Gluten-Free Banana Nut Bread Recipe

Warm from the oven gluten-free banana nut bread. Just a fad?

Gluten-Free Banana Nut Bread

As Celiac Awareness Month dawns I thought I might celebrate with a banana bread recipe. This is a banana bread so tasty, tender and fragrant, you won't care it is gluten-free. And you might even tempt the naysayers. And the unbelievers.

You know who I'm talking about.

Out there in the cold cruel world, Darling, some folks apparently (still) view our gluten-free lifestyle through a jaded foodie lens, believing, first of all, that gluten-free anything is never going to taste anything but awful, and second, that this whole gluten-free trend (their word not mine) is a fad not worthy of serious consideration and compassion. Apart from the standard (and always brief) lip service that non-afflicted food writers, non-GF bloggers and journalists pay to celiac disease, adhering to the medical treatment that is a gluten-free diet is degraded- for that sexy topical hook- to a "bandwagon". An eating disorder.

A diet by choice.

They dub it a controversy.

As my twelfth year of living gluten-free marches on, I find myself reflecting not upon the decade plus years living gluten-free, but upon the ten long years prior to shunning gluten- the decade it took me (no thanks to the medical profession) to determine that gluten was the culprit behind my early onset autoimmune cataracts, mysterious low ferritin levels, skin rashes, migraines, fat malabsorption and impressive marathon stints in the loo- I feel the slow, sad burn of anger those of us who are dismissed experience.

Two bloggers referenced the gluten-free diet on a social networking site recently, bragging about their "iron stomachs" and their ability to chow down on everything (this implies that those of us unable to ingest gluten merely have "sensitive" digestion). I was reminded of a previous post I wrote in response to a blogger's remark that gluten-free is "too precious".

Ignorance is bliss, indeed.

Here's the thing. It's not a sensitive vs iron stomach issue. It's not an I-can-eat-anything-so-bring-on-the-butter-and-bacon-and-haggis issue. It's not about macho appetite. Or virtue. Or squeamishness.

It's not philosophical.

It's not emotional.

It's not about preciousness.

Or garnering attention.

Or skinny jeans.

It's about a cruel quirk in genetics.

If you won the luck of the draw in the genetic lottery and escaped- by no effort of your own- inheriting HLA-DQ2 or HLA-DQ8, the two genetic haplotypes that predispose you to an autoimmune disease that triggers your body's defense system to attack itself, destroying the nutrient-grabbing lining of your small intestine, be humble. Be thankful. Your body works. You do not have to be vigilant about every crumb that goes into your mouth. In your world gluten does not increase your risk for Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. A bagel is not dangerous. You can eat what you crave when you are hungry. You can wing it when you travel, feeling carefree and adventurous. You can sample new cuisine on a whim- without asking about the ingredients. Food for you is fun. Romantic. Perhaps, even a passion.

Thank your small intestine.

And while you're at it, thank your pancreas, too.

Because those with Type 1 diabetes (another genetic autoimmune disease, one that destroys the insulin-producing islet cells in the pancreas) must also be vigilant about their diet. Along with injecting insulin, Type 1 diabetics must also limit (if not shun) certain foods to protect their health, making careful, low glycemic choices day after day.

But maybe that's a fad, too. Maybe their pancreases are just sensitive. Maybe a diabetic child is merely craving attention, just like her celiac cousin. Maybe a mother learning how to cook a meal with low glucose is coddling her child, too. Maybe all autoimmune diseases are just a silly trend. The Fad Du Jour.

I hear celiacs and diabetics are wicked sexy.

Well, that part may be true.


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Gluten-Free Pumpkin Bread with Walnuts

The new road home, and pumpkin bread recipe.

Pulling Up Roots. Again.

It's been brewing for awhile now- our dissatisfaction with LA and the film business, the slow, dawning realization that living out here is simply not sustainable. Every penny I make goes for rent and bills. The financial pressure is suffocating. And I have no space to paint. Physical space, of course. But also psychic space. The energy of LA is so imposing, so invasive. Someone else's narrative is always intruding. Even if that narrative is only a car alarm. Or a leaf blower.

I can't hear my own voice here.

And so I haven't felt like an artist in a long, long time. I hoped Redondo Beach might be different. But I still didn't have the studio I needed. It was healing to live at the ocean for a year. But again, not sustainable.

My husband and I have been empty-nesters now for seven years or so. Pursuing Steve's mid-life dream of writing screenplays. We've been living like gypsies, in a series of small apartments. But it wasn't always this way. We used to both paint for a living. We used to be homeowners, with a house and a studio, a garden. A family. Steve taught painting for extra income, but we lived off our art. We sold work in galleries, and lived well as artists. I met Steve in a painting workshop. And two and a half years later, he asked me out for coffee.

Art and painting have always been our first bond.

Truth is, these last few years I have missed our "life as artists". I miss having a home, a garden, a private studio. And I told Steve, after visiting New England for our son's wedding last year- I miss New England. I miss the seasons- which connect me to a sense of belonging, connect me to the Earth. I miss New England people.

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Gluten-Free Goddess Zucchini Bread

Delicious gluten-free zucchini bread.

Today's post will be short and sweet. I have no proper words for the complicated stew of thoughts and feelings stirring inside me. My heart breaks for every living soul touched by Aurora, Colorado's horrific tragedy. As we collectively sift through the debris and damage, my hope is that insight, wisdom and peace will prevail.

I am reprising a favorite recipe here on Gluten-Free Goddess. A cinnamon laced tea bread made with garden fresh zucchini.

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Gluten-Free Vanilla Cornbread Recipe

A wedge of vanilla cornbread. Gluten-free yum.

This is not your average weeknight cornbread. You know, the one you toss together from a gluten-free mix to serve with a bowl of white chicken chili as you catch up with Mad Men season four. Nope. This tender cake-like cornbread is a pinch more elegant. A gently sweet treat you might serve at high tea with a gaggle of girlfriends (or low tea, depending upon the company you keep). Picture fresh cut flowers on the table, stemmed glasses filled with dewy fresh berries, a pot of Earl Grey tea or organic chamomile buds steeping beneath a cozy.

This is the sort of cornbread that begs to be served with style. That longs to be gussied up. The kind of cornbread you eat with a fork.

A cornbread that secretly dreams of being cake.

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Gluten-Free Carrot Bread with Chai Spices

Gluten-free carrot bread with raisins and chai spices.

I've got a lovely tender tea bread recipe for you- a gluten-free carrot bread fragrant with chai spices and studded with juicy sweet raisins. Ever since I baked those happy, sunny carrot muffins I've been pondering carrot bread. I wanted to create a new gluten-free bread recipe that featured several whole grains, including (gasp!) brown rice flour. Shocking, I know. Long time readers will confirm I'm not the biggest fan of rice flours. I almost never bake with them. And yet. There I was. Standing in the Whole Foods check out line. Buying a bag of Bob's Red Mill organic brown rice flour. On impulse. Because it just sounded good to me. Wholesome. Nutty.

And friendly to carrots.

Which is important in a gluten-free recipe. The friendliness.

You want all your ingredients to get along. You want your flavors co-mingling in savory-sweet bliss. Supporting one another's strengths. Forgiving each other's weaknesses. No single gluten-free flour is perfect on its own, as you well know. Going solo doesn't work. It needs a supporting cast. It needs to find balance and achieve harmony via relationships. Give and take. That's what it's all about in the crazy game of gluten-free baking.

Kinda like love.

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Gluten-Free Chocolate Gingerbread Recipe

Delicious chocolate gingerbread loaf. Gluten-free yum.

Holiday Gingerbread, Gluten-Free Goddess Style

As the song says, Let it snow / let it snow / let it snow. Icing sugar that is. In a soft, sifted whisper of white. A dusting of tongue-melting sweetness to accent the solstice dark moon taste of a classic ginger spiced chocolate tea bread.

In the deep midwinter, I cheer my fragile spirit by baking. I put on Yo Yo Ma and stir cocoa laced batter with a wooden spoon, imagining my fellow gluten-free bakers- all of you- out there- standing in your humble kitchens, beating strange flours and non-traditional ingredients with an odd blend of dread and hope. Crossing fingers and scooping tea bread, cake and muffin batter, rolling cookie dough between nervous palms, praying to the kitchen gods.

In a mere two days- perilously close to the Winter Solstice- I will celebrate my tenth anniversary of living gluten-free. December 19, 2001 was the day I decided to shun gluten forever. What timing. Right before Christmas. I could have waited until December 26th. Or even the New Year. But I didn't. I couldn't. As soon as I connected the dots- from my plague of symptoms to their instigator gluten- I couldn't wait to begin my new life. If I had eaten my very last buttery croissant, so be it. If I had unknowingly crunched my last iced sugar cookie, so what. I was done.

Few of us have to make such choices.

Millions of Americans can eat pizza and bagels and Fruit Loops till the cows come home. Donuts and Ding Dongs and frozen pie crusts? No problem. Gluten isn't on their radar, never mind in their daily nomenclature. It's a punch line in a TV sit com. Something chefs and foodies either kvetch about or flirt with, eyeing the growing gluten-free awareness trend as a dietary bandwagon. Or maybe an opportunity to garner a little extra revenue. They're mildly interested, but non-committal. Privately? They're amused.


The fad aspect will fade. Eventually. And those of us with certain genes and blunted villi will still be here. Living gluten-free. Baking gluten-free. Day after day. Wrestling with creative ingredients and conjuring kitchen magic for our families, or ourselves, our newly diagnosed best friend.

Keeping the faith, one recipe at a time.

On my tenth gluten-free anniversary I salute YOU- dear reader. The home cook. The intrepid baker. The mother of a celiac child. The loving parent of an ASD angel. The undiagnosed but obviously sensitive to gluten cake maker. The wheat intolerant cupcake lover. The brother, the sister, the Dad, the grandmother looking for a way to include your celiac loved one in on the festivities, welcoming everyone to your table.

This anniversary recipe is for you.

A rich dark gingerbread infused with cocoa.

~GFG

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Gluten-Free Butternut Pecan Scones

Get sconed, Babycakes, with these fab gluten-free scones.

Let's get sconed. Butternut squash style. But let me warn you. I'm having an existential week. The kind of week where gushing about a gluten-free scone recipe just seems kind of silly. The kind of week where irony reigns supreme on her cold and shiny throne.

Yeah, I know. I could shrug it off and stuff it out of sight and soldier on. I could kick it to the back of my closet, behind the pile of ratty sneakers. I could swallow the pill of denial like a good girl and use words like tender and buttery and melt in your mouth scone goodness.

Who would know the difference?

But this morning I'm just not interested.

Fresh from the oven: warm gluten-free scones.

Because it's not the whole of who I am. The whole truth, you see, is messy. It's complicated. And it doesn't always neatly dovetail into a post about butternut squash or gluten-free scones. What I'm feeling is raw. And no doubt undercooked.

And I'm not even sure I understand it.

If I could describe it, I would tell you it is the acrid sensation of slipping backwards in time. Losing ground you worked so hard to get to. To claim as your own. The fragile foothold that doesn't come easy to a questioning, hyper-vigilant child. That elusive, cultivated center of pure confidence.

The belief in I am here.

The right to take up floorspace and wall space.

The right to carve out time for artistic self expression.

To spend money on materials, make mistakes, explore, discover.

Play.

To start over doing something new and unfamiliar.

The right to disappoint someone else.

To confuse them.

To place someone else's needs aside- instead of in front of your own.

So I ask you other Good Girls.

Why is it so dang hard?


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Gluten-Free Bread and Tea Bread Recipes

Gluten-free whole grain bread.

Gluten-Free Breads + Tea Breads

Gluten-free bread is the Holy Grail of a newly diagnosed celiac. After years of experimenting with gluten-free flours (and tossing too many loaves to count into the garbage) I share with you my hard won favorite recipes for gluten-free bread- both savory and sweet.

My favorite flour mix for baking tender gluten-free bread includes sorghum flour, millet flour and potato starch (not potato flour!). See this essential post: Gluten-Free Bread Machine Tips for helpful hints, problem solving, and a lively readers' discussion (in comments) on making your bread machine baking a success. The bread machine I use is a Breadman; lately I use the Super Rapid cycle with a dark crust setting.

Gluten-Free Goddess Multi-grain Sandwich Bread recipe.

 

Our Favorite Gluten-Free Bread Recipes

Delicious Gluten-Free Bread

Easy Baguettes

First Loaf in My Gluten-Free Bread Machine 

Gluten-Free Dinner Rolls

Gluten-Free Irish-Inspired Soda Bread Bun Rolls

Gluten-Free Focaccia w/Garlic, Herbs + Tomato

Gluten-Free Multi-Grain Sandwich Bread

Gluten-Free Pizza Crust + Flatbread

Gluten-Free Ryeless "Rye" Bread

Gluten-Free Sun-Dried Tomato Bread

Gypsy Soda Bread

Olive Bread- whole grain goodness

Pueblo Bread- with green chiles

Savory Scones with Olives and Rosemary

Skillet Cornbread with Green Chiles

Sweet Potato Cornbread

Spotted Dog- Irish Soda Bread with Raisins

Vanilla Cornbread

Whole Grain Gluten-Free Bread

Karina's Zucchini Bread- a readers' favorite

Tea Breads and Treats

Banana Chocolate Chip Bread

Banana Nut Bread

Carrot Bread with Chai Spices

Chocolate Gingerbread

Cinnamon Raisin Scones

Cranberry Bread 

English Muffins

Irish Soda Bread- original

Irish Soda Bread Rolls

Irish Soda Bread Recipe with Millet

Orange Scented Irish Soda Bread

Pumpkin Bread- a big loaf

Pumpkin Chai Bread with Cranberries

Pumpkin Pie Bread 

Pumpkin Scones

Quinoa Breakfast Cake

Spotted Dog Soda Bread

Sweet Potato Cornbread

Zucchini Bread

Zucchini Lime Scones

Karina's gluten-free pizza crust. Add your favorite toppings.

Best Pizza Crust, Flatbread, Wraps

Best Gluten-Free Pizza Crust Recipe

Gluten-Free Pizza Flatbread with Roasted Vegetables

Millet Buckwheat Wraps 

Karina's whole grain olive bread. So good.

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Gluten-Free Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips

Gluten-free banana chocolate chip bread. Yum.

Score one for banana bread lovers. After more than a few banana-induced mishaps (who knew baking egg-free gluten-free casein-free banana breads would prove so harrowing and unappealingly gummy and well, just plain spirit crushing?) Steve and I produced a sweet and tender banana loaf worthy of a mention.

A shout of big thanks goes out to my buddy Clare from Massachusetts (you remember Clare- she generously shared her brownie recipe with me back in the day). Clare posted her banana bread recipe on the Celiac Listserv last week. I veganized Clare's ingredients to make this recipe egg-free and dairy-free. And then, well, I simply had to add chocolate chips. After all, chocolate is goddess food.

And what's a banana without a little chocolate?

Just another naked banana.

And when you have a partner/husband like Steve (who, by the way, as you would expect, has been a champ through my hip healing process- hefting laundry, dusting (yes, that's right, dusting), bringing me mugs of hot apple cider (with a cinnamon stick!) and just plain cooking up a storm on my famished behalf)- who sweetly asks, Would you like me to grill your slice of Banana Chocolate Chip Bread?--- you blush, Dear Reader, and realize (once again) you've married the right man.

The man who knows you like your chocolate dark and melty and warm on your tongue. For breakfast.

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