I like my weekend mornings cozy and a tad lazy. Not in the sense nothing gets accomplished, but in the sense nothing gets rushed. Often times, I’ll bake the night before so I can wake up to a freshly-baked loaf of fruity bread & my favorite monogram “A” mug filled to the brim with warm, strong coffee. For the record, am a bit of a coffee snob. Yep, I said it. I grew up on the good stuff; I can’t stand the watered-down cups. But, may I also add that aside from coffee (and maybe chocolate) I don’t snob food or drink. At all.

Once upon a time, I used to eat lemon loaf and banana bread by the pound.  And because I staunchly refuse to quit or give up on these little life pleasures, I bake them in an entirely different fashion these days. The truth is; I enjoy cake far too much to give it up entirely. So everything I bake is mostly gluten-free, sometimes grain-free, always refined sugar-free and dairy free. Why the “mostly” gluten-free? Because I often bake with ancient grains like spelt flour which has gluten; but I tolerate spelt extremely well. But for the purposes of this recipe, this one has NO gluten & NO grains in the flour which makes it entirely paleo. It is not vegan because there’s plenty of eggs involved but I’ve nearly halved the amount of eggs by adding my now trusty unsweetened apple sauce to the mix. And- you can substitute the eggs by making a flax egg replacer, which I’ll add notes for, too.

I have a little confession… I was about to bake a Blueberry Lemon Loaf, until a fresh pint of organic raspberries on sale for $3.99 led to a last minute impulse buy. Which often happens when you cook and eat based on what’s available, what’s in season now and what’s on sale. It’s a great way to eat, friends. There’s things I always need; my so-called fixed staples. But a great way to save money is to design your weekly dinner menu around what’s on sale this week at your local grocery store. It’s served me well. I walk around and see canned organic beans or brussels sprouts or mango on sale and I know my quinoa will have beans, my eggs a side of brussels, and my chia pudding will be loaded with mango this week. It’s that simple, sales decide my toppings.

Anywho, back to cake. Because it’s very late at night as am writing this narrative and the pictures of this loaf are making me HAN-GRY. [Read hungry + angry]. I’m also getting ready to head south for my little sister’s wedding, and I just can’t wait! Maybe I’ll bake this loaf for the plane. Heck yes, perfect plane food. For me and for little hands alike; easy to carry around and it’s so moist and filling and packed with ALL the good things. P.S. Never drink plane coffee! Just saying… So here’s the recipe I promised. Hint: it’s super easy. You need one bowl, a whisk and an oven. Oh and the ingredients, of course. But you get the idea, pretty sure my Ethan could pull this one off like a champ!

Check out how pretty the lemony/unrefined sweetener simple glaze makes the loaf look! I was going to add nut milk or tofutti vegan sour cream to make the glaze a bit white, but I didn’t want to hide this beautiful, golden color the loaf came out with!