Gluten-Free Banana Bread French Toast

My MIL was here over the weekend visiting so she could be here with the boys for Halloween. When I picked her up from the airport Saturday morning and brought her home, she told me a story she thought I'd find "quite amusing".

It seems "Mom 2" has discovered several food blogs that she loves and visits on a regular basis. She uses these blogs to follow links and explore other food blogs. One day, while hopping from blog to blog, she made a discovery. She was at MY blog! I had mentioned that I had my own blog, but I'd never given her a link to the blog. Imagine her surpise when she realized she knew the author. :)

She spent quite a bit of time here, reading about the garden, the family, and browsing the recipes. Which saved me from having to tell her about my gluten-free diet- she already knew! She was asking me about what I had made, how alternative flours tasted, etc. I have slowly but surely built up a small GF pantry, and am getting a little braver each day in trying out new things. When I realized I had some ripe bananas, I thought I would let her taste for herself what something might taste like with GF substitutions. I made 2 loaves of banana bread using this recipe, except I subsituted 2 cups of Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Baking Mix for the flour, baking powder, etc., and I added 1/4 cup sour cream.

It turned out wonderfully, and we all enjoyed nice warm banana bread on Saturday afternoon. Sunday morning, I got out the 2nd loaf of banana bread, thinking the boys would enjoy having it for breakfast. My 8 year old looked at the banana bread, then looked at me and declared that he wanted Banana Bread French Toast. I had never even thought of such a thing before, but okay. I'm game.


GF Banana Bread French Toast

8 slices of your favorite GF banana bread, or use recipe above
3 eggs
3/4 cup of milk
1t GF vanilla
1t cinnamon

Heat a skillet over medium heat and grease lightly. Whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla and cinnamon, and let banana bread soak in the mixture for 2-3 minutes, turning once to coat.

Cook in skillet over medium heat for 3-4 minutes, flip, and continue to cook for 3-4 minutes, or until egg mixture is cooked through and french toast is nicely browned. Serve with maple syrup.

I was very pleased with how this turned out. The egg mixture and pan-frying gave the banana bread a wonderful "melt in your mouth" texture. It felt very decadent, which was exciting, considering I haven't had anything along these lines since I stopped eating gluten.

I'm looking forward to my son's next request---hopefully it will generate another delicious creation!

Pancakes

I have been playing around with my pancake recipe since I started making them from scratch. I don't really like the big fluffy pancake. I prefer a slightly softer and thinner pancake. I think I've finally gotten the consistency and texture down to my liking.


2 cups white flour (or half and half wheat and white)
3t baking powder
1t salt
2T sugar
2 eggs
1t vanilla
2 cups milk
3T oil

Heat pan or griddle to medium heat. Meanwhile, put dry ingredients in a large bowl and stir to combine. Mix eggs, vanilla and milk in a small bowl, and then add to dry ingredients and stir to combine. Add oil and whisk in like you would salad dressing.

Place batter by spoonfuls onto pan and cook until pancake is bubbly with dry edges. Flip and cook another minute or so. I like to keep my pancakes warm on a plate in a 200 degree oven.

Looks like we have a winner!

This recipe is linked to the Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap. I love Gayle's blog, and it looks like there are some awesome recipes linked up this week!

Strawberry Syrup

I made this syrup today...it has less sugar than a typical syrup recipe. Instead, I utilized honey and fruit juice, with just a small amount of brown sugar. This is great for pancakes, waffles, and ice cream!

1 pound strawberries, washed and diced
1 cup apple juice
1/2 cup honey
2T brown sugar
1t vanilla
2T lemon juice
1t lemon zest

Bring all ingredients to a boil in a small saucepan, and let cook for 15 minutes. Sauce will continue to thicken as it cools. Store in refrigerator. Don't know how long it keeps because it doesn't last long :)

Stuffed French Toast with Fresh Strawberry Syrup

Big Thanks to Janelle over at Not Just Leftovers for posting her stuffed french toast recipe this week you can find that here. I made this for the boys this morning. I didn't have flavored cream cheese, so I used regular mixed with strawberry preserves and some fresh diced strawberries.

To top the french toast, since I had extra strawberries, I scaled this down a bit and made this recipe from Emeril ( I used about 1T of orange marmalade instead of zest)

Fresh Strawberry Syrup:
1 pound fresh strawberries, hulled and diced, or thawed frozen unsweetened strawberries (about 3 cups)
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1/2 teaspoon finely grated orange zest

In a medium saucepan, combine all the ingredients and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer until the strawberries are soft and the syrup is thickened and reduced by one-third to one-half in volume, 15 to 18 minutes.

Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature before serving. (If thinner syrup is desired, strain the hot syrup through a fine mesh strainer into a clean container and let cool.)


I tried to take a picture for you but I couldn't get the right angle for it with my phone camera---the good camera is upstairs somewhere and hubby's sleeping. But YUMMO YUM YUM. My 6 year old rates things with thumbs up or thumbs down--this morning after eating, he shot out one thumb, then another thumb, then a foot, etc...apparently he gave this all body parts up! LOL. Thanks for the inspiration, Janelle!

Michelle's Bit O' Sausage Gravy

I love sausage gravy. With a passion. But I know it's terrible for me, so I only fix it on occasion. The problem I usually run into is that recipes are scaled to make a TON of gravy, and since I have no willpower, and it doesn't seem to freeze well, I've come up with a scaled down version that will feed two adults and a couple little guys perfectly. No leftovers. No Michelle in the kitchen licking the pan clean. (well, maybe that)

Michelle's Bit O' Sausage Gravy

1/4lb. sausage
4T flour
2 cups milk
1/2t pepper

In skillet at medium heat, brown sausage, add flour, stir, and let cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Add milk and simmer until thickened. Add pepper and serve.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal

Ryan's got a new favorite oatmeal: Peanut Butter Oatmeal. Healthy, stick to your ribs, and YUMMY.

Here's the recipe:

1 cup rolled oats
2 cups water
pinch of salt
2TB PB
1/2 cup of milk
1 banana, mashed
2TB honey
1/2t vanilla
1/2-1t cinnamon, based on your taste
1T wheat germ

heat water in pan to a boil, add oatmeal and salt, cover, reduce heat and cook 5-10 minutes until cooked. Remove from heat, stir in remaining ingredients and serve. Could substitute grated apple for the banana if you preferred.