Grain-free Banana Bread (and how I fared without the Hubby)

So Hubby was out of town for several days this past week. (He flew to Texas to move his mom and step-dad here, and they'll be staying with us for awhile.) When he is gone I tend to cook for the kids (what they like) and eat poorly, so it was a bit of a challenge. Thursday was busy; we ate omelettes more than once. (Huge thanks to my friend Mandy who fed my kids a primal snack of strawberries, grapes and cheese while we were visiting!) Friday was a bit of a treat--I made snow crab (leftover from Christmas Eve dinner) and mussels. 

(SIDENOTE: Have you ever read Very Last First Time? I read it to the kids for school last year, and it has become a favorite. It's the story of an Inuit girl who gathers mussels beneath the ice shelf in Ungava Bay in Canada. Sissy's been eager to try mussels ever since she heard the story.)

I wasn't a huge fan of the slimy mussels (or cracking crab for all 4 of us!), but the whole meal was a huge hit with the kids. The best part? My four-year-old said, "We eat great on this diet, huh Mom?"

Our family was supposed to arrive mid-Sunday, and I spent most of Saturday getting the house ready. (Another thanks to my mom who stopped by for awhile to help with laundry and moving my yard sale stash out of the guest bedroom!) We had a quick dinner of omelettes (sensing a pattern here?) and they arrived (half a day early!) at bedtime. Somehow I still found time to try some new recipes. 

First up was banana bread. I stumbled upon this recipe on Pinterest (follow me!), and was happy to see I had all of the ingredients already! The lineup consisted of bananas, eggs, almond butter, {pastured}butter, vanilla, cinnamon, Real Salt, and (aluminum free) baking powder. George suggests using a glass loaf pan, but I only had metal at the time. 

All 3 of my kids enjoy helping in the kitchen, though my oldest prefers doing things completely on her own (she mastered grain-filled pancakes a couple months back) or to use a {real}knife, so she doesn't get as much kitchen time as the boys do. This time my younger helpers pealed the bananas. We dumped all the ingredients into my Vitamix, though next time I will try my {brand new!} food processor, as it can be difficult to scoop out all the batter from the Vitamix container.

In less than an hour, we had deliciously moist banana bread! Sweeteners are intentionally omitted from this bread, and we didn't even notice its absence! I could still detect the distinct coconut flour taste, but enjoyed it nonetheless. My kids LOVED it, and it was gone in hours. One of the boys actually had the idea to make banana-peanut butter sandwiches for lunch, which I thought was a great suggestion! Since we're avoiding peanuts, I used sunflower seed butter, sliced some bananas on top, and added another slice of bread. We didn't miss the peanuts or the grains at all! Even if you're not eating primally, I would encourage you to give this recipe a try--you'll see how easy it can be to go grain-free! And when you're finished checking out George's Paleo Banana Bread, check out some of his other recipes at Civilized Caveman Cooking Creations!

Today I'm linking to Made by you Monday!