Allergen-friendly Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Let me preface this by saying: CONTAINS TREE NUTS.

FREE OF gluten, egg, dairy, soy, peanut, cane sugar, corn

INGREDIENTS
2 c almond meal/flour
1 c rice flour
1 c quinoa flour (do another cup of rice flour if you don't have this)
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 bananas
1 pear
1 carrot, shredded/grated
1/4 c coconut oil
1 sq inch ginger root, shredded/grated
1/3 c spiced apple cider (or juice)
1/2 raw pineapple
Honey
Optional spice mix -nutmeg, cinnamon, clove, allspice
Optional fruit/nuts - chopped almonds, pecans; poppy seeds;

Preheat oven to 350. Combine dry ingredients in bowl and stir. Put fruit, carrot, coconut oil, ginger, & cider in a blender or food processor, and combine until smooth. Line a 10x10 (?) glass baking pan with coconut oil. Slice pineapple thin and line the bottom of the pan. Spread honey over pineapple. Add batter. Bake 30 mins. Let cool then turn it upside down.

I ended up with a little extra so I also made 10 mini muffins too.

Tastes great. The banana sweetens without adding a distinctive banana flavor.

Bonjour, Oui Oui, Etc Etc

So I went out for brunch yesterday with my friend Alex. We went to Brocach, an Irish pub by the capital. The vegetarian pickings were a bit slim, but I ended up with a delicious plate of eggs benedict with portabellos in front of me, with which I was quite pleased. As we were leaving, I spied a GIANT platter of French toast on a table. We're talking 4 slices of inch thick bread as big as my face. I've had a bit of a hankering for French toast for the past 24 hours, so I decided to try my hand at it this morning without any real knowledge of how to make it. Instead of googling that shit I figured I'd just throw something together and hope for the best.

(As a side note, I can't believe I've gone this long without posting a breakfast recipe. It's by far my favorite meal of the day. It's probably related to the fact that most of the time I'm just eating my standard scrambled eggs with avocado on a pita. Which, by the way, if you've never eaten eggs and avocado together, you are missing out on one of life's greatest pleasures. But I digress.)

Quick and easy. I beat up an egg with some milk and about a TB of awesome pumpkin butter that only cost $5 and a 6-hour, 30 mile bike ride with an eminent Marx scholar (long story). Soaked 2 pieces stale whole wheat bread, threw it in a cast-iron skillet greased with a little butter, and cooked until toasty. I served this with a dab of fresh honeycomb from the farmer's market, and some ginger, nutmeg, and ground cloves. Cinnamon would have been ideal, but since we somehow have none despite having probably the most extensive, varied, and well-stocked spice cabinet I've ever seen (not to brag, but it's true...though Kelley's probably competes quite well) I had to go with those other guys.

This also hit the spot because it's like 40 fucking degrees outside with crazy winds. I would probably be well-served to go ahead and make another serving of this to start fattening myself up for the long Wisconsin winter. I'm convinced there aren't enough warm clothes, beverages, or blankets to keep me from suffering over the next 5 months. I'm cold in the middle of July for Christ's sake. Time to take a cue from the animal kingdom and either 1) grow a protective layer of blubber around my entire body or 2) hibernate. We'll see how that goes...