Paleo Banana Bread

Yum.

This weekend I had two things on my agenda: decorate for Christmas and try this recipe for Paleo (and gluten-free) Banana Bread.

I love the idea of baking bread, but since I'm trying to eat Paleo most of the time I don't like to keep massive amounts of delicious smelling carbs in the house. I hate to classify the way I eat as "low carb" because that conjures up images of Atkin's dieters eating hot dogs wrapped in bacon. But when you stop keeping bread and sugary cereal in the kitchen, it's amazing how fast you lose weight. Then when I do really crave bread I'll splurge on really GOOD bread like this.

The recipe is from a British blog, so I'm reposting this without those crazy Brit's measuring units. 

• 3 ripe bananas
• 1.5 cups almond butter
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• handful chopped walnuts/raisins (optional)
• coconut oil

1. Pre-heat oven to 320 degrees.
2. Grease bread tin with coconut oil
3. Mash banana until completely smooth, mix with all other ingredients and stir in walnuts/raisins.
4. Pour into bread tin.
5. Bake for 35 mins.
6. Let cool then transfer onto a cooling rack.

(Recipe from Primal Britain)

Once the banana bread was in the oven, it was time for Christmas music and decorating!

I want to leave this stuff up all year.

Meet my favorite new ornament, Fat Penguin with Glasses.

Centerpiece!

The bread tasted great, but it does have a slightly different consistency. Because I have a massive sweet tooth, I'm thinking I may chop up a dark chocolate bar and mix it in next time. 

Seriously, make this right now.

Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'll be totally honest, cooking has never been my thing. I try, but it seems like every time I turn around something is filling the kitchen with smoke or I've added way too much salt or Project Runway comes on and something's left to burn for 45 minutes.

When it comes to baking, though, I've always been kind of moderately successful. Lately I've been trying to turn that mediocrity into something more. I've also been trying to modify my diet to avoid gluten and eat more natural, healthy ingredients.

So instead of eating half of a roll of pre-made cookie dough and burning the rest, I decided to start from scratch.

I've made this recipe about ten times now, and I have to say.... wow. Over several rounds of trial and error, I've made a few substitutions. Instead of vegan palm oil shortening, I use half coconut oil and half ghee (or regular butter, it just depends on what I have in the kitchen). I also like to get a really good dark chocolate bar and chop that up for the chips.

The almond flour gives the cookies a really great texture, kind of like oatmeal cookies. Oatmeal cookies stuffed full of amazing dark chocolate, that is. If you make these they will probably last about an hour.

P.S. - Elana's Pantry has THE BEST paleo baking recipes. There is a biscuit recipe on there (for me, it's turned out more like a scone) that is equally amazing. 

Healthy Eating FAIL!

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I'm always so optimistic about keeping my New Year's Resolutions... and yet I don't think I've ever actually kept one. Unless you consider mixing massive amounts of fat-free popcorn with M&Ms to be a healthy improvement for 2011. Especially when I end up throwing out half of the popcorn and eating all of the M&Ms.

This year, like every other, I pledged to be more healthy. A few days after Christmas, as I sat in my parent's living room in my gingerbread man pajamas eating pumpkin pie for breakfast and watching Inception for the tenth time, I made a mental list. 2011 is the year to go vegan, workout every day, avoid UV rays, and stop drinking massive amounts of diet soda. "I will never miss a Pilates class again," I vowed to the heavens, as I ripped open another mini Twix (they're so small, they can't be that bad- and besides, it was still December, and resolutions don't go into effect until January 2nd).

A month later, I've had a few minor set backs in regards to my resolutions. First of all, I have to brag about the one that I've kept. As of early February, I am UV ray free. I'm no guidette, but I have been known to, on occasion, visit a tanning bed. The fact is, my natural skin color is so pale that it's nearly transparent, and a few minutes in one of those warm death traps helps me to acquire a "base tan." This year, however, I will not cave! I just have to keep telling myself: The paler I am, the more I look like Anne Hathaway. The tanner I am, the more I look like Snooki.

Despite numerous attempts over the past several years to go vegan or vegetarian, I always end up in the same place: hiding shamefully in a Chick-fil-A parking lot, guiltily thinking about the baby chicks whose mommy was deep fried for my lunch. I'm not creative when it comes to cooking, so my attempts at avoiding meat involve a LOT of Morningstar Farms imitation meat (which are awesome, but probably not sufficient in rounding out a balanced diet). I've forced myself to watch PETA videos and read plenty of vegan propaganda, but apparently my stomach calls the shots over my conscience on this subject.

While I pay a monthly fee to an awesome gym that holds daily classes, some of which I actually enjoy, I could be doing better. The fact is, if I get home from work and Netflix has graciously sent me the next disc of Dexter, spinning is probably going to get bumped to the next evening. That's just laziness, but as the weather warms up and I start thinking about spring clothes, I'll muster up some serious motivation.

I think the key to a successful New Year’s (or February 7^th, or mid-year) Resolution is taking baby steps. Maybe this week I’ll try snacking on fat-free popcorn sans chocolate.