Banana bread. Yep, another recipe. Banana bread is just so good! It’s just so satisfying, soul warming and nourishing so I often suggest it to clients who love banana (and cake) and are in need of snack ideas. All you need is a nice and easy recipe.. and this one, I’ve discovered, is easy and particularly nice, especially if you prefer gluten free things.

There are so many recipes out there.. using various combos of banana and and other fruit or veggies (.. like apple, zucchini, blueberries).. nuts or seeds (.. like walnuts or pumpkin seeds).. or choc chips (reeaaally good, of course) and different flours. I’ve played with many different combos (one of my favs being Pumpkin & apple banana bread).. however I usually use wheat flour or nut meal.

Buckwheat flour is something I’ve only just started using in cakes and bread.. and ohhh I love it. When used in baking (and pancakes) it adds golden colour and a beautiful earthy flavour, it’s also gluten free so a nice one to experiment with if you prefer or need to avoid gluten.

This recipe is a variation of a buckwheat banana bread recipe by Nadia Felsch. Nadia’s recipe is beautiful – it’s sweet (but not too sweet), wholesome and very nutritious. I’ve just added grated zucchini (having a zucchini that I needed to use), blueberries (why not) and walnuts (for crunch).. I adjusted a few other ingredients (based on what I had) and it turned out so well, so had to share it! It’s an easy recipe (no electric beating required) and when this bread is sliced (and each slice is individually wrapped in cling wrap) it freezes well. Having slices of homemade banana bread in the freezer that you can whip out anytime and defrost and warm or toast is just soooo nice.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups buckwheat flour

1/4 cup sugar (or sweetener of choice e.g. rice malt syrup or honey)

3/4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

3 medium (or 4 small) ripe bananas, mashed

1 small zucchini, grated

1 egg

1/4 cup olive oil

2 handfuls of blueberries (frozen or fresh)

2 handfuls of walnuts, roughly chopped

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 160 degrees celsius, and grease and line a loaf cake tin.

2. Mash your bananas (it’s easy to do this on a plate with a fork), then in a medium bowl, mix together the banana, zucchini, egg, oil and vanilla.

3. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.

4. Add wet batter to dry indigents, and combine until all in mixed well. Then add blueberries and walnuts and mix in.

4. Pour batter into your prepared tin, and bake for 50mins, or until golden on top and cooked inside when tested with a skewer.

5. Allow to cool before removing from tin. I love this banana bread toasted with butter or a dollop of greek yoghurt (and maybe a drizzle of honey.. or maple syrup).

Gestational Diabetes –

This banana bread can certainly be made to be suitable for women with GDM. If you have GDM and love banana bread I’d suggest you try this one (or one of the other banana breads on here). Buckwheat flour is high in fibre and low in GI so a great choice of flour. I’d suggest a few recipe modifications – as this recipe uses 3 bananas you don’t need a lot of sugar (or any) so I recommend using coconut sugar instead (it’s lower in GI than regular white sugar) and only 1-2 Tablespoons. I’d also suggest adding 1/2 a cup of blueberries or less. Once baked and cooled, divide your loaf into 20 pieces (it’s easy if you cut your loaf in half, then make 5 slices out of each half, and then half each slice to make a total of 20 pieces). One piece with a cup of tea (with a dash or milk, or a herbal tea) makes a lovely and very suitable snack for most women with GDM (to enjoy in between meals or at least 2 hours after dinner as a supper). We are all different however, so if unsure of what’s suitable for you I would recommend you speak with your Dietitian or feel free to reach out to me via email or social media.

Lara x

Enjoy.

Lara x