Peanut Butter Banana Cake

My gluten-free peanut butter banana cake was inspired by a sandwich.

It has been an awful week. Our hearts ache for the profound and inconceivable loss suffered by Japan. To conjure sweet nothings about cake or cookies, or celebrating the first day of spring rings a tinny, grating note. So I am excavating a recipe from the archives instead, sharing it now for those of you new to the blog, or those of you who may have missed it the first time around. It's a simple, sugar-free recipe based upon a childhood favorite- the peanut butter and banana sandwich.

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Gluten-Free Banana Almond Bundt® Cake Recipe

Almond flour makes this banana Bundt® cake gluten-free gorgeous.

Baking weather has arrived. Are you feeling the urge? I am. It's Bundt® Cake time. Time for stirring up gluten-free cake batters with soft ripe bananas,  pumpkin puree, and applesauce, filling the kitchen with the warm sweet scent of cinnamon. Time to tie on your cute little apron and invoke your inner Domestic Goddess. Because the groovy-spooky Fall Equinox is right around the corner, I am sorry to tell you. Summer fun is fading fast, Sweetpea. Your tan lines are disappearing.

Your UGGs are calling.

So paw through your stash of rocket shaped Popsicle molds, drink umbrellas and pool party napkins. Get ready to retire the flamingo adorned lemonade pitcher (unless you happen to live in Boca Raton). Snake your way into the back dark corner of your kitchen closet. Liberate the Bundt® pan you haven't used since Ground Hog Day.

It's dusty but it cleans up nice.


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Banana Ice Cream Pops

Frosty banana pops- a dairy-free and vegan summer treat.

Summer is here. Daylight stretches pink into the evening, warm and luxurious. Santa Monica is thick with tourists. Students heft surfboards and beach towels instead of backpacks. The Farmer's Markets are drop dead gorgeous (sneak a peek at our LA markets from Sarah here at The Delicious Life- who's been considerably more mobile than moi lately, scouting different farmer's market locations in a whirlwind tour). June is one of my favorite months of the year. 

How can it not be?

To celebrate I made some tasty frozen confections this week. I'm still on a limited diet, trying to soothe this tenacious monkey gut of mine. So the flavor choice was banana- in case you didn't know, bananas are kind and acid reducing to an ulcer prone tummy. I decided to use maple syrup as the sweetener, just because.

Creamy banana goodness ensued.

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Gluten-Free Banana Mini-Muffins

Sweet little mini-muffins with big banana taste.

Week four began Monday. My month of soft foods only is slowly winding down. I can feel the diet working, spinning its soothing magic and calming this burning monkey gut of mine with scoops of mashed potato and spoonfuls of slow cooked soups between doses of kitten cuteness and favorite comedies. My medicine has been a stew of Protonix, Culturelle, baby food, and laughing as much as possible.

I'm a big believer in the healing power of a hearty guffaw.

But I'd be lying if I didn't confess I crave texture and crunch like there's no tomorrow. Who wouldn't? After four plus weeks of nothing more al dente than a boiled rice noodle, I am sorry to tell you I wake up dreaming of potato chips. I miss the nutty terrain of a pecan cracker. The sexy chewy center of  a chocolate chip cookie. 

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Gluten-Free Banana "Crumpets"

Split and grill these sweet no yeast "crumpets" for extra flavor.

I started out craving a scone. Then it turned into a crumpet. Not a traditional crumpet. A crumpet without yeast. And sweet. Not because I have anything against yeast (I dig my English Muffins bigtime), but because I had a bevy of ripe bananas hanging out on my kitchen counter, whispering to me, coaxing me to imagine a new recipe and highlight their fragrant banana awesomeness. So that's how it all started.

But I was low on gluten-free flours.

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Maple Roasted Banana Ice Cream without Dairy

Roasting bananas makes for vegan ice cream yum.

I never bought David Lebovitz's ice cream book The Perfect Scoop because I'm allergic to dairy, and well. To be candid, a book brimming with rich and sexy recipes built around cream and butter and brown-eyed moo cow milk would just be, you know. Depressing as hell. I'd have to reinterpret and rebuild almost every recipe in the book to be dairy-free and huevo-free- except granita, and a sorbet or two. Yawn.

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Gluten-Free Banana Corn Muffins Recipe

Tender and sweet corn muffins infused with the scent of banana

Apartment hunting is more than a little fun, right? It's big fun. You get to tour unfamiliar lobbies and prowl rooms old and new. You get to peek into kitchen cupboards and step onto balconies, turning your face toward the sun to imagine greeting the day in that one particular spot on Earth (mug of fresh brewed coffee and a crisp LA Times in hand).

You wade eagerly into conversations about whether you'd prefer looking out at a roof top or a wall or a neighbor's patio ringed with bamboo. Hunting is fun. But finding the right apartment is not as simple as you might think.

While you think it would be beyond groovy to live opposite the Santa Monica Library with a ficus canopy crowning your street level view, your Honey Baby Sugarness states said library proximity holds absolutely no charm for him and he urges you to reconsider your enthusiasm, siting 1. street level noise and 2. the stop-and-go energy of the bus stop.

He favors a bright and airy spot on 6th Street opening to a quiet common courtyard. But you can't get past 1. the spongy beige wall-to-wall and 2. the neighbor's clear and intimate view of your living room (hence, My Lovely, your sure to happen sooner or later morning-brained half naked sprint to fetch the ringing cell phone forgotten in your purse the night before--- not a pretty sight).

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Banana Snacking Cake with Almond Flour

Easy, simple gluten-free snacking cake.

This simple, straightforward banana cake is mighty tasty despite its humble unadorned appearance. If it came to a party it would be a wallflower. The shy one no one notices, lost in the shuffle and glitz of more charismatic confections. She may not ever be the center of attention or the one you call upon to impress your boss, but she's the one you turn to when you need something satisfying and real. Comforting.

And like lasting friendship that doesn't care about the superficial- if your shoes are out of style or your nails remain unmanicured- she is lovely sharing a mug of tea.

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Gluten-Free Polenta Cake

Delicious, moist gluten-free polenta cake.

I've been craving polenta cake. Don't ask me why. Okay, ask me. It was the lemon polenta cake in the movie Dinner with Friends. Such a cake! And I didn't have any lemons on hand. But I did have a few ripe bananas. So I thought, Why not make a banana polenta cake? How bad could it be?

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