Gluten-Free Banana Chocolate Bread (Vegan, Sugar-Free)

         Bananas. Chocolate. Coconut flour. What am I doing?! This recipe is chock full of ingredients guaranteed to set my head pounding. Well, in part, it was an experiment. I've noticed that the more starches I use in a recipe, the worse I feel. So I replaced the original starches in this recipe with coconut flour and quinoa flour to see how that would work. But then the texture was absolutely perfect for a banana chocolate bread, so I had to add those! However, bananas and chocolate are both high in amines, something which I've been avoiding. So I screwed up the whole experiment by adding in ingredients I knew my body would have trouble with. And that was simply the result of a moment of weakness. I'm good at being gluten-free. I've got the peanut-free thing down. And nuts are definitely out. But sometimes I cave when it comes to amines. I'm not on an amine-free diet, only a low-amine diet. And many foods that are high in amines are also extremely healthy for you. Foods like bananas, spinach, avocado, and tomatoes. So while I recognize that eating a certain amount of these foods will cause problems, I try to get away with small amounts here and there. And occasionally, I try to get away with more.Like when I made this banana chocolate bread. It tasted heavenly. But yes, I have a headache and I'm guessing it's going to take me a couple of days to recover from my moment days of weakness. The fact that I'm sitting here contemplating baking more of this bread tells you how good it was. But I've only got a week left of vacation, and I don't plan on spending it popping ibuprofen. So no more banana chocolate bread for me. But hopefully lots for you! 
           Gluten-Free Banana Chocolate Bread  Ingredients: 2/3 cup coconut flour 1/2 cup brown rice flour 1/2 cup sorghum flour 1/3 cup quinoa flour2 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. salt1 tsp. xanthan gum1/2 cup Spectrum Organic Palm Shortening (sub: butter or Earth Balance)3 Tbsp. flaxseed meal + 2/3 cup water3/4 cup unsweetened soy milk1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce2 tsp. Vanilla Extract1 tsp. liquid stevia + 20 drops2 oz unsweetened baking chocolate1 small banana, mashedPreheat Oven to 350 Degrees. Grease bread pan. Whisk together flours, baking powder, salt, and xanthan gum. Cut in shortening with a fork. In a small bowl, stir flaxseed meal and water. Beat in milk, apple sauce, vanilla and 1 tsp. of stevia. Beat the wet mix into dry. Set aside. Melt the chocolate using a double boiler or microwave. Stir in 20 drops of liquid stevia. Stir the chocolate and mashed banana into the batter. Pour batter into greased pan and bake for 45 minutes. Print-Friendly Option

This post is linked to Gluten Free Wednesdays.