Happy Monday! Hope everyone had a great weekend. Mine was really nice, actually I had an awesome experience “flying” over Napa Valley. My husband and I rode a hot air balloon early Saturday morning and it was such an adventure (bucket list for sure). We woke up super early because we had to be at Model Bakery at 5.30 am for coffee and pastries, then rode a van that took us super close to Domaine Chandon and we took the hot air balloon from there. I was a little scared about the idea to be “floating” in the air, BUT I think I have done scarier things like zip lining, paragliding and sky diving lol. Anyway, the flight was for about an hour, the views were breathtaking. I totally recommend it ! After the ride,they took us for brunch at Oxbow Market and then we went wine tasting at my favorite winery Castello Di Amorosa. I had a great day for sure!

I totally recommend the company “Balloons above the Valley” . Our pilot (Chad) was the best and they were super well organized. Here is the link in case you might want to try it someday https://balloonrides.com/

Now back to the recipe of today. I had bananas that were turning very dark, so I decided to make a banana bread but then I looked in my fridge and had some crushed pineapple (leftover from my pina colada cupcakes). So, I decided to make a banana-pineapple bread, interesting, uh? Problem was I had no eggs, so I decided to use flaxseed (which I always have for my smoothies) and apple sauce to add moisture to the bread and because this bread was kinda “tropical” I used coconut oil instead of canola oil, I think this bread turned out pretty healthy and vegan.

Let’s start with the recipe.

Yield 1 loaf pan

Ingredients

For the Bread:

½ cup coconut oil, melted and cooled (I like to use the on from Trader Joe’s)

1 cup cane sugar

½ cup unsweetened applesauce

½ tsp vanilla extract

2 large ripe bananas, mashed

½ cup drained crushed pineapple

2 cups all purpose flour, sifted

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

2 tablespoons ground flaxseed

1/4 cup shredded coconut

1/4 pineapple juice

3/4 cup chopped walnuts

For the glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

pineapple juice

Instructions

1.-Preheat the oven to 350. Grease a 9 by 5 loaf pan (I used melted coconut oil and brushed the pan).

2.- In a small bowl mix flour, baking powder, soda, salt, and ground flaxseed.

3.-In a large mixing bowl whisk together the coconut oil and sugar until combined. Add the applesauce and whisk until combined. Mix in the vanilla extract and stir. Add the mashed bananas and drained crushed pineapple. Stir until pineapple and banana are well mixed. Add the coconut and pineapple juice, mix well.

4.- Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and just mix until dry ingredients are combined with the wet. Do not overmix. Stir in walnuts.

5.- Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and spread evenly with a rubber spatula. Bake for 50-55 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a rack before glazing.

6.-After the loaf has cooled make the glaze. In a bowl add the powdered sugar and just enough of juice to make a glaze, about a teaspoon at a time. Spread the glaze onto to cooled loaf cake.

7.- You can decorate the bread with dried baby pineapple (I bought them at Trader Joe’s).

Enjoy!