MISSION MONDAY

Hello. Happy Monday. I am actually glad th weekend is over. Lots of work plus a sick dog, computer crash, and car troubles. SHEESH! I thought weekends were suppose to be relaxing?!?! Anyway, tis life!
In other news, welcome to Mission Monday! You see, I have a fellow blogger, friend, triathlete who I've been exchanging workouts (James' workouts) and recipes for the past two years! She has been an awesome follower and I love emailing and catching up with her, BREANNE!

This is Bre and her friend Nic enjoying some gluten free goodies!

Breanne has celiac and knows that I cook/bake gluten free as well. I was diagnosed as NCGI (non celiac gluten intolerant). I basically get the same side effects as a celiac but luckily it doesn't damage my intestinal track as bad as it does when you have CELIAC. Anyway, Breanne is working on her thesis in Canada and training for her first half Ironman, YEA! We thought it would be fun to try a little "tweaking." She wants to find more recipes that are easy, gluten free, healthier, and quick for her active lifestyle. I told her I would take her up on that. That brings us to MISSION MONDAY! One to two times a month, Breanne will send me a recipe (meals and/or snacks) and I will tweak it, post it, then she will bake it, try it, and give feed back. Sound good? Its all about honesty here so feedback should be interesting.

First up........AVOCADO QUICK BREAD. Here's the recipe and what I tweaked.

Ingredients:

1 cup Flour Amaranth flour (more fiber, protein, and less sugar than flour)

2 tbsp ground flax seed ( I added this in place of one egg)

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg cloves

3 tbsp butter,  instead I used coconut butter (softened)

1/4 cup sugar I used 2 packets of sugar crystals (stevia and raw sugar combined)

2 eggs 1 egg and 1 egg white

1 cup mashed ripe avocado

1/2 cup butter milk unsweetened vanilla almond milk instead

1/3 cup chopped pecans

1/3 cup raisins, I used chopped dried fig

1-1/2 teaspoons grated orange zest

I also added 2 tbsp unsweetened applesauce

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease one 9x5 inch loaf pan. Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and cloves. Set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and coconut butter until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then mix in the mashed avocado.

AWESOME GREEN BATTER

Stir in the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk until just mixed. Fold in the chopped pecans, figs and orange zest. Spread the batter evenly into the pan. I added a few more pecans on top and drizzled it with a little agave nectar and more cinnamon.

3. Bake for 60-65 min in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Allow loaf to cool in pan for at least 20 minutes before removing.

Looks pretty good, eh? Look at those chunky figs and pecans! If you want that nutrition stats, just email me and I'll calculate it. But at least you know its HEALTHY, GLUTEN FREE, and DAIRY FREE! SWEET!
Okay Breanne, its your turn. Bake away and report back.

Cheers!
LC