Oven-Baked Okra Chips

I am from the South, so I grew up eating breaded, fried okra.  Don't get me wrong, I love it, BUT.... I don't eat fried foods anymore.  When I went to the Farmer's Market a few days ago, I came across the most beautiful okra and thought, "Ah, man! I wish I could have some fried okra. Oh well."  And I almost passed it up, BUT... then I stopped myself.  I bake a lot of my veggies, so I figured there must be a way to bake okra, too.  I found a Paleo recipe for baked okra and made it with some tweaking of my own.  It was SO good!!! What a great snack!!

Ingredients: (makes about 1 cup)
10 large okra
1 tsp grape seed oil
cracked pepper
garlic salt
a dash of red pepper

Directions:
Cut the okra into thin slices (~1/4 inch slices).  Lightly toss them in grape seed oil.  Spread them out in one layer on a baking sheet sprayed with coconut oil spray, and then sprinkle on the cracked pepper, red pepper, and garlic salt.

Bake for 15-20 minutes at 400.  They'll come out crispy with no slime.  :)

Gluten-Free Banana Bread

I am trying some new gluten-free recipes just to see how they taste.  My family isn't gluten-free, but a lot of my students and friends are, so I thought I would try some things out and see how I like them.  So far, everything I've tasted has been great.  There are some recipes that end up being a little dry, they say, so I tweaked this banana bread recipe to see if it would be more moist, and it was!

Ingredients:
2 large, over-ripe bananas (mashed)
4 large, brown eggs
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 cups brown rice flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp honey
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup grape seed oil
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
(you can substitute the two sugars with 2/3 cup of agave)

Directions:
Combine everything in a large bowl, mixing until well-blended.  Fill a 4 x 8 inch bread pan (that has been sprayed with non-stick coconut oil spray) halfway and bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

*I had some mix left over, but it wasn't enough to make another whole loaf, so I made a few muffins with what was left. :)