Banana Coconut Bread

Today my husband bought me a present.

A bounty of bruised bananas! Just the type of goodies I love to receive.

I'm so glad that he's learning. It's taken me many, many years to get him to this point of obedience- ooops, I mean thoughtfulness. To demonstrate, let me tell you about a present he gave me just a few years ago.........

I love baths. They are my time out. I take a book, a glass of wine, my yellow rubber ducky and have some Me time. The children/husband/phone try hard to leave me alone, and my only problem is the cat who likes to sit on the edge of the tub and fish through the super sensitive, non allergenic, soap and perfume free bubbles.
It was our 15th wedding anniversary and I given BigJ a wonderful gift- I can't recall what it was, but it must have been wonderful. He ever so proudly gave me a big present and waited to see my reaction.

It was soap. Lots of soap. Each bar in it's own colour co ordinated organza bag, each different smelling, he had even lovingly carved the name of each scent on the back of each bar. How wonderful, what an act of love and devotion. NOT. The poor boy said 'But I know how much you love your baths' That's true, but...
I am allergic to soap. I itch and scratch and get cracked peeling skin. I get asthma from perfumes and scents and cough and puff. He does know this. After 14 years he SHOULD know this. I was not impressed. I appreciated that he tried and all, but all $75 worth of soap had to go. They were so highly perfumed I couldn't even have the girls near me if they used them. He was sorry. (I made sure of it) He has definitely improved since then.

This is why I get so happy about some bananas rejected from the fresh-fruit box his office gets each week. It proves he loves me and understands me. The fact that the pay off for him is a heap of his favourite banana bread is beside the point. At last we are in sync.

If you are blessed with an over aboundance of bananas and don't have the chance to use them up quickly, just stick them in the freezer. No need to peel them or anything, just chuck them in whole. The skin will go black but that doesn't matter or make them taste any different. When you want them for baking, let them defrost for a bit or stick them in the microwave whole for about 45 seconds then squeeze the fruity insides out of the skin. You won't want to eat these for a snack, but they work perfectly for baking and smoothie making. In fact, don't defrost them for smoothies, they will make it deliciously cold and as creamy as a scoop of icecream. Yumm.

Gluten and Dairy Free Banana Coconut Bread

170* for about an hour
125g fat- nuttlex or such, or use veggie oil
2/3 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
4 banannas
1 1/2 cups gfree SR flour
3/4 cup of shredded or dessicated coconut
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 cup of nuts - I used macadamia kibble

Cream the fat and sugar together.

Add in the eggs and vanilla and mix briefly

Now I throw in the bananas. As they are nice and squishy, I just chuck them in whole. The mixer will beat them to a pulp for me and save some messiness.

Add in the flour, coconut and coconut milk. Mix for a minute or so.

Stir in the nuts.

Place in a lined loaf tin and top with a halved banana and a sprinkling of raw sugar for a bit of gratuitous bling.

If you are very sneaky, you could even get a grated zucchini in the mix too. 1 down, 899 to go!

So Readers, what is the worst gift you have ever received?