Recipe: Banana Cake/Bars (with barley malt & stevia)

An unusual recipe there. I'd definitely try it if it wasnt for the malt.

If the applesauce is just cooked apple then yes it works from a structure POV. I have used apples in place of bananas, and the cakes tend to be denser and the flavour not as good, but it works. For best flavour though I find banana cake recipes too heavily flavoured for apple, better I think to use a very light flavoured cake, with apple as almost the only flavour.

One can also use fruit in cake rather than sugar or concentrated sweeteners - currants work fairly well with banana cake, they make it darker and heavier in taste. Mixed fruit works too. I've never understood why people pour such huge amounts of sugar into cakes.

Regards, NT

Thanks for your comments, NT! I'm eating the stuff, and I'm finding it quite OK & filling. Yet even this leaves a bit of an acidic aftertaste if ya know what I mean, though if I take it together with mild tea, it may be a bit better.

Then again, I get these aftertastes from many cakes I eat - could be that it's caused by whole-grain flours. Maybe I should have eliminated the whole wheat in the above recipe, who knows.. I know that oats and whole wheat tested bad for me kineseologically, and I bet that's because of them triggering acid reaction in my already overly-acidic body. Molasses tested good for me, and I bet barley malt & rice syrup would also test good.

BTW, concentrated starches, such as too-dense potatoes, cause me bad joint pains. Cherries have the opposite effect - they're really great, even heal internal bleeding when taken on empty stomach.

I know people consider chocolate cake unhealthy, but believe it or not, some deliciously moist chocolate cake recipes which call for loads of sugar PLUS lots of eggs PLUS regular white flour, leave me feeling pretty good, with no acidic aftertaste.

So sometimes I wonder - should I listen to all the "health food hype"? Or, should I listen to what my body is telling me?

Our bodies can only tell us short term things, not what the incidence of heart attacks and cancer is going to be later on. But they will tell us if something isnt working right short term.

Regards, NT

I hear what you're saying NT, but nevertheless, from my real-life experience I find there's such a thing as food properties counteracting each others' ill effects - to cause a good reaction. I.E. it's just a matter of food combining. For example, granola or orange juice in & of themselves may be too irritating, but when accompanied with milk/cream, they become more tolerable.

And in the case of chocolate cake, my hunch tells me that the white flour & eggs within chocolate cake may NOT build up in the body, because the sugar & cocoa (also within choco cake) have the properties of triggering digestion and thus propelling & expelling any potential sticky build-up. And vice versa, any irritating (acid-reacting) properties of the cake's sugar & cocoa are counterbalanced by the lysine/mucuous properties of the eggs - toward a synergistic effect.

P.S. Back to the subject of barley malt, for anyone interested in some more barley malt (& other) ideas, here are some healthy & filling instant-snacks which can serve as either snacks or meals:

Rice cakes slathered with coconut oil & barley malt

Rice cakes slathered with coconut oil & rice syrup

Rice cakes slathered with sesame butter & barley malt (cheaper than coconut oil

Rice cakes slathered with sesame butter & rice syrup (ditto)

(Molasses too, if you go for the stronger flavor. And molasses provides iron.

And wash down the above snack with warm water or super-green powder dissolved in water, or mullein tea, or decaf spearmint tea.

Yes Ive come across that too, though thats entirely different to whats above.

Anything to back that guess up?

Regards, NT

Nah ;-)

it's based on my personal experience with combining various foods, & if there's one thing I learned - it's that even the "professionals" (both mainstream & alternative) are full of hype themselves, and they all basically mimic each other with perhaps a few variations here & there. For example, the latest "they" claim is that canola oil is unhealthy. Well, my *body* tells me canola is good for me, and that I get adverse reactions when I sautee in olive oil, especially virgin olive oil, and *especially* if I fry onions in olive oil. I do *not* get those reactions from canola! "They" are also claiming that microwaved food is unhealthy, but my body doesn't agree with that. And so much more... So who should I believe? The "professionals" over my own body? No thank you, I trust my body more. ;-)

snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com (Maiden) wrote in message news:...

How can that be that granola bars and orange juice be irritating.... The digestive system cannot discriminate that if compared to eating muesli with orange juice. Milk and cream when mixed in the bowl with acidic substance may have a tendency to clot....we are not sure that it goes the same way down our stomach. When we consume milk and cream successively it is just broken down by our digestive system by enzymatic means to digestible products.

Sounds like Taoist type of food combining?.. and other related naturopathic claim by practitioner of alternative medicine. Unfortunately there is not a reliable scientific evidence to back up such claim. IIRC there is also a version in ayurvedic medicine

Biochemicaly flour contains carbohydrates and eggs contains fats and even cholesterol that can be accumulated later in the arteries in later life and can lead to cardiovascular problems.

I do not understand either how chemically sugar and cocoa had such ?trigger happy attitude' to digestion. Both of these materials contains carbohydrates and even fat.They just pass through our alimentary system like other foods with ho spectacular effect on our body. These will build up first when the starches are converted to sugars by the amylolytic enzyme ptyalin in the saliva to sugar ( likely glucose ) and the other parts by the instestinal amylases. This sugar can encourage the bacteria in mouth called streptococcus mutans to produce plaque build up by biochemically converting them to acids which can promote the build up of dextran polymer created by the same microbe which is that accumulate in the nooks and cranies in the gums and teeth location. Cocoa can contain the alkaloid theobromine which has stimulating effect like caffeine to the nervous system and indeed may trigger the neurotransmitters to dictate the body that the appetite needs to be whetted.oe otherwise. Indeed it is true that sugar and cocoa will finally form acids and cocoa( if its natural is slightly acidic). Now regarding the lysine/mucous properties. It is not lysine and amino acid but possibly an enzyme(IIRC lyase that dissolves some cell wall components that can disrupt pathogen cell walls and led to its destruction. This particular enzyme( protein) is present in egg white and saliva. Now mucus is just part of body fluids a complex mixture usually a polymeric complex of carbohydrates, proteins and fats dispersed in water which controls its visocosity.. If the poster says that due to the mucilaginous properties of mucus it can neutralize the bad effect in consuming offensive items. I do not see that there is enough scientific evidence to support that?? maybe that is a plausible explanation from naturopathic or any new age alternative medicine description. But what ever it is was not concretely proven by pragmatic and exacting techniques of modern science.

that will increase you saturated fat in your body as well as your blood sugar and also calories totally.

the same also with here....

WEell sesame oil may contain more polyunsaturates than coconut oil but its still fat. and that offer more of calory per gram compared to sugars and starches.

Now washing tbose things with herbal tea will not make you more healthy either. Such unique tea can introduce other factors that have questionable health benefits..... There are phytochemicals that even cause allergy in many people;Only those people who follow alternative healthstyle which they believe will make them healthy without the benefit of scientific proof...

It is better just to eat piece of banana cake/bars and drink a wholesome fruit juice or just plain mineral water and you will feel satiated and still healthy as long as you do not overindulge in such high sugar foodstuff. Roy

So, sue my body, because that's what's making the "claim".

And maybe your body is making another "claim" so maybe I should sue your body as well...

;-)

Getting back to the topic of recipes, may someone out there, somewhere, sometime enjoy the recipe, and if not that, then maybe the rice-cake spread ideas which are easier.

Bye now. :-)

I think we should wait for class action.