Happy 2013!!!!

I can't believe how quickly the holiday season flew by this year! I took nearly two weeks off of work to enjoy the holidays, and now that it's 2013, I'm ready to embrace new resolutions (seriously this year...). I'll get to those later. But first, I wanted to take a minute to reflect on 2012 with some of my favorite pictures from this year!

Beautiful New Orleans in January!

Life-changing beignets at Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans.

Cherry blossoms are kind of a big deal here in DC.

Tulips!

Dumbarton Oaks or Downton Abbey? 

Just your average backyard pond surrounded by sparkles.

Go Nats!

Visiting Santa Monica in May, one of the best trips ever!

Hanging out on Rodeo Drive, no big.

Beach week with my huge extended family is always a highlight of my year.

Kayaking like a pro. Not really, but I managed to avoid tipping over.

I love, love, love this city.

Amazing brunch at Founding Farmers.

September included a trip to NC for an ECU game!

But really, the game was just an excuse to get together with awesome friends who live too far away.

2012 was also the year I discovered Ray's Hell Burger. I ate this entire meal, walked home, and took a four hour nap.

Something I must do again this year: apple-picking in rural Maryland.

2012 was the year I started experimenting with gluten-free baking. These cookies are the best!

My super-creepy White Swan halloween costume. It's ok, because I was perfect.

New York for my birthday!

And my absolute favorite picture from 2012, taken just a few minutes after getting engaged.

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.