Banana Bread

After being stuck in bed with a nasty cold I really wanted something warm, sweet and tasty to perk up my spirits. What better then to have some banana bread straight out of the oven with cinnamon and ginger?! As per usual there is no wheat or dairy in this.


Ingredients:

250g muscavado sugar
2 eggs
4 soft bananas (the softer they are, the sweeter the bread will be)
320g wheat and gluten free self raising flour
1tsp baking powder
180g soy spread
1tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
Squeeze of honey

Mixture in the cake tin flattened

To Make:
With food processor:

• Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees
• Grease a loaf tin with soy spread, then sprinkle flour over the top
• Put all the ingredients into food processor and blitz till combined
• Pour mixture into the loaf tin and flatten the top
• Pop into the oven for approx 1 hour. You know it is done when you can pop a skewer, or a thin knife, in and it comes out clean
• Take out of the loaf tin and put on a board to cool enough to eat without scalding your self

Fresh from the oven

By Hand:

• Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees
• Grease a loaf tin with soy spread, then sprinkle flour over the top
•  Mash the banana up in a bowl
• Mix all the dry ingredients together
• Combine the dry ingredients and wet till smooth
• Mix in the mashed banana
• Pour into loaf tin and flatten the top
• Pop into the oven for approx 1 hour. You know it is done when you can pop a skewer, or a thin knife, in and it comes out clean
• Take out of the loaf tin and put on a board to cool enough to eat without scalding your self

Cooled and cut

I found this was denser and a bit more crumbly than other banana breads I've had before so next time I'm going to add a bit more self raising flour and some xanthan gum to help it bind together and hopefully to rise some more as well. My best friend was over and had some and said it was delicious so win!

Garlic and Corriander Naan Bread

One thing I've been missing from an Indian feast has been naan bread to dip into curry sauce. The boy also hasn't appreciated that I haven't let him have any breads with his either to prevent me getting jealous... To remedy the situation I went on a hunt for ideas to make my own WF and DF naans so no one would miss out.


Ingredients:

400g plain wheat and gluten free flour
3 tsp sugar
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp baking powder
100 ml soy milk
2 tbsp vegetable oil
Garlic and corriander chopped (how much depends on your tastes)

Garlic and Corriander Naan Pre-Cooking

To Make:

• Pre-heat oven to  190 degrees celcius
• Mix everything but the garlic and corriander into a bowl till smooth and combined
• Put some vegetable oil onto the bottom of a baking tray
• Break up the dough into either 2 or three equal sized lumps
• Flatten the dough out with your hands till it is about half a centimeter thick (I put mine into tear drop shapes, you can do what ever shape takes your fancy)
• Push the chopped garlic and corriander into the top of the naan breads then put a bit of oil over the top
• Cook till slightly browning on the edges (mine took just over 5 mins)

They did't go as dark as wheaty naan's, and were a bit crisper as well. The boy says he likes them more than normal naans, and I relly enjoyed them so I'm taking this as a success! Next time I'm going to try with a mix of self raising wheat and gluten free flour and a little bit of soy spread to see if it makes them a bit fluffier. Will let you know how it goes...

Garlic and Corriander Naan Post-Cooking

Taylor's Guacamole

I am a big fan of snacking... Anyone who's spent more than 3 hours with me knows this.

When I found out I couldn't have dairy anymore I was very upset at the loss of tzatziki so went on a hunt for a replacement. After eating my body weight in hummus I got a wee bit sick of it so went on the hunt for something else and rediscovered my love of guacamole. Most shop bought ones have sour cream or some form of dairy in them so I decided to make my own batch. Sadly I was missing one of the ingredients so the one I have photos of is missing the corriander - but still tasted delicious, but even better with it!

Ingredients:

2-3 avacados (soft ones for squishing!)
Chilli (how many depends on how hot you like it)
1-2 cloves garlic
Fresh corriander (this batch was missing as my local supermarket had run out! Tastes much better with some. You could use dried corriander but I find it doesn't taste the same)
1 lemon
1 lime
1 tomato
Some pepper (any colour/colours)
1 small onion (I prefer red)
Salt and pepper (I prefer sea salt and course black pepper)
Optional:
You can add in other spices to your taste such as paprika, or general mexican spice mixes
If you want to make it creamier you can also add in some dairy free cream cheese

How To Make:
With food processor/blitzer:

• Put the avacado, chilli, garlic, squeeze of lime and lemon and some zest and blitz till all combined and smooth (also add in any extra spices that take your fancy)
• Chop up the rest of the veg and the corriander into tiny pieces and mix in along with the dairy free cream cheese if you decide to add some in
• Season to taste
• Eat with corn chips, rice cakes, ryvitas, etc...

By hand:

• Smash up the avacado till smooth
• Finely shop the garlic, chilli, corriander, tomato and peppers and mix into the avacado
• Add in squeeze of lime, lemon and zest plus season to taste then mix it all in (add in any extra spices you like and dairy free cream cheese here if you want them)
• Eat with corn chips, rice cakes, ryvitas, etc...

The lemon and lime will stop the avacado going brown so put any leftovers into a container/mug/bowl to enjoy later if you don't scoff it all in one sitting.

Apple Flapjacks

At the request of a friend on a Facebook post - I decided to have a go at making some flapjacks. Sadly - my baking cupboard was a little bare and I could not be bothered to brave the rainy and miserable outside world so relied on bits and pieces hanging around the baking cupboard. They are still wheat free and dairy free, but the oats were not gluten free.

Ingredients:

1 cup pure
1 cup mixture of brown sugar and granulated sugar (should have been caster, but I was all out)
1/2 cup golden syrup
3 apples grated (I used some sweet red ones for the market. Next time I would use quite tart apples as the sugar and syrup makes the flapjacks so sweet anyway)
5 1/2 cups rolled oats
Sprinkle of cinnamon 

To Make:

• Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees celcius
• Line a rectangular baking tray with greaseproof paper
• Melt the butter, sugar and syrup in a pan on low heat
• Once the mixture is melted add the grated apple and cinnamon then cook till the apple is soft and coated in the mixture
• Put the oats in a mixing bowl and pour in the apple mixture then mix till all combined
• Put the combined mixture into the lined baking tray and flatten it out as much as you can
• Put into the oven till the top is a lightly golden colour (mine took about 25minutes)
• Remove from the oven and put onto a board to cool
• Once cooled cut into squares or rectangles and get eating!

Flapjack straight out of the oven cooling

Flapjacks cut up and ready to eat

My flatmates, and my friends flatmates enjoyed these - but I don't think the taste of the apple was strong enough. Next time I'm going to add an extra 1-2 apples and have tart ones instead of sweet ones, and also use caster sugar not brown and granulated. I may experiment and mix the golden syrup with honey as well.... But that is just getting picky...

I would count these as a success as there is virtually nothing left but crumbs, but not as successful as I would like. With more apple and some slight adjustments I think they will be even better!

Vanilla and Blueberry Pound Cake

A good friend of mine recently went into hospital with DBT. Whilst I was in hospital last year with appendicitis I found out just how dire hospital food is so decided to bake her something nice to eat so she wouldn't fade away to nothing. She is also a fellow wheat and dairy free person so it couldn't have either in, plus it would need to be something that didn't require a fridge or freezer and would still be good for a few days. After some contemplation, and a lot of digging around recipe sites, I decided on a Vanilla Pound Cake.

The basis of the recipe was from Joy Of Baking and then altered to remove all of the nasties (wheat and dairy - there are no other nasties in there!)

Ingredients:

3 large eggs - straight out of the fridge (none of this room temperature malarky - I'm a busy girl!)

3 tablespoons Alpro Soy light soy milk - also straight from the fridge

2  teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups (150 grams) Doves wheat and gluten free flour

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Tiny pinch salt

3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated white sugar

13 tablespoons Pure soy spread - from the fridge too

Squeeze of Lyle's golden syrup

1/2 punnet of blueberries

How To Make:

• Pre-heat oven to 180degrees (fan forced and Celcius)
• Rub Pure soy spread over your chosen cake tin (I used a loaf tin, but you could also use a small square cake tin or a ring)
• Luckily my flat recently got a food processor so I literally put everything into it (except the blueberries) and whizzed till everything was combined. If you don't have a food processor or electric beaters - sift all the dry ingredients together then combine in the wet ones. 
• Once the mix is smooth and lump free mix in the blueberries softly - you don't want to squash them
• Pour into your desired cake tin and put it in the oven
• Mine took 55mins to cook through - depending on your oven and cake tin yours may vary so use a skewer or a really thin knife if you don't have one and insert into the middle. If it comes out clean - your cake is done!

My friend loved her cake, and her mum even asked me for the recipe so I'm taking this one as a success.

Sadly though I forgot to take a photo - but it looked very similar to the below:

Enjoy baking!