Crock Pot [keepin' the kitchen cool!] GLUTEN FREE Banana Bread

Wow, what a ride it has been these past ten months. There is much to update, so much I want to share that I've been unsure of even where to start. This post will break my writer's block/overload, perhaps, since it's just for fun! :)
The one health update I'll share today is that I am thrilled to report, my platelet count has been steadily climbing since I left the hospital in June! Yesterday it came back one point below NORMAL range!  God is healing me thru and thru!

So onto the banana bread fun!
I discovered this idea when we had a major heat wave the weekend of Mother's Day, and I wanted to make quick bread for the brunch, but did NOT want my kitchen to get any hotter than it already was!
Enter my favorite kitchen appliance: the crock pot! This recipe as my inspiration,
I made some modifications and voila, Banana bread in under three hours with no extra mercury rising in the house.

What you need:
1 3/4 cup Trader Joe's Gluten Free flour blend
1 tsp xanthan gum
2 tsps baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt

3/4 cup coconut sugar (check out Madhava brand Organic Coconut Sugar thru Subscribe & Save on Amazon!)
1/3 cup organic butter or coconut oil
2 cage free eggs, beaten
2 ripe, medium to large size bananas (or 3 small), mashed
1 tsp pure vanilla extract (I use Trader Joe's Pure Bourbon Vanilla Extract),
1/2 cup frozen organic blueberries

What you do:
Grease the crock of a 3 (ish) quart slow cooker with butter or coconut oil. Set aside.
In a medium mixing bowl, sift together all dry ingredients except sugar (flour, gum, soda, powder, salt).

In another bowl, cream together butter (or coconut oil) with coconut sugar until blended. Gently mix in beaten eggs, mashed bananas, and vanilla.
Add in the dry ingredients slowly, blending well with a whisk.
Stir in the blueberries (no thawing needed).

Pour batter into pregreased crock, smoothing the top with spatula. Cover and set to High. Walk away - you're basically done! :)

Check the bread with a toothpick after 2 hours. It will be done between two and three hours. (Slow cooker power levels vary by brand.)

When bread is done, toothpick should come out clean, but bread will be moist and oil sizzling on the edges. Remove lid and let cool/set up for five minutes. Cut into pieces and scoop out of crock, or turn out the whole loaf onto a plate and cut to serve
Enjoy!

*Sometimes it is recommended to prop open the lid with a wooden spoon when baking in crock pots. I've never done this, but know it's an option if bread is too moist/not setting up.

Update: This recipe is even more fool proof than I thought! I ran out of Gf flour blend but had ripe bananas to use, so I thought I woukd experiment.

I used 1 cup brown rice flour and 3/4 cup teff flour. I was much more lax with the mixing too, I just combined all the wet ingreds together, added the dry, and put in the crock. This time I set the slow cooker on Low and let it go 4 hours. It turned out great - moist and delicious again! it was just slightly darker in color because of the teff flour.

so there you go, this recipe is even more versatile tban we knew!

If you make any changes be sure and comment to share your experience :)