Tropical Bread

T2-


Tropical Bread

   As you can see the bread was already half-way gone by the time we remembered to take any pictures!


After a long week of classes, research, essays, homework, meetings, studying, etc. --- We needed a break. BAD. 


Ideally, in my mind , this break would have involved a trip to the tropics...

• Sitting on the beach
• Drinking Fruity Smoothies w/ little umbrellas
• Reading novels (ahem...NOT textbooks)
• Lots of coconuts. And Bananas. And Berries. Okay...lots of food in general.

Unfortunately, we have neither the time nor the money to travel to Tahiti or Hawaii right now. So, we decided to bring the tropics to us! 


We recently bought some coconut flour at Whole Foods...


We had several rather brown bananas sitting in our fruit bowl...


We had some new 9 x 5 bread pans....




Coconut flour + Bananas + Bread Pans = Tropical Bread of course!

             Oh yes. Those yellow chunks are indeed pineapple pieces!


Recipe:(Adapted from Fat Free Vegan's Blueberry-Banana Bread)

• 3 brown bananas
• 2 Tbsp of Coconut Butter
• 1/2 Cup Pineapple pieces
• 1/3 Cup Unsweetened Soymilk
• Few drops liquid sweetener (Vanilla) + other vanilla flavoring as desired
• 1 Cup Coconut Flour
• 1 Cup Spelt Flour
• 1 + 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Peel and slice bananas and place in a microwave-safe dish. Melt in the microwave and then mash to a creamy texture (chunks are fine... in fact they make the bread even more delicious in my opinion). Stir in coconut butter.
3. Add pineapple pieces, soymilk, and vanilla flavoring(s) to a microwave-safe mug. Heat for 45 seconds then let sit for two minutes. 
4. While heating/cooling is happening, mix coconut flour, spelt flour, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.
5. Add the soymilk mixture to the mashed/melted bananas and stir until the mixture is homogenous.
6. Add the banana/soymilk mixture to the bowl containing the dry ingredients. Mix well. Mixture should be able to be worked by hand.
7. Press mixture into a greased 9 x 5 bread pan. 
8. Bake for 50 minutes (or until inserted knife comes out clean).
9. Let cool, Eat and Enjoy! *

*Note : If you can wait for the bread to cool, bravo. I can't. I thought the bread was AMAZING warm though...especially topped w/ vanilla bean coconut ice cream! 

Emily (or T3) especially enjoyed the bread...

               Yes -- I think she agrees the bread was amazing.


Pure deliciousness. True Story. 


Now back to life. If only everyday could be Saturday...

Peaches and Cream!

T3-

In middle school, my friend's favorite pseudo swear was "Peaches and Cream!" With peach season upon us, I couldn't help but have some fun and celebrate old memories with...

PIE!

I've never made a pie crust before, and I admit, this crust didn't turn out super flaky. Still, the sweet of the peach, the creamy of the banana cream, and the savory of the crust all work so well together.

As always, the recipe is refined sugar-free and oil-free, and it tastes good!

I may or may not have ended up eating the entire thing, by myself, in a day ;)

Recipe

Pie Crust
½ cup whole wheat flour
¼ cup coconut butter
2 ½ tbsp water

Chill ingredients after measuring. Mix together roughly and add the water until just holds together. Place in pie tin and chill overnight.

Bake at 350 for 12 minutes with pie beans (or rice, since I didn’t have dried beans) and then 7 minutes without. On second thought, I think the whole wheat is heavy enough you probably don't need pie beans. Chill.

Peach Filling
2 peaches
3/4 tsp agar powder

Blend peaches (I didn’t skin them). Heat on stove until boiling. Add agar and mix. Remove from heat

Banana Cream
1 ¼ cup Milk or Milk Alternative (I used almond milk)
1 tsp agar powder

Heat milk in a mug for 45 sec. Add agar and mix. Continue to heat until boiling in 30 sec intervals, with stirring in between.  Refrigerate overnight. Blend milk gel with 2 bananas until creamy.

Take cooked pie crust and add peach slurry. Chill in the fridge until firm. Add banana cream on top and serve with a smile.