Blueberry Banana Bread

Please forgive my absence. We started this blog the week of my finals AKA the week of staying up 20+ hours at a desk, soaking up all 40 free hours of Pandora Radio, and studying everything but cookbooks. So now, it's my time to shine. Now we've seen the breakfast bacon, we've seen the lunch sandwiches, but have we seen a dessert or sweet item? Not until now, ladies and gents.

A little background: I've had migraines on a regular basis since I was 4. I'm type O blood type. I'm the only type O blood type in my family and even more strange, I'm the only one in my family with these horrendous headaches. Why is this important? No, I'm not adopted.

In the last year or so, my brother has turned into the encyclopedia of all things health related. So the moment he read about type O's and their inflammatory response to Gluten he called me. I was skeptical at first because there is no proof that a migraine can be classified as an "inflammatory response," but I also thought of the infamous freshman fifteen. Type O's have a tough time digesting gluten (wheat, barley, rye), so the first efficient way to lose weight is to adhere to a gluten-free diet. Since that call from my brother, I have maintained a gluten-free diet to see if my migraine headaches diminish.

This Blueberry Banana Bread was a great turn out for my first experiment in gluten-free cooking. Most gluten-free breads I have tried are dry. That seems to be the biggest turn off I've encountered so far. I used greek yogurt in this recipe instead of applesauce to add a bit of dairy and moisture (also, I didn't have any applesauce). Also, my gluten free flour was a rice flour. I added 1/2 cup of blueberries to give it something fun too. This recipe offers a great banana bread that fulfills a gluten-free diet that's moist, tastes great, and a beautiful 140 calories per slice.

Ingredients:

2 cups gluten-free all-purpose baking flour.

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

4 eggs

2 cups mashed ripe bananas (4-5 medium)

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/3 cup canola oil

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

Mix flour, baking soda, salt in a separate bowl.

Beat eggs, bananas, sugar, applesauce, oil, and vanilla in a bowl

Add the dry ingredients into the wet until just moistened

Transfer mixture to a greased baking pan

Sprinkle chopped walnuts on top

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

let it cool for about 10 minutes before taking it out of the pan onto a wire rack

Until next time, keep cookin', good lookin',

G(anache)