The Best Banana Bread

Finally I have found a delicious banana bread recipe! The amount of times that I have made ones which turn out bland, or mushy or burnt... I had almost given up, when I came across this really simple recipe on the Book of Yum blog. I changed it a little to suit my taste and pantry, and halved the portion to make a small loaf. It makes a wonderful afternoon treat with a dollop of soy yoghurt, although it's moist enough to eat on it's own. Anyway just a short post, I'm having a lovely lazy Saturday but I wanted to quickly share this with you. Have wonderful weekend!

Banana Bread - gluten, dairy and refined sugar free

1 cup rice flour (I use a store bought blend of brown and white rice flour)

1/2 + 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

a good pinch of salt

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/3 cup + 1 tbsp coconut palm sugar

1 egg, beaten

1/2 + 1/4 cup very ripe bananas, mashed (about 3 small bananas)

1/4 cup rapeseed oil

1. Preheat oven 180C/350F. Grease a small-medium loaf pan and set aside.

2. Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl.

3. In a smaller bowl, mix together the remaining wet ingredients. 

4. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture and pour in the wet mixture. Fold in the flour into the wet mixture until well combined. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth the surface.

5. Bake in the oven for about 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Leave to cool on a wire rack and slice.

With love,

Teenie Foodie

Nut and seed treats from Frisky Lemon

Being on a gluten and dairy free diet, it can be tough to find something to eat when you are on the go. Sometimes I can be out the whole day with my mum if we have lots of things to do and I like to take a snack with me in case I get hungry or I can't find something to eat. My snack staples are nakd bars which are made of nuts and dates, all cold pressed into a perfectly sized bar. These are satisfying and great to to take on the go. I recently found a great recipe on the blog 'Frisky Lemon' which is similar to a nakd bar. You basically blend nuts and seeds and smoosh it together with blended dried fruits, delicious! They make a wonderful little treat and when I want a change from my favourite nakd bar, I take one of these wrapped up in some foil. You can use whatever nuts, seeds and dried fruit you want, in fact I changed the original recipe from frisky lemon slightly and added extra spices. And have fun making them when you roll them into little balls!


Nut and seed treats - vegan, gluten, grain, refined sugar and soy free.

1/2 cup dried apricots
1/4 cup almonds
1/4 cup pecans
1/2 cup coconut flakes
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 tbsp ground almonds
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1. Place the dried apricots in a bowl, cover with water and soak until softened. Drain and blend in a food processor or strong blender until you have a sticky paste. Set aside.
2. Place the nuts, seeds and coconut into the food processor/blender and process until they are coarsely ground/finely chopped. Mix in the oil, ground almonds and spices until all ingredients are combined well.
3. Mix the fruit paste into the nut/seed mixture until the ingredients are well combined and you have a big sticky lump. Scoop small lumps of the mixture and roll them into balls.
4. Place balls in the fridge to firm up for at least half an hour. Store in an air-tight container in the fridge.


With love,
Teenie Foodie

Grain free Granola

One of my favourite snacks in the gluten full days were these little bags of cocoa granola with chunks of dried cherry pieces, these were honestly the best snacks and I was sad to give them up. I was suddenly  thinking about granola recently as my mum bought some buckwheat granola. Sadly I'm allergic to buckwheat, and had to give the granola a miss, but I then decided to create my own. This one however is completely grain free and so simple to make. The recipe given below can be altered to your liking; I've used almonds, walnuts, coconut flakes and sunflower, pumpkin and hemp seeds, but you could also use your choice of favourite nuts and seeds such as cashews, pecan, sesame seeds etc. I tried to use as little honey as possible, plus theres no oil as nuts and seeds are already full of good oils. You could also toss some chopped dried fruit at the end, if you like, but I found the granola sweet enough already. Serve this glorious granola with soy yoghurt, almond/soy milk (unsweetened because the honey sweetens the milk) and berries or chopped banana. In fact today for breakfast I tossed it with soy yoghurt that I thinned with almond milk for a lighter consistency, and chopped strawberries. You could even munch on this for a sweet but satisfying snack!

Grain free granola - Vegan, gluten, grain, soy, refined sugar free.

1 cup almonds

1 cup pecans   

(or 2 cups of your choice of nuts)

1/2 cup coconut flakes

1/2 cup pumpkin seeds

1/3 cup sunflower seeds

2 tbsp sesame seeds     

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

2 tbsp runny honey (or maple syrup/ agave nectar)

1. Preheat oven to 180C/350F.

2. Place nuts into a blender/food processor and pulse until finely chopped. You want it to be coarsley ground but still have small pieces of nuts.

3. Place chopped nuts into a large bowl and stir in the coconut, seeds and spices. Stir in the honey and mix until nut/seed mixture is evenly coated in honey and sticking together a little.

4. Spread nut mixture in a thin even layer on a sheet of baking parchment on a baking tray and place in the oven. Bake for about 12 - 15 minutes, stirring once or twice until golden brown all over. Leave cool then transfer to airtight containers.

With love,

Teenie Foodie