A Real Food Recipe: Hazelnut Banana Bread

 Gone are the days of bread, bread and more bread. I grew up on Vegemite on toast for breakfast every single day. I had sandwiches for lunch. I had garlic bread or buttered bread with my dinner. I'd snack on bread. Yeah, I pretty much lived on bread. I am yet to experiment with a paleo-style bread that could be substituted for normal bread - you know, like to make sandwiches with. But I gave this recipe a whirl and was pretty  impressed! It's not very ideal for 'sandwiches' per se, but it makes a great breakfast and snack substitute. I do wonder how Vegemite would go on it though...

Hazelnut Banana Bread

(grain-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, sugar-freer, vegetarian)

:: Inspired and modified from www.runningtothekitchen.com ::

Organic Ingredients

• 1 cup Hazelnut Meal
• 1/2 cup Coconut Flour
• 1/4 cup Flax meal
• 1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
• 1 tsp Pink Himalayan Rock salt
• 6 eggs
• 2 T coconut oil, melted
• 1 T Raw Honey
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1 large ripe banana, mashed
• A bit of Almond Milk 
• Chopped Hazelnuts (optional)

Warm up the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and prepare a loaf pan. Combine all dry ingredients in one bowl, and combine and whisk all wet ingredients (except the almond milk) in another bowl. Pour wet mixture into the dry mixture and combine until incorporated well. Add almond milk if you feel the mixture is too dry - should be a little moist (remember, hazelnut meal and coconut flour can really dry up a recipe!) Pour mixture into the prepared loaf pan, top with some hazelnuts if you wish, and place in the oven for 35 minutes.

Now, this won't rise much or look much like a 'loaf of bread'. I admit I was so disappointed when mine first came out. It looked like a dry, rock hard brick! But then I sliced it up and ate a piece...looks aren't everything you know??