Banana Nut Bread – vegan, gluten free

The Banana Nut Bread was a gluten free experiment that turned out to be the best banana bread I’ve ever made, as least this is the claim my husband made after his 1^st bite. I found out about a year ago that I can’t have dairy, wheat or gluten. Since then I started experiment with modifying my favorite recipes and trying different types of flour and combinations.  One thing that I’ve learned in this process is that gluten is what binds breads together. Take away gluten and your flour/breads fall apart. A close friend gave me the key to great breads, flax meal flour binds just like eggs and/or gluten. Don’t tell your kids it’s also healthy for you. I now use flex meal in cookies, breads and anything I bake that dosen’t need to be very light and fluffy i.e. crepes.

Banana Nut Bread

1 cup quinoa flour ( can use 2 cups of flour instead of quinoa, corn and flax flour)

½ cup fine ground corn flour

½ cup flax meal flour

¾ cup sugar (or ½ cup honey or ½ cup agave can use less if desired)

1 tablespoon baking power

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

¼ cup butter, melted (vegan use imitation butter, I use earth balance buttery spread w/olive oil)

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 ½ cup mashed ripe bananas (about 3 large bananas, very ripe is better)

¼ cup buttermilk (I used ¼ coconut yogurt or could use soya yogurt)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 F

In a large bowl, sift together flours, sugar (sweetener), baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, combine melted butter, walnuts, mashed banana, buttermilk (or yogurt), and vanilla extract. Add to dry ingredients, mixing just until well moistened. Turn into a greased 9 X 5 inch loaf pan. Smooth top. Cover and let stand at room temperature for 1 hour. This will make the bread light and fluffy. Bake for 1 hour. Let stand in pan for 10 – 15 minutes to cool before slicing.

Vegetarian, most dishes can be made vegan, without onions or garlic,  gluten free friendly.

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http://source-sf.com/

***** Five Star – If you find yourself in the city (San Francisco, CA) or you live there the “Source” restaurant is a must. My husband Tom can find good food anywhere in the world as he has demonstrated many times since I met him in 1994. He’s very picky about his coffee and his food and I find that if he likes the food everyone will love it. He’s also very good at finding the best dish on the menu as I always like what he orders. So for rating restaurants I’m going to give them a 1 – 5 star Tom rating.

Tom ordered the Borek a thin crispy pastry stuffed w/garbanzo Beans, swiss chard,  mushrooms, onions, olive tapenade, and goat cheese served over ajvar roasted vegetable puree. Served with brown rice. We both tried it and both of us give it five stars. Cost 14.95 – This dish was a bit high priced but we would still recommend.

Dosas – Squash the Funghi

I feasted on a dosas – Squash the funghi, spicy butternut squash, mixed mushrooms and baby spinach. Cost $9.95 + $2.00 for side of salad. Tom give it 4 1/2 stars and I give it 5 stars. Cost 9.95 and an extra 2.00 was add for a side of salad. I felt this was a fair price for both the dosas and the salad.

Magic Mushroom Pie – Brick Oven Pizza

We didn’t order a pizza but I’m sure next time it will be top of our list. There was a table next to us that had 6 people that shared a number of items, the Mushroom Pie was one, they also ordered a Taco Pie. I asked them how they liked both and I could tell it’s a must try for our next trip.

The Magic Mushroom Pie is made with assorted mushrooms, fresh mozzarella, goat cheese, plum tomato source and truffle oil. Cost 13.95

The Taco Pie has spiced moo, aged cheddar, fresh mozzarella, black bean puree, pico de gallo, guacamole, romaine w/living nacho cheese.

Jun Elixirs

Their Jun Elixirs drinks are a great NON-Alcohol beverage that uses Jun, which is a live fermentedtea beverage made with purified water, raw honey, Chinese green tea and a live natural enzyme culture, mixed with a power tonic then infused with energetic love. Unlike anything you have ever had. Cost 7.00, expensive but worth trying at least once.

Twinkees

What’s for dessert – Could it be Vegan Twinkees

Do you miss the comfort foods of your youth, well this is about as close as you’re going to get. Vegan Twinkees. They taste very much like the Twinkies you grew up with. Not sure how they made the cake so spongy, maybe I’ll ask next time and see if I can replicate in my own baking adventures. These Twinkees are vanilla crème filled sponge cake. Cost 3.95.

Vegan Spinach and Mushroom Crepes

This is a great dish to serve if your family comes to dinner and they aren’t vegan or a veggie.

Entrée Spinach and Mushroom Crepe filling

1 large package (12 oz) frozen spinach or fresh spinach of same amount

2 cups sliced brown mushrooms (substitute shitake or white mushrooms if desired)

3 tablespoons butter or olive oil

¼ cup whole wheat flour or quinoa flour

¼ teaspoon black pepper

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 ½ cups milk (substitute hemp or soya milk)

1 ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese or cheese substitute

Salt to taste

10 Entrée crepes (see below)

Thaw frozen spinach and drain well, squeezing out excess liquid and set aside. Heat butter of olive oil in a large saucepan over low heat. Add flour and stir and mix for about 1 minute or until bubbly, gradually stir in milk or milk substitute, stir in pepper and nutmeg. Continue cooking over low heat, stirring constantly until sauce thickens and bubbles. Add spinach and 1 cup of the cheese. Stir until cheese is melted. Add salt to taste and remove from heat. Set aside 1 cup of the spinach/mushroom mixture for topping on your crepe. Place the remaining spinach/mushroom mixture into the center of the 10 Entrée crepes. You can either fold it in half or roll them (if you use the quinoa flour you might want to fold as they are delicate). Thin the remaining spinach/mushroom mixture by adding desired amount of milk. Spoon reserved mixture over top of rolled/folded crepe and place desired amount of cheese. Optional, can bake at 350 until cheese melts if desired.

Entrée Crepe Batter

1 ¾ cups milk (vegan: 1 cup hemp milk, ¾ coconut milk)

1 tablespoon melted butter (vegan: olive oil)

¼ cup mashed firm tofu, drained well

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (or quinoa flour)

1/3 cup nutritional yeast

½ teaspoon baking power

½ teaspoon salt

Process milk, melted butter or olive oil and tofu together in a blender until smooth.

Add flour, nutritional yeast, baking powder and salt.

Blend thoroughly and refrigerate batter for 1 hour, can do over night, assists with keeping a uniform texture

Cooking instructions

Preheat a nonstick 6 – 8 inch skillet over medium heat until a drop of water sizzles on the surface. Add ½ teaspoon of olive oil or butter to skillet for each crepe. When olive oil is hot or butter is melted but not browned, pour approximately 3 tablespoons of batter into the center of skillet and immediately tilt and swirl skillet so the batter spreads out, thinly covering the bottom. Cook for 1 minute. When the top appears cooked (slightly dry) and the edges begin to curl, flip crepe over with a spatula and lightly brown the other side

Crepes may be served stacked, rolled or folded. If crepes are to be filled, place the filling on the less attractive side so that when the crepes are rolled or folded the more attractive side will show. When crepes are to be used immediately, stack them as they are made and keep covered with plastic wrap so they do not dry out. If crepes are to be frozen with wax-paper between each crepe. Place in a plastic bag, seal and freeze. To use, thaw at room temperature before removing wax-paper.

Blog with other veggie recipes

http://www.sosvegetarianlife.com/

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