns super goopy and delicious – totally worth the extra calories!

Needless to say they were delicious and my brother happily took the second pan home.

Gluten Free Vegan Pumpkin Cinnamon Buns

Based on Manifest Vegan’s Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls.

3/4 c. Brown Rice Flour
1 c. Sorghum Flour
1 1/4 c. Tapioca Starch
1/3 c. Sweet Rice Flour
2/3 c. Potato Starch
1 tsp. guar gum
2 tsp. xathan gum
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. kosher salt

3/4 c. rice milk, warmed to 105 – 110F
24g yeast (1 oz)
1 1/3 c. pumpkin puree
3/4 c. sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
6 tbsp. Olive Oil

10 tbsp. vegan margarine, softened & divided (I used Becel)
1/2 c. brown sugar, packed
3 tbsp. cinnamon

1. In the bowl of a mixer, proof the milk and yeast until fluffy, about 10 minutes.
2. Mix in the pumpkin puree, sugar, vanilla and olive oil and mix to combine.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.
4. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the west on low speed until the dough is stick and fairly elastic, scraping down the sides as required.
5. Tape a ~20″ piece of saran wrap to your counter. Dump half the dough onto the wrap, cover with another piece and roll out with a rolling pin until 1/2″ thick and 12″ x 16″ big. Remove top piece of saran.
6. In a small bowl, mix together the cinnamon and sugar.
7. Spread 3 tbsp (or more, if you want) margarine over the rolled out down and sprinkle on half the sugar and cinnamon mixture until the dough is evenly covered, making sure to leave 1/2″ uncovered dough at the end so you can “seal” the rolls.
8. Use the saran wrap to roll up the dough and pat the end of the roll into itself to “seal it”.
9. Using a thin, oiled knife, cut into ~2″ slices and arrange in a greased 9″ cake pan.
10. Repeat with the second half of the dough.
11. Melt the remainder of the margarine and spoon over the buns. Sprinkle with a bit of sugar if desired.
12. Cover both pans and let rise for 1 hr or until the buns have roughly doubled in size & are touching.
13. Bake in a preheated 350F oven for 25 – 30 minutes or until golden brown.
14. Ice if desired.
15. Enjoy!

Have you made any fall themed desserts lately? Do share!

Gluten Free Vegan Zucchini Pumpkin Loaf

After making a paleo pumpkin pie for the Thanksgiving dinner with Mr. Bean’s family (the crust was a variation of Elana’a Coconut Almond Crust from her Almond Flour Cookbook and the filling was from This Primal Life), I needed to make some kind of egg free for the dinner my brother hosted the next day. I didn’t want a pumpkin pie repeat, although if I had I would have made this one with an almond flour crust, and I wanted it to be relatively healthy (given the whole trying not to eat so much sugar thing.) I got thinking: since I love pumpkin loaf and zucchini loaf, why not put them both together? So I did and it was tasty.

Since the loaf is egg free, it takes a lot longer to cook than its egg filled counterpart. It’s also a lot harder to tell whether it is fully cooked our not, but the good thing is with egg replacer made with pureed fruits is that if you over cook it a bit, it is still pretty moist. I slightly under-cooked mine (oops), but I didn’t hear any complaints and it still disappeared very quickly at dinner!

I really liked the flavour – the combination of the spices, pumpkin and zucchini were quite delicious and the raisins added just a little hint of sweetness. Personally, I enjoyed it the most plain, but it also tasted fair good with a bit of margarine or earth balance spread.

Gluten Free Vegan Zucchini Pumpkin Loaf
Adapted from the Joy of Cooking

1/2 c. almond flour
1/2 c. tapioca starch
1/3 c. rice flour
1/3 c. millet flour
1/3 c. sorghum flour
1 tsp. xathan gum
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/8 – 1/4 tsp. cloves
1/8 – 1/4 tsp. allspice
6 tbsp. vegan margarine or butter replacement
1/3 c. sucunat (I grind mine in my magic bullet first so it’s nice and powder-y)
14 oz jar of canned pumpkin
1 egg replacer
1/3 c. agave nectar
2 tbsp. almond milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 small – medium zucchini, grated with excess water squeezed out.
1/2 c. raisins

1. Preheat your oven to 350F. Grease or line a 9×5″ pan with parchment paper.
2. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients.
3. In the bowl of your mixer, cream the fat and sucunat together until fluffy. Add in the pumpkin, egg replacer, agave nectar, almond milk and vanilla extract and beat until combined.
4. Add in the dry ingredients and beat until almost smooth.
5. Mix in the zucchini and raisins on low speed until evenly distributed.
6. Bake in oven for at least one hour (mine took about 1 hr 15 minutes) or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.
7. Remove from oven and let sit in pan for about 5 minutes. Remove from pan and let it cool. You can serve it warm, but it cuts a bit better if it is cooler.
8. Enjoy!

What’s your favourite kind of loaf?

Recipe Submitted to: Gluten Free Wednesdays.