back in the saddle

so.....um......yeah.....i've been gone for awhile.  no real reason- just lots of little excuses for not focusing on food and health.  i totally fell off the proverbial wagon over the holidays, and for awhile i was actually feeling fine.  i even started to think that all this food allergy nonsense had been blown out of proportion.  whole wheat tortillas?  fine!  cheese?  fine!  was i wrong?  yes!

little by little i started to feel more and more meh.  not AWFUL, but very very meh.  i also started to experience some heartburn and reflux issues, both symptoms of the eosinophilic esophagitis which i have been diagnosed with but had previously been asymptomatic of.  lovely.

so.  back to reality for me.  no more wheat cheats, and (crushingly) no more dairy.  i'm hoping this is less of a "farewell" and more of a "see you later" situation, but i'm not going to hold my breath.  when i eat wheat and dairy i feel sick.  doesn't take a rocket scientist to sort that one out.  the only dairy product i'm still eating is butter.....i might have to give that up at some point as well, but for now it doesn't seem to bother me.

as for this blog, i'm no longer going to be focusing solely on spelt-centric foods.  i'll still be using spelt in baking, but i want to explore other foods as well......things like nutritional yeast and vegan cheese.  oh how i wish i was kidding!

anyway- before i go all "crazy food-allergy girl" on you (or is it too late?), here is a new recipe for:

spelt banana bread, with orange and dates 
(adapted from spelt healthy by marsha cosentino)

this is an adaptation of her chocolate variety bread, i halved the recipe, omitted the chocolate and made some other tweaks

2 large eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil (i used canola)
1 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cup white spelt flour
1/4 cup whole grain spelt flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder (corn free)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1-2 ripe bananas, mashed
8-10 medjool dates, pitted and chopped
1/2 tsp orange zest
1 tablespoon orange juice

1.  preheat oven to 350.

2.  spray or grease 1 9"x5" loaf pan.

3.  mix eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla together in one bowl.  add the bananas, dates, orange zest and juice.  mix well.  set aside.

4. in another bowl, mix together the flour, leavening, salt and spices.

5.  add dry ingredients to the wet, mix thoroughly but do not over mix.

6.  spoon batter into prepared pan.

7.  bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out cleanly.

8.  allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes.  remove from pan and place on a rack until cool.

enjoy!