Paleo Pumpkin Spice Bread- Grain-Free, Nut-Free, Dairy-Free

#Pumpkinspice is a thing.  It's a stupid thing if you ask me, since really all it means is that something has some combination of cinnamon, ginger, and clove in it, but it's a thing all the same.  Don't even get me started on the pumpkin spice lattes at starbucks.  Oh my god, none of the ingredients in that are even food!  Blech!

Anyways- if you are wanting a quick and easy recipe for pumpkin bread that is entirely nut and dairy free, this is your ticket.

I highly suggest you give my maple syrup/molasses combo a try to get an especially warm and spicy flavor, but if you don't like molasses or just don't have any, using all maple syrup will still be delish.

You could also bake this in a muffin tin for pumpkin spice muffins.  Or frost it for a cake.  Or bake it in a square pan for bars.  Lots and lots and possibilities.

Pumpkin Spice Bread
1/2 cup plus 2 tbs coconut flour
1 tsp baking soda
pinch salt
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp clove (optional, I chose not to use it because I hate cloves, but customarily that is part of "pumpkin spice")
5 eggs
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup plus 2 tbs maple syrup
1/4 cup molasses
1 tsp ACV
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat your oven to 350.  Mix all your wet ingredients, and then add your dry and incorporate well.  Pour into a greased, or parchment lined loaf pan and bake until firm, 25 to 45 min depending on your oven.  You will notice this has a very dark appearance due to the molasses.  That is fine!

Paleo Banana Bread, Nut-Free, Dairy-Free, Sugar-Free, Grain and Gluten-Free

I am kind of weirded that I don't have a banana bread recipe up on the blog.  Banana bread used to be a staple chez GFG.  I would make it a few times a month, with regular SAD ingredients, or sometimes half whole wheat flour and half AP, or even a tablespoon or two of flax meal and think I was really badass.  Well, times have changed, and there's a new banana bread recipe in town y'all.  This recipe is so stinkin' easy and so stinkin' good.  It does not have a weird mealy coconut texture like so many coconut flour baked good can have.  It is delicious, and sugar free to boot.  It is sweetened with the bannas themselves, and stevia.  Think stevia isn't paleo?  It is.  Check out Mark's Daily Apple if you don't believe me.  And it is safe for diabetics.  I have tested it on myself, and I have pretty much no insulin.  So there.  This would make a great dessert, but frankly, I'll be giving it to S for breakfast, as it is perfectly healthy.

Paleo Banana Bread
2 medium bananas, mashed
4 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup walnut or coconut oil
3/4 cup nutmilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp butter extract (optional)
4 droppers nunaturals alcohol free liquid stevia
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup coconut flour

Mash your bananas in a large bowl, add in your eggs, extracts, stevia, milk, and oil, stir well.  Add in your dry ingredients (try to get coconut flour lumps out prior to adding) and combine well.  I lined my loaf pan with parchment, but you can grease yours if you prefer.  Pour your batter into the loaf pan and drop on the countertop a few times to get out any air bubbles.  Sprinkle the top with cinnamon if you like!  When a knife comes out just clean, take it out.  It will firm up a bit as it cools.  Mine was still pretty squishy in the center.  Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.  This is now your go-to, easy peasy, one bowl banana bread recipe.  Enjoy!

Paleo Breadsticks and Homemade Pizza Sauce

By now we've all made cauliflower pizza.  And if you are one of the last people on earth who hasn't, hello! What are you waiting for???  But for the paleo folk out there who don't do cheese, but still want the pizza like texture/flavors, and my fave, pizza sauce, here is a great substitute.

Paleo Breadsticks
1 small head of cauliflower
2 eggs
3 teaspoon dried oregano
1 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
salt and pepper

In your cuisinart, pulse your cauliflower until it's riced and transfer to microwaveable bowl.  Microwave 9 minutes, stirring halfway through, to reduce the moisture.  Refrigerate for an hour or so.  When you are ready to make the breadsticks, preheat your oven to 400 and line a baking sheet with parchment.  Mix your cauli with your eggs and seasonings and stir well.  Spread mixture out onto parchment lined sheet and use a spatula to make a nice uniform layer, about 1/6th of an inch thick.  (like that? 1/4 is too much, 1/8 too thin) and bake until it is just starting to brown on top.  At that point, remove them, cut them into strips carefully and spread them out on the pan, and put back in the oven until they are browned but not burnt.  Serve with some EVOO on top and some homemade pizza sauce!

No Cook Homemade Pizza Sauce- No sugar
1 6 oz can organic tomato paste
one can-ful water
1 tsp minced garlic
1 teaspoon onion powder
3-4 teaspoon oregano
2 teaspoon dried basil
salt and pepper to taste

Mix everything together, adjust seasonings to taste, refrigerate an hour-ish before serving for best results.

Paleo, Grain-Free, Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free, Dairy-Free Challah

It doesn't get much simpler than this!  Rosh Hashanah is coming up, and who wants to ring in the New Year without some challah?  Not me!  And certainly not S!  At preschool, the kids all have shabbat every Friday.  The teachers kindly refrained from giving S any of the challah, but boy did she get upset that first time when they had nothing to give her instead.  So since then I've been sending some regular boring old GF bread.  But, I figured it couldn't be too terribly difficult to make my own grain free challah, and it wasn't!  NOTE:  technically challah must contain a grain, so for good measure I threw in three grains of barley.  If this is a deal breaker for you, just omit, but it's nice to incorporate just a bit of tradition.  And yes, for all you non gluten-free people, you could always just say what the hell, and eat a bit of regular challah, but that is really not an option for me, and honestly I don't think g*d is going to be too upset about me tinkering with this recipe to make something edible for me and my fam.  If this offends you, sorry!

Paleo Grain-free, Gluten-free, Sugar-free, Dairy-free Challah
3/4 cup coconut flour (whisked or stirred very well with a fork to get out lumps)
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp kosher salt
9 large organic eggs, room temp (yes, 9)
1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp walnut oil (or melted coconut, or grapeseed)
2 tbsp preferred liquid sweetener (you could use honey, but then it wouldn't be SF, use what works for you, I used my usual SF sweetener)
3 grains of something- barley, buckwheat, etc

extra egg wash for brushing the top, if desired.
3/4 cup golden raisins, optional
cinnamon for dusting the top, optional

Want this to look more traditional?  Use this.

Combine your dry ingredients and whisk very very well!  In a separate bowl, mix your room temp eggs, oil, and sweetener.  Add your wet and dry ingredients and mix well.  Throw in your grains, and whatever else you want at this point.  Pour into your greased loaf pan or mold, and then brush with egg wash and sprinkle with cinnamon, if you choose.  Bake at 350 for 40 minutes until the top is nice and golden, like regular challah!

How large your eggs and how dry your coconut flour will change the outcome of this slightly.  For instance, larger eggs will make this a bit lighter and less dense than if your eggs are smaller, or coconut flour drier. Coconut flour needs A LOT of eggs.

Is it going to taste like challah?  No, not exactly.  Is it going to be an eggy, delicious, and special treat to commemorate the sabbath and/or New Year?  YES!  So try it out!

Grain-Free, Sugar-Free, Maple Flax Cake/Bread

It's a good thing I didn't wait any longer to snap a pic of this delish bread/treat- as of this morning there is only a tiny slice left and I just made it! 

Although this came out great and is definitely a maj success- you could also call it a ginormous failure if you wanted to.  I set out to make maple scones people- yeah- totally the opposite of this.  Once I combined the ingredients I realized it was wayyyyyyyyy to wet and soupy, and unless I wanted to add a sh*t ton more flour and risk ruining the whole thing, I may as well just make a cake instead.  Glad I did- because this is ridiculously good.  Even better with some fruit spread or (soy free) earth balance.  This could either be a great dessert (with some SF icing) or even a fun breakfast- it's pretty healthy!  Or use it to make french toast or bread pudding.

Grain-Free, Sugar-Free Maple Flax Bread/Cake
1 cup almond flour
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup ground flax meal
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
4 room temp eggs, preferably pastured
1 cup maple syrup, or SF maple syrup if you can tolerate it, or SF Torani/DaVinci maple flavored syrup***
2 tbsp oil (I used walnut but go ahead and used liquified coconut, grapeseed, etc)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix your dry ingredients really well with a fork or whisk, taking care to get those pesky coconut flour lumps out.  Then mix your wet ingredients and combine.  You'll have to mix for a bit as it takes a minute for the batter to pull together.  Pour into greased loaf pan (or even a cake pan) and bake at 325 until a knife comes out clean and the top is golden.  In my oven that took an hour- but we've talked about my crazy oven before!

***So, SF syrup.  I know, this will probably be problematic to some of you.  Main two ingredients are sorbitol and water, followed by natural and artificial flavors.  Sorbitol is naturally occurring in many fruits, like apples, albeit in smaller doses.  It is very slowly metabolized by the body and does not cause blood sugar spikes, and contains a fraction of the calories.  Eating it in excess may upset some sensitive tummies.  I used it and we had no issues.  That said, of course if sugar is not an issue then go for the real stuff, you'll get the added benefit of the nutrients in pure maple syrup.  But use maple syrup! The real thing!  Not that HCFS pancake syrup that costs a buck!  Otherwise, you're much better off using the SF kind. 

And that's it folks.  The addition of the flax gave the cake a bit more structure and also a nice dose of omegas.  You can't taste the flax, it just makes pretty little flecks in the cake.  This will rise considerably from the eggs and baking powder.  Would be awesome with chopped pecans or walnuts too!

Enjoy!  Let me know what you think in the comments :) XoXoGFG

Grain-Free, Sugar-Free, Cocoa-nut Banana Bread

So I am completely drowning in work-related events right now and barely have the time to breathe but as a fledgling blogger/foodie/grain-free connoisseur I just had to try to come up with an acceptable banana bread that I might actually be able to indulge, in small amounts of course!  That is just how important banana bread is I suppose!  And thankfully, gratefully, I think I pretty much got it on the first try!  Now if that is not an enormous accomplishment for a crappy baker like myself, I don't know what is!  Next time, I will bake for an extra 3 or 4 minutes though, and I will also omit the eggs in place of 2 extra flax-eggs to make it vegan (and perfectly edible raw I might add!)

Cocoa-nut Banana Bread
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup coconut flour
4 Tablespoons shredded unsweetened coconut
3 bananas
2 eggs
2 flax-eggs (meaning, 2 tablespoons of flaxseed meal, mixed with 6 tablespoons of water, allow to sit for five minutes, or for Vegan just do 4 flax-eggs)
1/4 heaping teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup sugar substitute
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup canola oil (or coconut oil)

Mash bananas until mushy but still clumpy- I prefer to use frozen very brown, overripe bananas that I've defrosted in the microwave.  Add vanilla, then beaten eggs with flax-egg mixture.  Add sugar substitute to canola oil and stir, then adding to wet mixture.  In separate bowl, sift cocoa powder, coconut flour, salt, and baking soda, then stir to combine.  Add in wet mixture and stir, careful not to overstir.  Pour into greased loaf pan and bake at 325 for 45minutes, maybe even a touch longer.  Mine only baked for 42minutes and DEFINITELY needed the extra three minutes.  It's a bit undercooked, but should be good tomorrow.  OMG the raw mixture was so delish.  That's why next time I'd love for it to be vegan so I could eat it raw without getting a stomachache- but that would reduce its protein content a smidge.  Obviously this recipe is certainly NOT carb-free as it has 3 whole bananas.  It does have about 4 or 5 grams of fiber and about 4 or 5 grams of protein per serving, and about 180 calories, not bad!  Plus the Omega-3s!  Use Omega-3 eggs and you'll be in even better shape! 

The recipe was awesome!  I can't wait until I get an i-phone so I can start taking pics and uploading them!  It really is delish!  Try it out!