Grain-Free Banana Scones

Are you looking for something delicious to make on Super Bowl Sunday? Too bad. You will find no such recipe here today.

In the past I’ve pretended to like watching football because that seemed to be the best way to stay in someone’s favor. Then I realized that if someone thinks you like football, they actually expect you to know something about football! Who would have thought?

So needless to say, football is not going to be a featured topic on the blog anytime soon.

But wait! I still come bearing food so don’t leave yet!

Grain-Free Banana Scones

These scones were made because I wanted to photograph something non-circular in shape. No joke. Most of my recipes are round (*cough cough* pancakes *cough cough*), which are a ton of fun to take pictures of… But, sometimes you just want to mix it up and explore other geometric figure possibilities.

That left me with squares, rectangles, or triangles. I guess I could have gone for figures with 5 or 6 sides, but that would just be ridiculous. Who wants to deal with cutting all of those edges?

Better yet, who even cares whether their food is round or triangular? Um, that would be me. 😯

And guess what I just realized?! These are both round (before cutting) AND triangular (after cutting) so they’re twice as good. They’re doing a double team! (Yes, I did have to look up that football reference. Like I said, NO football knowledge here 😉 ).

Oh, and in case you were curious, these triangles are entirely grain-free, sweetened naturally with honey and banana, and have one of the easiest “icings” in the world made from just three ingredients. They do contain eggs, nuts and starch (from baking powder and tapioca), but if you can’t have any (or all) of those ingredients, I have formed one of my longest substitution lists to date. Having limited food choices myself, I hate thinking that someone would have to miss out on these scones  just because of one measly ingredient.

Let’s dive in…

Grain-Free Banana Scones

Grain/Gluten/Wheat-Free, Dairy-Free, Nut/Starch/Sugar-Free Options, Paleo-Friendly, GAPS Option

Makes 8 scones

Grain-Free Banana Scones

Scone ingredients:

  • 2 ripe bananas
  • 1/4 cup honey (or maple syrup)
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 cup almond flour
  • 1/3 cup coconut flour
  • 1/4 cup tapioca flour
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Icing ingredients:

  • 2 tbsp almond butter (I used salted)
  • 2 tbsp softened coconut oil
  • 2 tbsp honey (or maple syrup)

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. To make this quick and easy, add the wet ingredients to a food processor and blend until smooth. Then add the dry ingredients and mix until they are fully incorporated. Another alternative would be to mash the wet ingredients together in a bowl and then add the dry ingredients until completely mixed.
  3. Whatever method you choose, let it sit for a few minutes to let the coconut flour soak up in the dough. It should be thick but still somewhat wet.
  4. Next take the dough and roughly form it into a ball, placing it in the center of the parchment paper (Now, it’s going to be somewhat sticky but it’s all in the name of delicious food, right?!). Wet your hands with water and form the dough into a circle about 8-10 inches in diameter.
  5. Bake for 10 minutes and then score into eight slices (normally you would do this before baking, but the dough is too wet). Put the baking sheet back into the oven again and bake for another 8-12 minutes or until the edges start to turn golden brown.
  6. Remove the scones and let them cool for five minutes. Meanwhile combine all of the icing ingredients and once the scones are cool use a spoon to drizzle. If needed use a knife to further separate the scones and then enjoy!

*Substitution notes:

  • To make these nut-free replace the almond flour/butter with a seed alternative like sunflower or pumpkin.
  • To make these vegan you can use maple syrup instead of the honey, and a flax egg would probably work in place of the egg, although I cannot guarantee the results.
  • If you absolutely cannot get a hold/eat coconut flour, my suggestion would be to replace it with 1 cup of almond flour, and remove one of the bananas (and possibly even the egg- check the batter first for consistency and see how it holds together).
  • To make this sugar-free, replace the honey with 4 tablespoons of date puree or mashed banana, and add stevia to taste if desired.
  • If you cannot handle starch you can replace the tapioca flour with a few additional tablespoons of coconut flour and use 1 teaspoon of baking soda instead of the baking powder (this will result in a less fluffy scone though).

Grain-Free Banana Scones

Just in case you really do desperately need a dish for game day, I do happen to have one very scrumptious gluten-free and dairy-free recipe for Chili, Chips, and Cheeze. If those three words don’t scream sports food I must know even less about the sport than I had previously thought.

My opinion is that you should make up a plate of the Chili, Chips and Cheeze for dinner. Then make these scones and go to town. No one would be the wiser that either are healthy and you could easily sit down to large plates of both not feeling deprived in the slightest. So go, make haste to the grocery store and pick up everything you need to make these two marvelous dishes!

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I’m linking this post up with Jenn at Peas and Crayons today. Make sure to check it out for even more WIAW posts!

P.S. Don’t forget about the giveaway going on now!

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Questions for you:

  • Do you like watching football? Who do you want to win?
  • What is your favorite thing to make on game day?
  • Think back to some of your most recent posts… What is the shape of most of your recipes?

Marvelous/Not So Marvelous… And an Oatmeal Recipe

Marvelous is… the fact that I found an old bag of black licorice cough drops in our medicine cabinet.

Not so marvelous is… the fact that I even NEED cough drops due to “the plague.” 😉

Marvelous is… watching the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with my mom.

Not so marvelous is… now I’m craving pizza.

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Marvelous is… celebrating one of my friend’s birthdays tomorrow.

Not so marvelous is… if I don’t get over this cold/virus/whatever-it-is I won’t be able to go.

Marvelous is… making breakfast on an actual stove every morning for my parents.

Not so marvelous is… Okay, I can’t really find anything wrong with this oatmeal. Ha.

Banana and Maple Pecan Oatmeal

Banana and Maple Pecan Oatmeal

Gluten/Wheat-Free, Vegan, Nut-Free Option (in Notes below)

Makes 1 serving

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup liquid (1/2 cup water + 1/2 cup milk)
  • 1/2 cup quick oatmeal
  • 1 tbsp ground flaxseed (ground chia would work too)
  • 1 tbsp sweetener
  • 1/2 banana
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • dash of salt
  • “Maple pecans”: 3 tbsp pecans, 1 tbsp maple syrup, 1/8 tsp cinnamon, dash of salt
  • optional toppings (I used melted almond butter)

Banana and Maple Pecan Oatmeal

Directions:

  1. Heat liquid on high until boiling. Add oatmeal and flaxseed. Reduce heat to medium and stir occasionally for about 5 minutes or until thickened.
  2. Slice the 1/2 banana on top of the oatmeal. Stir and let sit for a minute until the banana gets soft. Using a fork whip the oatmeal incorporating the banana until smooth. Mix in the cinnamon and salt then pour into a bowl.
  3. In the now empty pan put the pecans, maple syrup, cinnamon and salt. Heat on medium until the syrup begins to boil and thicken. Pour onto the oatmeal and top with optional toppings.

Notes: To make this vegan/dairy-free use a dairy-free milk like almond milk or coconut milk. You could also just use all water for the liquid to make it nut-free but it won’t be as creamy. For the nuts, feel free to omit or replace with a nut-free version like sunflower seeds, pepitas, a diced banana or apple.

Marvelous is… doubling the recipe to make it for two.

Not so marvelous is… not having the right-sized pan and the liquid spilling over causing your stove to smoke. My bad.

Banana and Maple Pecan Oatmeal

Marvelous is… the truckload of Christmas pictures that I have to share with you.

Not so marvelous is… having to upload and edit them all.

So while I get on that, make this oatmeal, pop in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and get to reading some of the other posts that are linking up to Katie’s Marvelous in my Monday.

Hopefully I will be feeling better and able to comment on some of your posts that I’ve missed in the past week or so. Time to return to the land of the living! 😉

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Questions for you:

Which Ninja Turtle is your favorite? I’m partial to the one in red, Raphael. 

According to Nickelodeon’s survey though, I’m DONATELLO!

Like Donatello, you are a brilliant inventor. You may not make all of the Turtles’ gadgets, weapons, and vehicles, like he does, but you’ve got the brains for it! But sometimes you and Donnie are too smart for your own good, like when you’re too busy admiring an enemy’s futuristic laser cannon to run for your lives. But when it comes down to it, it’s other people’s lives that really keep your head in a mission. You fight with your heart, and that makes you a very powerful warrior.

What’s your favorite cough drop flavor? Black licorice obviously.

Have you gotten all of your Christmas photos/recaps up yet? I’m pretty sure I’m the last one…

Spill It #3, Banana Nut Bread, and What to Make With Your Christmas Leftovers

Hello fellow Christmas-lovers! I am just soaking up the amazingness that is Winter break, which so far has just consisted of sleeping, cleaning, and baking. Not terrible.

Paleo Banana Bread

Actually, while I have been baking, this banana bread is not from recently but from this past summer. Somehow I’ve forgotten to post multiple recipes and hopefully I can catch up soon! Still, it’s banana bread and that never goes out of season.

First though we must do Spill It Sunday via Arman 🙂

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Photoshopped Christmas Selfie: 

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What is a traditional/cultural event you and your family/friends celebrate?

Everyone seems to have these super special traditions when it comes to the holidays, but we just really follow the basic customs, at least those here in the United States. For Christmas Eve we always go to one of my church’s many Christmas Eve services. Usually we pick one of the services where they turn off all of the lights and there is a candle lighting, which is my favorite.

On Christmas morning my brother and I get up super early around 5:30 or so and drag my parents out of bed to open presents. Then while my parents recoup with a nap in our living room, we get a chance to check out everything we got.

Around 12:00 we then head over to eat with my mom’s side of the family with the traditional Christmas lunch.

In the past couple of years I guess we actually have started the tradition of watching a movie on Christmas day at the theater. In the past we’ve seen both Sherlock Holmes. I’m not sure if we will do that this year though, as I don’t know if there are going to be any good movies coming out.

Do you have any traditions which you partake in on a consistent basis?/What is something special you and your family/friends do?

These questions reminds me of my recent Statistics exam where I ended up writing too much for the first question which then overlapped my would-be answer for the second. My bad. (See above!)

Most memorable event?

As kids, during trips to see my dad’s side of the family for Thanksgiving, on our way home my brother and I would beg our parents to go see the Christmas light set-up. It had moving parts and was one of the coolest things. It was a great way to start off the Christmas season and being so young I thought it was so magical.

Now we just drive around the rich neighborhoods in the closest town. Not quite as good, but some of the decorations are insane!

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For The Recipe Redux‘s December theme we were supposed to make something that you can enjoy for the New Year.

What will you be serving to get the New Year started with a little luck? Be it black eyed peas and greens, Chinese noodles or even a special family recipe you serve on New Year’s Eve or Day. Please share your good luck dish to start off 2014 in a healthy way.mimm-current-recipe-redux

I chose to remake my Great Grandma Sigler’s famous Banana Nut Bread. Growing up my great grandma was the best baker I knew. She printed a lot of those community cookbooks full of her favorite recipes, and at every family celebration you could be sure to find at least one of her creations.

She passed away a few years ago while I was in high school and I miss her dearly. When I first heard that she was gone I immediately went into the kitchen, knowing that I had to make up a loaf of her famous banana nut bread. It was her most popular recipe and we were never without a frozen loaf in the freezer.

This is my grain-free rendition of her recipe. I didn’t include nuts because I personally prefer my banana nut bread “nut” free. I don’t like that crunchiness that chopped nuts give. Still, I added them as optional because most of my family likes them added. Also, there is no cinnamon in here because my great grandma was allergic and thus never included it in her recipes. If you’d like to add cinnamon, I would go with 1-2 teaspoons. Again though, I prefer it without.

Paleo Banana Bread

Paleo Banana Nut Bread

Grain/Gluten/Wheat-Free, Dairy/Nut-Free Option, Paleo/GAPS-Friendly

Ingredients:

  • 2 large or 3 small ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 cup worth)
  • 1/4-1/2 cup honey
  • 1/4 cup coconut oil or butter, melted
  • 1 cup almond flour (any nut/seed flour will work)
  • 1/3 cup coconut flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 cup of nuts (optional)

Directions:

  1. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper and preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Combine all of the wet ingredients in a large bowl, then add the dry ingredients, mixing well. (Alternatively I put all of the ingredients in a large food processor and had it all mixed smooth within a minute or two).
  3. Pour the bread batter into the lined loaf pan and bake in the oven for approximately 70-80 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove and let cool completely before slicing. **Start checking the bread at 60 minutes your first time to make sure that it doesn’t cook faster than mine. All ovens differ and you should go by look/texture instead of time to see when your bread is done**

Paleo Banana Bread

To check out the other New Years recipes featured in this month’s Recipe Redux round-up, check out them below:

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Aside from a new recipe and Spill It Sunday, you are also going to be getting a belated Christmas Recipes Round-Up post. As I wasn’t able to get anyone to do the leftovers post, the task was left to me. And well… I kind of dropped the ball on that one. So here it is a few days late. I figured it wouldn’t be TOO big of a deal since you won’t be eating leftovers until after Christmas anyways, right? 😉

xmas-day9

So what I did was pick some of the common leftovers that people have after holiday dinners, and then found three unique ways to repurpose them for enjoyment later on. Unlike Day One where I included the dietary labels, for today’s post I did not. The main reason is that while I did link to recipes, they are more just to provide inspiration. Don’t feel limited if a recipe calls for eggs, dairy or gluten and you aren’t able to have those things. For example, with the Pecan Pie Brownies, the recipe linked isn’t really “allergy-free.” So just take the recipe as baseline and substitute with your own favorite pecan pie recipe and brownie batter recipe to fit your needs. If you can’t find any substitutions but want to make one of the recipes below, feel free to ask in the comments and I’ll do my best to help!

Turkey…

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Turkey Sweet Potato Dumplings // Greek Turkey Pita Sandwiches // Carmelized Onion, Cranberry and Kale Saute Wrap

Ham…

mimm-ham-collage

Egg-Free Frittata // Ham and Apple Butter Panini // Baked Beans with Ham

Mashed Potatoes…

mimm-potato-collage

Potato Cakes // Orange Drop Doughnuts // Mashed Potato Cheddar and Chive Waffles

Corn…

mimm-corn-collage

Roasted Corn Chowder // Zucchini Corn Fritters // Black Bean and Quinoa Veggie Burgers

Rolls/Bread…

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Customizable Breakfast Bowls // Homemade Vegan Croutons // Vegan French Toast

Sweet Potato Casserole…

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Sweet Potato Casserole, Brie and Bacon Grilled Cheese // Sweet Potato Pancakes // Coffee Cake

Pie…

mimm-pie-collage

Leftover Pumpkin Pie Milkshake // Pecan Pie Brownies // Pie Breakfast Casserole

Cookies…

mimm-cookie-collage

Pumpkin Gingerbread Cookie Trifle // Cookie Pie Crust // Cookie Butter

Candy Canes…

mimm-candy-collage

Stained Glass Cookies // Candy Cane Popcorn // Body Scrub

Also posting today for the 12 Days of Allergy-Free Christmas Recipes is Cat from Cat Food is Good For You with a bunch of delicious desserts! And click here for the updated list on everyone who has gone so far!

And I’m also linking up today with Katie from Healthy Diva Eats for her Marvelous in my Monday. Because, let’s be real here- there is a whole bunch of deliciousness and marvelous-ness going on in today’s post 😉

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Questions for you:

  • What are your family’s holiday traditions?
  • Is there any recipe that you usually make for New Years?
  • Do you have any popular family recipes to share?
  • What is your favorite way to reuse leftovers?

No Need for A Cup — “Milkshake” Recipe and WIAW

I must say I was aghast at how many of you admitted to disliking superhero movies on Friday’s post. Truly I intended the question to be more rhetorical and expected everyone to agree that superhero movies are wonderful. While I do think that some of you are missing out on what is Chris Hemsworth in metal breastplates and locks of gold, I’m also happy that you feel like you can be honest on here without being judged (I only thought *slightly* less of you Thor-haters 😉 ).

While we speak of being honest I must also admit to forgetting quite a few promised posts. Today is just one check off the list of several that I will be knocking down. Starting Monday I have plans to tackle them full force, one each week. Today though is all about the food. Since I tend to only post recipes for baked goods, you may have started to think that that’s all my family eats. On the contrary those make up just one or two days out of the weekend and during the work week their days are dessert-less (aka. much more lackluster 😉 ). On Friday I showed you a savory recipe involving beef and vegetables that is much closer to what my mom and dad have for supper each night.

Beef and Zucchini Skillet

Another thing that my dad personally consumes multiple times a week is his smoothie. Oh how the man loves his smoothies! When home I (and my mom) are probably asked four times a day if we will make him one. And only about 25% of the time do we say yes.

I posted one of the smoothies on Instagram two weeks ago but I also want to share a version of it on here. While the smoothies that I make do contain fruit and yogurt, they actually are much more “milkshake” like in taste and texture (at least that’s what my dad has led me to believe!)

Peanut Butter and Banana "Milkshake" (Instagram)

The base of the smoothie always includes one or more bananas and some plain organic yogurt. Most often I also add in nut butter and carob powder as well. Here is the recipe that I have been making most recently:

Banana, Nut Butter, Carob "Milkshake" (Paleo and Vegan)

Banana, Carob, Nut Butter “Milkshake”

Grain/Gluten/Wheat-Free, Dairy/Nut-Free Options, Egg-Free, Vegan Option, Paleo/Primal

Makes about 2 1/2 cups (1 or 2 servings)

Ingredients:

  • 2 ripe bananas, sliced and frozen
  • 2/3 cup plain organic yogurt (use coconut to make this dairy-free)
  • 2-4 tbsp nut butter (just a “big scoop!”) (to make nut-free use sunflower seed butter)
  • 2-4 tbsp carob powder (again, I just add a scoop in, no measuring necessary)
  • optional: a splash of vanilla and a dash of sea salt

Banana Soft Serve

Directions:

  1. Place the frozen bananas in the food processor first and blend until creamy and smooth. You may need to use a spoon occasionally to scrape down the sides of the processor to fully incorporate the bananas.
  2. Next add the yogurt and blend.
  3. Now with my base I add in the nut butter, carob powder, vanilla and sea salt. Give it a whirl until it is all one color and thoroughly combined!
  4. Enjoy 🙂

Note: He also likes them with strawberries which I would add instead of the nut butter (1/2-1 cup frozen). But peanut butter and carob is his favorite combination.

Banana, Nut Butter, Carob "Milkshake" (Paleo and Vegan)

***Although the pictures are in a glass, my dad much prefers I just hand him a spoon with the food processor, blade and all 🙂 ***

Are you someone who can drink your smoothie straight out of the food processor or blender? Or do you always have to serve it in a glass? Have you ever eaten your oatmeal straight from the pan, or a lasagna right from the casserole dish? Or does it just not feel “right” unless you eat your serving from a plate or bowl?

I’m definitely an in-betweener on this. While I feel perfectly fine snacking straight out of whatever I cooked/made my food in, I always have to eventually remove it to a plate/bowl/cup to eat my actual “meal.” Otherwise it doesn’t feel legitimate to me… Am I the only one?

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Before I skidaddle, I want to fulfill my promise from Friday and give a quick review of Thor 2.

sustenance-thor-2

Using one of the most frequent words in my vocabulary, it was AWESOME! 🙂

If you enjoyed the first movie you will certainly like this one as well because there is a lot of character development with Thor and Loki. There is also some great chemistry between Jane and Thor which I adored.

If you didn’t like the first movie, I would still encourage you to watch the sequel. After it was over I was explaining to my friend that I can’t pick a favorite of the two because they are just so DIFFERENT. It’s would be like comparing… a smoothie and a milkshake? ( 😉 ) Both are amazing but to compare the two is unfair because they have different qualities that don’t crossover.

This sequel was extremely fast-paced and was jam-packed with humor. I don’t think I stopped laughing for more than a minute before Loki made some snarky comment again. Kat Dennings as Darcy Lewis was as hilarious as ever, and the minor characters of Dr. Erik Selvig, the new intern Ian, and of course all of the royalty/warriors from Asgard were wonderful too. The lines were very well written and the back-and-forth dynamic between the characters was perfect. Witty. Visually Stunning….

GO. WATCH. IT.

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Oh, and go check out Jenn’s WIAW party for this week too… 😉

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Questions for you:

Just tell me your thoughts!