Almond Flour Banana Bread

beautiful flowers my hubby gave me for  Valentines Day! :)

We had a lot of warm weather here in Dallas and I have been taking every opportunity to get outside that I can.  Aside from school and work, our days have been filled with beautiful sunshine, ultimate frisbee, reading in the sun, long walks in the woods...

There is just nothing like being outside in nature with God and his creation, witnessing his extravagance and creativity in the calm of the day.  Since it IS winter, though, the weather took a turn and it has been QUITE chilly.  Of course, this puts me in the mood for warm breads, soups, hot chocolate, and the like.  My latest explorations have been in traditional cooking and home made, but healthy goodies.  People think I'm this health conscious strict never indulge kind-of-a-person.  And I want to prove that eating healthy is not this thing I have to MAKE myself do.  You can have the occassional sweet treat made with natural beneficial ingredients and find satisfaction in your food that you never knew you could so that it is something you just have fun doing, and a way of life that doesn't require "restriction", or at least that is how I see it.  So anyway, I had some bananas lying around that were extremely ripe and I was in the mood for some homemade banana bread.  I've been wanting to try to come up with a recipe for a while, but never felt like I could because my mom makes the BEST banana bread.  You know how that is...there is no way I could make a bread that lives up to the loaves my mom sends me!  Nevertheless, I gathered my courage and attempted to make my FIRST healthy banana bread recipe.  Matt was CRAZY about it and demanded that we make it all the time.  I wasn't expecting such a great first attempt, but the bread turned out moist and the almond flour gave it such a great depth and texture that you don't get with refined flours and sugar.  I also think it is really important not to overcook it as to maintain moisture and soft texture.  I used raw honey, which gives it a delightful sweetness, with all the wonderful benefits to go with it!  So here you go:

Picture from: comfybelly.com

Almond Flour Banana Bread
adapted from comfybelly.com

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup of raw honey (or other sweetener, such as maple syrup.  Also, you can go lower here too if you like it less sweet like me!)
• 3 tablespoons of grass-fed butter, or coconut oil
• 2 eggs
• 2 very ripe bananas
• 3/4 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 2 1/2 cups of almond flour, or I used almond meal, because it was what I had in the house
• Optional: 1 cup of dark chocolate chips, nuts, or dried fruit

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 315 degrees F.
2. Mix all the wet ingredients together in a bowl until well blended.
3. Now add dry ingredients and mix well again.
4. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean from the middle of the loaf. 

You are supposed to allow it to cool, of course, but my hubby and I are too impatient for that nonsense! :)  You can use two small loaf pans, or one regular sized loaf pan.