Banana bread with dates - Bananenbrood met dadels (GF)

This banana bread is so good; sometimes I am even tempted to buy extra bananas so they can turn brown before I could eat them all and I have to bake it again. It is an easy recipe, that I adapted from Allerhande, a cooking magazine from one of the biggest supermarkets here in Holland.

The fun thing from using less and less sugar is that you don’t need so much sweetness any more. The original recipe asks for 150 g sugar, I use only 50 g now; together with 3 bananas and 6 medjoul dates it’s sweet enough for me. I could do without the sugar, but my son is an addict so I leave some in for him. In this way he gets used to less sugar too. I hope, because outside my doorstep, at school, with his friends there is a lot of junk food coming in. And I hope that by cooking wholesome foods  at home and give him oatmeal for breakfast I give him the right example and together with all the junk he eats too, the balance will be a positive one?

As I am writing this post my oven is working hard, baking small flat breads to take with me to France tomorrow. Together with my dearest C. I am going to visit some friends in the Auvergne. They live rather remote so I have to take care of myself a bit, gluten-free food wise I mean. We’ll be travelling by train, such a good old-fashioned way to travel and a long time ago too, for me. Seeing a quick glance of Paris before we change trains to Clermond-Ferrand. And they say it’s gonna snow tomorrow!

I am really looking forward to it!

I’ll leave you with this delicious banana bread and see you when I'm back again!

You can easily make it vegan by using coconut oil or olive oil instead of butter and replace the eggs for a soaked flax mixture.

Banana bread with dates

I use a glass Pyrex mold of 28 cm

3 tbsp sesame seeds

6 Medjoul dates

250 g GF flour, I use a mixture of buckwheat and rice

125 g butter, room temperature

50 g rapadura sugar

2 organic eggs

3 really ripe, brown bananas, mashed

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp tartaric acid baking powder

I put a piece of baking paper in the mold, to ease the outcome of the cake.

First roast the sesame seeds in a dry pan till golden brown, leave to cool.

Stone the dates and cut lengthwise into thin strips, dust with a little flour, so they won’t sink to the bottom of the cake.

Pre-heat the oven to 170 ˚C.

Beat the butter and sugar with a hand mixer till light and fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a time and beat them through.

With a spatula mix in dates, mashed banana, cinnamon, baking powder, sesame seeds and flour. Scoop into the Pyrex mold and bake the banana bread for about 1 hour and 10 minutes in the middle of the oven. Check with a bamboo skewer in the middle of the bread if it’s done. Then let it cool for 20 minutes in the mold before taking it out and let it cool completely on a rack. Enjoy!

Bananenbrood met dadels

Ik gebruik een Pyrex vorm van 28 cm.

3 el sesamzaad

6 Medjoul dadels

250 g GV meel, ik gebruik boekweit en rijst

125 g boter, op kamertemperatuur

50 g rapadura (oer) suiker

2 bio eieren

3 overrijpe bananen, geprakt

1 tl kaneel

2 tl wijnsteenzuur bakpoeder

Bekleed de vorm met bakpapier.

Rooster eerst het sesamzaad in een droge koekenpan tot ze goudbruin zijn, zet opzij.

Ontpit de dadels en snijd ze in de lengte in reepjes, bestrooi met wat meel zodat ze niet naar de bodem zakken tijdens het bakken.

Verwarm de oven voor op 170 ˚C.

Klop de boter en suiker met een handmixer tot een licht en luchtig mengsel.

Klop dan 1 voor 1 de eieren erdoor.

Spatel dan voorzichtig dadels, geprakte banaan, kaneel, bakpoeder, sesamzaad en meel erdoor. Schep in de vorm en bak het bananenbrood in ongeveer 1 uur en 10 minuten gaar en goudbruin. Steek een bamboeprikker in het midden om te controleren of het brood gaar is. Neem het brood uit de oven en laat eerst 20 minuten in de vorm afkoelen, voordat je het helemaal laat afkoelen op een rekje. Geniet!

Healing carrot soup – helende wortelsoep (GF-DF-SF-V)

I just made this healing carrot soup for my sick son. After 2 days of not eating, because of vomiting and nausea, he is a bit better today and starts to eat again. Bit by bit, a cracker, some yoghurt with mashed banana, and of course soup.

Soup made with the best healing ingredient: Love.

Yesterday I bought these lovely looking and smelling carrots in 4 different colors. They look amazing, but they taste amazing too and made this beautiful, healing soup with just a few ingredients. I put in some fresh gingerroot to warm the belly and eases digestion.

His belly agreed totally after eating a whole bowl!

It’s a bit tricky to start eating again, the stomach is always protesting a little. For that reason I eat white basmati rice tonight to ease the irritation, with a little of the mildly spiced tomato dal from Lakshmi. She has such a beautiful blog, so be sure to have a look!

Healing carrot soup

500g carrots, cleaned and chopped in slices

1 medium onion, chopped

1 tbsp finely chopped, peeled fresh ginger

1 handful coriander stalks, chopped finely

1 l hot vegetable broth

1 bay leaf

1 tbsp orange juice

Heat some oil in a soup pan and softly bake the onion and ginger for 5 minutes. Stir from time to time.

Add coriander and carrots, stir well and bake together for another 2 minutes, than add the vegetable broth and bay leaf and bring to the boil. Let the carrots boil till they are tender.

Remove the bay leaf and make a smooth soup with a stick blender.

Before serving I squeezed in some orange juice, to give the soup a little lift.

Taste and add pepper and salt, if needed. You can garnish the soup with some coriander leaves. Enjoy!

Helende wortelsoep

500g wortels, schoongemaakt en in plakjes

1 middel ui, fijngehakt

1 el verse gember, geschild en fijngesneden

1 handvol koriandersteeltjes, fijngehakt

1 l hete groentebouillon

1 laurierblad

1 el sinaasappelsap

Verwarm wat olie in een soeppan en bak hierin de ui en gember, zachtjes, ongeveer 5 minuten. Roer af en toe.

Voeg koriander en wortelplakjes toe, roer goed door en bak nog enkele minuten zachtjes mee.

Voeg dan bouillon en laurierblad toe en breng het geheel aan de kook. Laat zo lang koken tot de wortels zacht zijn. Haal het laurierblad eruit en pureer de soep met een staafmixer.

Voor het serveren heb ik nog wat sinaasappelsap boven de soep uitgeknepen om een kleine extra smaaklift te geven aan de soep. Proef en breng eventueel op smaak met peper en zout.

Serveer de soep meteen en je kunt er nog wat korianderblaadjes over strooien.

 Geniet van deze eerlijke soep!