Whiteley Creek Homestead

My daughter, Lisa, recently visited Paris. She took a photo of the store where Julia Child shopped for her bakeware.   

She returned with a shiny, long, narrow baking pan to replicate the bakery goods she saw in Paris bakeries… and a jar of jam. For me. Sweet. The jam's jar is labeled with the words cerises blanches et framboises. I do not read French. I wish I could. It is a beautiful language. Google Translator rescued me. The French to English translation is white cherries and raspberries. All I can say is that the chunkiness of the halved white cherries combined with the smooth raspberry puree is far and above the best jam that has touched my lips. I envision an apron-clad French woman running her little cottage business in the countryside of France. As the sun is barely rising above the horizon, she slips into her garden clogs then walks across the morning dew-covered grass to her raspberry patch where she plucks freshly ripened berries for me. For my jar of jam.  

My precious jar of jam is the perfect spread for a cake-like, gluten-free Honey Almond Sunflower Loaf that I made today from a recipe in my January/February 2010 Clean Eating Magazine. Sweetened with just 2 tbsp honey, this nutrient dense bread made with almond, buckwheat, and quinoa flours is tender and earthy with a cake-like, soft crumb. Spread with white cherry and raspberry jam. Oh, my.

Honey Almond Sunflower Loaf

1 cup almond meal

¾ cup buckwheat flour

1 ¼ cups quinoa flour

3 tsp baking powder

1 egg

2 egg whites

1 cup milk (e.g., cow, goat, unsweetened almond or rice milk)

1/3 cup olive oil (Try half unsweetened applesauce.)

2 tbsp raw organic honey

¼ cup + 1 tbsp unsalted sunflower seeds (raw or toasted),
divided

olive oil cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a medium bowl, whisk together
almond meal, flours, and baking powder. In a small bowl, whisk together egg,
egg whites, milk, oil, honey, and ¼ cup seeds. Add wet ingredients to dry
ingredients and combine. Do not over-mix. Mist a 9- or 10-inch loaf pan with
cooking spray. Pour batter into pan and sprinkle remaining 1 tbsp sunflower
seeds over top of loaf. Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in
the middle comes out clean. Cool bread before removing from pan. Option: Loaded
with heart-healthy monounsaturated fat, fiber, vitamins and protein, this bread
can also be made into muffins for an on-the-go nutritious snack. Simply reduce
baking time to 15 to 20 minutes for a standard 12-cup muffin pan.