Chocolate Banana Cake

So do you have any over-ripe bananas sitting around?  I did.  
The best thing about over-ripe bananas, is that they make baked good very moist!  I'm not a ripe banana fan for that fact, which forces me to cook, freeze or smoothie them.  But that's o.k. because I love any form of baked banana cake, bread, muffin, cupcake, donut, etc....and so does my family.  
This cake has a fairly light chocolate flavor, as to not overpower the banana taste and is super moist and delicious.  The cake reminds me more of a "snack" type cake.  A cake that would be great at a picnic or in the middle of the day. 
But then honestly, I don't ever see a problem with eating any type of cake in the middle of the day.......but that's just me!  

 gf/vegan


Chocolate Banana Cake:
Oven: 350
Parchment lined brownie pan 12x8


1 Cup  Brown Rice Flour (Millet would work great also)
1/2 Cup  White Rice Flour
(mine is a mixture of 1/2 Sweet White Rice Flour and 1/2 regular White Rice Flour)
1/4 Cup  Potato Starch
1/4 Cup  Tapioca Starch
1 tsp  Xantham Gum
1 tsp  Baking Powder
1/2 tsp  Baking Soda
1/4 tsp  Sea Salt
1/2 Cup  Cocoa Powder
2 Large Ripe Bananas
1/4 Cup  Oil (of choice)
1 tsp  Pure Vanilla Extract
1 1/2 Cup  Organic Brown Sugar (not packed)
1 1/2 Cup  Water (hot)
1/4 Cup  Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a 9x9 brownie pan with parchment paper, set aside.
In large mixing bowl with paddle attachment, add bananas and mix until mashed well.  Add oil, vanilla and brown sugar.  Mix until incorporated on medium low speed.  Next add in all dry ingredients, brown rice flour, white rice flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, xantham gum, baking powder, baking soda, sea salt and cocoa powder.  Before starting the mixer back on, pour the hot water(not boiling) on top and mix on medium speed until well blended, scraping down sides as needed.  Once mixed well, add the chocolate chips and just mix another few seconds to blend those in.  Pour batter into prepared pan and place in oven to cook for 24-27 minutes or until a toothpick comes out dry.  Let cool completely.  Add frosting of choice.  Enjoy!


Now, this is the icing I added to the cooled cake.  But really the cake is great on it's own and it doesn't have a strong flavor, so any of your favorite icing recipes would work great too or even a light glaze!  If I was making it for adults, I would have added a coffee flavor to the icing.....just saying!




Coconut Oil Chocolate Icing:

1/2 Cup  Coconut Oil (melted)
1/4 Cup  Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips
2 Cups  Organic Powdered Sugar
pinch of salt

In medium bowl, add melted coconut oil and chocolate chips.  Whisk until chocolate chips are melted.  Then Add in powdered sugar and pinch of salt.  Whisk together until blended well.  Pour (or spread, this will depend how warm your coconut oil was!) onto cooled cake.  Place in refrigerator for about 20 minutes and the frosting will set up.

*note-  Once the frosting is set up, the icing will be more fudge like if kept at room temperature.  The refrigeration just helps "set it" quicker.  Keeping in mind coconut oil goes to liquid if temperatures are above normal being summer and all!

Also Shared at: Slightly Indulgent Tuesday,Tasteful Tuesday Party,Fat Tuesday,Allergy Free Wednesday,Gluten Free Wednesdays,Waste Not Want Not Wednesday,Well Fed Wednesday,Gluten Free Fridays

*********Happy 4th of July!*********

Happy 4th of July!

Wishing you a day of family, fun and good food!

Flag Cake Recipe:

Lemon cake recipe:  here

Lemon icing recipe: here  (doubled)

Strawberries and blueberries for decoration

Blueberry Cinnamon Rolls

Better late than never!
This recipe was made for my hubby on Fathers Day.  I think the best way to "give" to someone is by taking the time and make something for them.  My gift is food.  And this gift ended up being gooey delicious blueberry cinnamon rolls!  
When remaking a dish to be allergy free, the real challenge is to make a dish that mimics an original.  One that no one could guess doesn't include eggs, milk, wheat, butter etc.  Luckily my work paid off and this recipe turned out as good as it looks!  In my pre-allergy free cooking days, I made quite a few cinnamon rolls.  I still remember how good they were and didn't realize how much I missed having this treat.  However, I never thought to add blueberries as I always stuck to the basic cinnamon and brown sugar version, I think the options are endless.......
This recipe is quite basic and probably are ingredients you have on hand.  Of course, when dealing with a yeast bread, it can be a bit more time consuming waiting for the perfect rise.  But well worth it in the end.  If you don't gobble these up right out of the oven, the rolls stored nicely in a cool dry spot.  

gluten free/vegan/nut free/soy free



Blueberry Cinnamon Rolls:

The basic recipe for these cinnamon rolls comes from my original Cinnamon Roll Bread recipe here.  The only extra ingredient you will need is:

1 1/4 Cups  Blueberries (if blueberries are frozen toss with 1 TB of starch: corn, potato or tapioca)

You will follow the recipe as described, once you get to the instruction of spreading the rolled out dough with butter and sprinkling with the sugar and cinnamon, you then add your blueberries.
Once the blueberries are spread evenly out on the dough, take your scraper and slowly roll over the dough to make the "roll" from one end to the other.  Cut with a sharp knife (I ended up with 9 evenly cut rolls) and place in a parchment lined 8X8 baking pan.  Now you can follow the rest of the instructions from the original recipe for the second oven rise, baking and frosting of the rolls.

Getting ready to roll.......

Some of my blueberries fell out in the "rolling" process, but I just

 ended up adding them to the tops of each roll. 

Before rise...........

Place into a warm oven and let rise for 30 minutes.

After rise.........

Now bake and then frost!

In a sea of glaze.................

Enjoy!

Also shared at:Make Your Own! Monday,Slightly Indulgent Tuesday,Tasteful Tuesday Party,Fat Tuesday,Allergy Free Wednesday,Gluten Free Wednesdays,Well Fed Wednesday,Gluten Free Fridays

Pancakes!

Pancakes....
We like pancakes for breakfast, lunch and especially dinner!  
I think this is the one food that my youngest daughter (who has become quite the picky eater because of her food allergies) has never turned her nose up to through the years.  I always have a batch of the mixture in my fridge ready to go every week.  They can be quite versatile.  Not only by adding different flavors to them like blueberries, lemon, pumpkin or Enjoy Life chocolate chips (her favorite!)  But we also use the batter to make sandwiches when we are out of bread or avoiding yeast.  She loves to make a "cheesy pancake" (as she calls it) and sprinkle Daiya Cheese on top to cook in!  These are pretty sturdy and can stand up in a lunch to-go.  
We are on the side of a thick fluffy pancake as you can see!  Usually they are slathered in Tahini and real Maple Syrup, which is her go-to morning pancake.  
This is a simple recipe and nothing is better than having a premixed batter ready to go in the fridge for a easy breakfast.  



gf/df/soy free/vegan/refined sugar free


Pancakes:

1 Cup  Brown Rice Flour
1/2 Cup  White Rice Flour
1/2 Cup  Potato Starch
1/4 Cup  Corn Starch
1 1/2 tsp.  Xantham gum
1 TB  Baking Powder
1/2 tsp  Sea Salt
1 1/2 TB  Egg Replacer mixed with 1/4 Cup  Rice Milk (or milk of choice)
1/4 Cup  Applesauce
1/8 Cup  Canola Oil (or oil of choice)
1 tsp  Pure Vanilla Extract
1/4 Cup  Sweetener of Choice (Coconut Sugar, Raw Sugar, Brown Sugar, Brown Rice Syrup etc.)
1 3/4- 2 Cups  Rice Milk (or milk of choice)

In large bowl combine egg replacer with the 1/4 cup rice milk, mix well by hand and set aside for a few minutes to let set up and thicken.  Once the "egg" mixture has set up, add applesauce, oil, vanilla, sweetener and rice milk.  Whisk together by hand.  Then add to the bowl the brown rice flour, white rice flour, potato starch, corn starch, xantham gum, baking powder and sea salt.  Stir by hand until completely blended.  The mixture will be quite thick.  
Cook pancakes in a well oiled pan.  Enjoy!

Also shared at:Allergy Free Wednesday,Gluten Free Wednesdays,Waste Not Want Not Wednesday,Well Fed Wednesday, Gluten Free Fridays,Whole Food Fridays

Chicken Nuggets two-ways...

You can never have enough chicken nuggets in our house!  

They are a real treat to make for the kids (and adults) when you are craving something bad.  When my youngest daughter first developed her food allergies this is definitely the one food that separated her from the other kids.  I was determined in the beginning to make or find a recipe that could replace the kind we use to buy.  When it comes to a recipe like this, food allergies are a blessing, since the more "whole ingredients" you use the better it taste!   My chicken nugget recipes are probably the most requested meals I get from my daughters friends.  They have no idea that they are allergy free and really could care less as long as I make them!

  I do have many chicken nugget recipes, but this one is the quickest since it doesn't involve a batter to pre-make.  This particular recipe can be done two ways, one with coconut on the outside and one without the coconut.  We love either one, so it usually just depends if I have the coconut in my pantry or not!  You can make them nugget size or tender size.  These are very quick to make and can be reheated in the oven for leftovers the next day.  

gf/df/soy free/egg free

Chicken Nuggets:

5  Chicken Tender Breast (thawed if frozen) or Nugget size (cut into pieces)

1/4 Cup  Brown Rice Flour

1/4 Cup  Coconut Flour

1/4 Cup  Corn Starch (or Potato Starch)

1/4 tsp.  Xantham Gum

1 tsp.  Baking Powder

1/2 tsp.  Garlic Powder

1/2 tsp.  Sea Salt

1 Cup  Coconut Milk (or Milk of choice)

1 tsp.  Lemon Juice

2 Cups  Coconut (grated) Unsweetened or Sweetened -whichever you prefer

Canola Oil for frying

In one small bowl, add brown rice flour, coconut flour, corn starch, xantham gum, baking powder, garlic powder and sea salt.  Mix together until blended and no lumps, set aside.  In another small bowl, add coconut milk and lemon juice and stir together.  Let sit about 5 minutes to create a "buttermilk".  In one last bowl add grated coconut, set aside.  Dredge chicken nugget into flour mixture to cover completely.  Next dip into "buttermilk" mixture and then dredge into grated coconut, pressing firmly onto chicken.  Set aside on plate and finish the rest.  

In large pan, I use a cast iron skillet, add canola oil so it fills up to about 1/2 inch from bottom.  Heat up over medium heat.  Once oil is heated add coated chicken, two at a time, into pan.  Cook about 3 minutes per side.  Drain onto paper towel.  Repeat until all chicken is done.  Serve hot and enjoy!

*If choosing to not use grated coconut.  After first dredging into flour mixture, then dipping into "buttermilk" repeat process two more time.  You will create a nice coating onto the chicken.  Then cook in heated oil as stated.  

*Note:  If using sweetened coconut, keep in mind the sugar on the coconut will burn quicker than unsweetened, so you may have to adjust your oil heat accordingly.  

Also Shared at:Allergy Free Wednesday,Gluten Free Wednesdays,Waste Not Want Not Wednesday,Well Fed Wednesdays,Gluten Free Fridays,Whole Food Fridays

Cornbread Muffins Three-Ways!

Cornbread Muffins three ways.  I couldn't decide on which one to do, so I tried all three.  The first is your basic Cornbread muffin.  A great go-to with a slightly sweet Cornbread flavor.  The second flavor is Jalapeno Cheddar.  The jalapenos add the perfect amount of heat without being to overpowering and the "cheese" mellows any heat out.  The third flavor is Orange Cranberry. A hint of orange with the tartness of the cranberries.  So good.  And to top each one, I made a bowl of Honey-Butter which went perfect with any of the flavors.   Each one has their own distinct flavor, even though they come from the same basic batter.  

We really loved all three flavors and picking just one would have been a tough choice after tasting all three.  These muffins have a slight sweetness to them because of the maple syrup which goes so well with the Masa flour.  You could certainly use Cornmeal if that is what you have in your cupboard.  If you do, make sure you use less liquid, as Masa flour is a bit "heavier" when used in baking.  

I made these for a family event to go with my Mom's delicious chili, which makes for the perfect food pairing!  You will feel no need to tell anyone they are gluten free, refined sugar free or vegan for that fact!   I piled these on a huge platter with the bowl of Honey-Butter and let everyone pick and choose.


GF/Vegan/Refined sugar free




Cornbread Muffins:
Oven 350 degrees
Muffin tin lined with 12 paper liners

This is the basic Cornbread Muffin recipe.  I added the variations at the end.


1 Cup  Masa Four
1/2 Cup  Brown Rice Flour
1/4 Cup  White Rice Flour
1/4 Cup  Potato Starch
1 tsp  Xantham Gum
1 TB  Baking Powder
1/2 tsp  Sea Salt
1/8 Cup plus 1/4 Cup  Canola Oil
1/8 Cup plus 1/4 Cup  Pure Maple Syrup
1 Cup  Rice Milk (or milk of choice)
1/2 - 1 Cup  Water


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a muffin tin with 12 paper liners, set aside.
In a large mixing bowl with the paddle attachment, add all ingredients, starting with just 1/2 cup of the water.  Mix on low until ingredients are incorporated and if still too thick add in the other 1/2 cup of water.  Mix on medium until well blended, 1-2 minutes.  Drop batter into liners with a large spoon.  Bake at 350 degrees for 17 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when tested.


Add Ins:

Jalapeno-Cheddar:

1/4 Cup  Jalapeno Peppers, chopped  ( I used a jarred kind, but fresh would be even better!)
3/4 Cup  Daiya Shredded Cheddar Cheese (or shredded Cheddar Cheese of choice, substitute or not)

After mixing basic cornbread muffin batter on medium speed, remove mixing bowl and mix in by hand the jalapenos and cheddar.  Drop batter into liners with large spoon.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when tested.

Orange-Cranberry:

1/2 Cup  Orange Juice
1 Cup  Dried Cranberries

Substitute 1/2 cup of the Rice milk listed in the ingredient list for the 1/2 cup of orange juice.  Mix as instructed and then remove mixing bowl and stir in by hand the dried cranberries.  Drop batter into liners with large spoon.  Bake at 350 degrees for 17 minutes.

Honey Butter:

3/4 Cup  Butter Substitute ( I use Earth Balance Soy Free) or Butter of choice

1/4- 1/2 Cup  Honey (to taste)

Mix both ingredients into a bowl until combined.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.  Enjoy!

Recipe also shared at:Slightly Indulgent Tuesday,Waste Not Want Not Wednesday,Allergy Free Wednesday,Gluten Free Wednesdays,Wheat Free Wednesday,Well Fed Wednesday,Gluten Free Fridays

Chocolate Donuts

Chocolate donuts anyone!  
What's better than a freshly made chocolate donut?  How about one made gluten free and vegan!  And the donut itself, is refined sugar free!  These delicious bites are simple to prepare and have a rich chocolate flavor when you pair it with coconut sugar.  I love using coconut sugar in as many recipes as I can when substituting for refined white sugar.  It has a rich maple flavor and doesn't give off a overly sweet taste when baking.  I topped them with a chocolate coconut oil glaze.  One of my favorites, and with the mini-donuts, you can pour extra glaze in the center and it will firm up once refrigerated and become really fudgie!  Those are the ones my youngest always picks out to eat first!  Smart girl.  I ended up topping half with coconut and half without.  The toppings are endless for donuts so pick your favorite and add on!  



Gluten Free/Soy Free/Vegan



Chocolate Donuts:
Oven: 350 degrees
Donut pan(s), large or mini

1/3 Cup  Brown Rice Flour
1/3 Cup  White Rice Flour (I use sweet)
1/4 Cup  Potato Starch
1/4 Cup  Tapioca Starch
1/2 tsp  Xantham Gum
1/4 Cup  Cocoa Powder (unsweetened)
2 tsp  Baking Powder
1/2 Cup  Organic Coconut Sugar
1/4 tsp  Sea Salt
1/2 Cup Rice Milk (unsweetened)
1 tsp  Lemon Juice
1 1/2 tsp  Egg Replacer mixed with 2 TB water
1/2 Cup  Canola Oil (or oil of choice)
1/2 tsp  Pure Vanilla Extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In small bowl mix rice milk and lemon juice together and set aside.  In another small bowl mix your egg replacer and 2 TB of water and set aside to thicken.  In large mixing bowl with paddle attachment, add brown rice flour, white rice flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, xantham gum, cocoa powder, coconut sugar and sea salt.  Mix on low until well combined and coconut sugar lumps are completely broken up.  Next add rice milk mixture, egg replacer mixture, canola oil and vanilla extract.  Mix on low until combined.  Using a pastry bag or heavy zip lock bag, fill with donut batter and squeeze desired amount into donut pan.  This amount of batter will fill two pans of 6 large or 2 pans of 12 minis with 3/4 full of batter in each donut form.  I did one each.  Bake large donuts for 8-10 minutes and mini donuts for 6 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool completely and remove from pan.



Chocolate Glaze:

1/2 Cup  Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips
1 TB  Coconut Oil

Combine the chocolate chips and coconut oil into a microwave safe bowl and microwave 30 seconds.  Stir and keep adding 10 seconds until melted.  Stirring in between each added time.  Drizzle on top of completely cooled donuts.  The glaze will set up, but I always refrigerate mine immediately to quicken the wait time....Enjoy!

A little chocolate and a little coconut!........................how about sprinkles or nuts or dried fruit?!  So many options, just pick your favorite and "top" away!   

Recipe also shared at:Allergy Free Wednesday,Gluten Free Wednesdays,Wheat Free Wednesday,Waste Not Want Not Wednesday,Gluten Free Fridays,Slightly Indulgent Tuesday,Tasteful Tuesday Party,Fat Tuesday,Healing Food Friday