Bananas for breakfast & a great way to pass the evening

I de-glutened another recipe from the vault a couple of days ago, but because of the barn, I was unable to get it posted before now. Such is life, I guess, at least for another 3 weeks.



But first, because it's fun, I am going to rip on a couple of people:

--The adult female that came out of the barn crying shortly after a 7-year-old that was visibly upset yet not crying.

--The high-end (read: at least 17) teenager that got the dry heaves after going through the barn.

Ripping done.

This evening, I received a box from Amazon, which contained a much-anticipated book written by Shauna James Ahern of Gluten-Free Girl fame. As soon as my boss left with 4 days worth of food tonight, I put on my most comfortable jammies and curled up on the couch under a snuggly blanket, sipping a blackberry Izze (I love this stuff!), and read contentedly while the zoo competed for lap space.



Shauna unknowingly paid a huge part in my decision to get tested through Enterolab. Back in 2006, I was reading Bakerina's website while she was taking part in Blogathon. I had just been diagnosed with a multitude of environmental allergies, two of which were wheat and rye. I was researching if environmental allergies could affect digestion and reading Bakerina's hourly posts at the same time. I sent her an email asking if she had ever tried converting her bread recipes to wheat-free and she replied promptly with a link to Shauna's site. I clicked on the link and went out to our back porch to have a cigarette.

Food Network was playing on the TV. I lit my cigarette and had a drag. I don't remember which show was playing - all I remember about that moment was what happened next... The show cut to commercial. Normal time-wasters played and then when I started paying closer attention, a woman was in a green kitchen was talking about eating gluten free. My mouth fell open, the cigarette falling to the floor to burn a hole in the carpet, when she said she had a website called Gluten-Free Girl.

Holy shit.



I take omens and the like seriously. I took this as a sign that I had to do some more research immediately. I went back in the house (after picking up my cigarette and making sure the carpet wasn't going to start on fire) and read every post that night. Every symptom she described, I had.



Holy shit.



I made the decision to go gluten free that night. It took some stops and starts, but now that I have been gluten free for a year, I can honestly say that I feel better now that I ever have in my life. For someone who had a cold or bronchitis every couple of months, pneumonia every year, and a host of other issues that were "all in my head" according to the rest of the world, I can report that I have not had even so much as a sniffle - unless I have been glutened. Enough said, there.



So, thank you, Shauna, for helping bring Celiac and gluten intolerance to the forefront. Oh, and for writing this great book.





I better get this recipe posted so I can get back to reading it!






Banana-Chocolate Chip-Walnut Coffee Cake
Adapted from a recipe from The Vault



1 cup chocolate chips
2/3 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup chopped walnuts
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
3/4 cup white rice flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1/4 cup coconut flour
1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup baking soda
1/4 tsp kosher salt
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter (room temp)
1 egg
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas
3 tbsp milk



Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8x8 baking dish and set aside.



In a small bowl, combine the chocolate chips, brown sugar, walnuts, and cinnamon. Set the streusel aside.

Sift together into another bowl the rice flour, tapioca starch, cornstarch, coconut flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a mixer bowl, combine the egg, butter and sugar, mixing until light and fluffy. Add the milk and bananas. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and mix well.



Spread half of the batter in the bottom of the prepared pan (I have found that the very edge of a rubber scraper works well for this - just move the batter a little at a time). Sprinkle half of the streusel over the batter, then spread the remaining batter on top of that. Sprinkle the remaining half of the streusel on top.



Bake for 50 to 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan; serve warm.