Gluten-Free Banana Nut Snacking Cake

This recipe for banana pecan cake stemmed from a well-loved recipe on the New York Times.

Following recipes has never been my style—I’m guess many of you are the same way. I like to have an outline, but then I go from there: Frosting? Hmm, too much sugar for an afternoon snack for me. Will this work with a gluten-free flour blend? Let’s give it a shot. Ingredient by ingredient I swap in and swap out. This is how I like to navigate a kitchen, and I find, when I follow my gut, I like the output more.

Everyone has unique tastes and preferences. It’s for that reason that I hope everyone will do some tweaking and twisting while they prep their dinners. It’s for their own good! There have been countless times when I followed a recipe to a “T” and later regretted it, wishing I had swerved in a different direction.

Gluten-Free Banana Nut Snacking Cake

Published April 16, 2019 by Caitlin Sherwood

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Serves: 9   |    Active Time: 50 minutes

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Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter melted

1/3 cup light brown sugar or coconut sugar

1 cup mashed ripe banana (2-3 bananas) 

2 large eggs 

1/4 cup greek yogurt 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups measure for measure gluten-free flour blend (I used Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour (affiliatel ink))

3/4 teaspoon baking soda 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

Optional- 1/4 cup pecan pieces

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and fit a 9 inch square baking dish with parchment paper.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, banana, eggs, yogurt, and vanilla extract using an electric mixer.
3. Add flour, salt, and baking soda and blend until a uniform batter forms.
4. Spread batter in an even layer in the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle with pecan pieces.
5. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick, inserted into the middle, comes out clean.
6. Allow to cool 10 minutes, then lift from baking dish and slice into squares. Serve.

Asian Chopped Salad with Sriracha Roasted Cashews

This is an older recipe from Foraged Dish and I wanted to give it an update. Same recipe!

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Have you tried these cashews yet?

If your answer is yes, you’re probably now thinking, “I should make those again this week.” If your answer is no, what are you doing?! Hop to it!

We joked that I should sell those cashews rather than sharing the recipe … but here we are. And I’m going to give you one more reason to make them yourself: a fresh, crunchy salad that will make a great potluck dish or light lunch.

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What’s in the bowl: I used to call this a “slaw,” but that word never quite hit the nail on the head. “Slaw” is short for coleslaw, which is usually a cabbage-based salad dressed with mayo. That’s nowhere near what this salad is. While still a cabbage-based salad, this bowl is also full of other veggies, like bell peppers, carrots, radishes, and bok choy (basically a big bowl of crunch!). Cashews sprinkled on top add to that crunchy, and the whole thing is dressed with an orange-sesame vinaigrette. (I’m crazy about toasted sesame oil, the flavor is out of this world and a little bit goes a long way).

Asian Chopped Salad with Sriracha Roasted Cashews

Published April 16, 2019 by Caitlin Sherwood

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Serves: 6   |    Active Time: 20 minutes

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Ingredients:

For the salad:

2 cups thinly sliced purple cabbage

1 red pepper, sliced in thin strips strips

1 carrot, julienned

1/2 cup daikon radish, julienned

1 heaping cup bok choy, roughly chopped

1/2 cup Maple-Orange Sriracha Roasted Cashews

Optional: 2 tablespoons minced cilantro

For the vinaigrette:

Juice from 1 medium orange

2 tablespoon rice vinegar

2 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon maple syrup

1 tablespoon soy sauce

Directions:

1. Pour ingredients for vinaigrette in a jar. Place lid on jar, and shake.
2. Chop vegetables, and place in a large bowl. Drizzle with about 1/3 of the vinaigrette, and toss. Top with cashews.
3. Serve, adding more vinaigrette to taste.

Maple-Orange Sriracha Roasted Cashews

“Snack break,” in this house, is the moment we are mid TV show and pause for everyone to go refill their plates (if we’re eating dinner), get something to drink, or get a—yes, you guessed it - snack.

One of our snack break regulars is roasted nuts. We almost always have nuts in the pantry: Usually one those big tubs of roasted mixed nuts from Costco or Thai Chili Cashews from Trader Joe’s — we LOVE LOVE LOVE those. I once told a cashier there that I mostly go to Trader Joe’s just for those cashews. It’s a passion. 🤣

What’s EVEN BETTER is home-roasted cashews. If you haven’t made my roasted maple chai-spiced cashews, put it on your list, now,  right after “Maple-Orange Sriracha Roasted Cashews.” Go on, write it down.

They are crunchy. They are a little bit spicy (but not too spicy, just Sriracha-spicy). They are sweet, and with a little bit of orange zest, they are fresh. And complex. And just the best.

I originally discovered them when I made this Asian Slaw in 2014 (oh how the blog …and my photography skills… have changed since then). The rest is history. Now, when I find myself at home with a bottle of sriracha, an orange, maple syrup and some cashews, this is what I do. I know that sounds like a rare aligning of the stars, but actually, it happens all the time. (In fact, I could make a fresh batch right now!)

It’s about time I shared this snack with you, too!

Maple-Orange Sriracha Roasted Cashews

Published January 31, 2019 by Caitlin Sherwood

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Serves: 4   |    Active Time: 30 minutes

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Ingredients:

Zest of 1 orange

2 tablespoons Sriracha

2 tablespoons maple syrup

2 tablespoons avocado oil

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups whole raw cashews

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Prep a sheet pan with parchment paper.
2. Whisk together the maple syrup, sriracha, orange zest, avocado oil, and salt in the bottom of a medium sized bowl. Place the cashews in the bowl, and toss until completely covered. Spread the coated cashews out on a baking sheet in a single layer. 
3. Bake for 15-20 minutes, turning them with a spatula halfway through (10 minute mark). Allow cashews to cool.
4. Great as a snack! Can also be served on this Asian Slaw.