Coconut Flour Pancakes and Waffles

A recipe search for "paleo pancakes" is what led me to Marks Daily Apple for the first time last winter. Fairly new to the exciting world of grain-free baking, I had never even considered making grain-free pancakes or waffles. After a quick Google search, the first search result was a link to MDA. My first click into the world of Mark Sisson had me hooked. His website became my new obsession, and I gained much more knowledge of the paleo lifestyle through his website. The recipe I found for pancakes was one that used almond meal, and although they were delicious, they didn't quite make the pancake cut. They were more like yummy almond latkes. After a year of adventures in grain-free cooking, along with my favorite partner in crime (and love of my life, Bill), I decided on a second attempt at grain-free pancakes (plus waffles!), this time with coconut flour.

As an artist, I love creating art out of food. I visualize all that is going into the recipe, how it will look during cooking, and how I want it to look after. My desire for cooking is more targeted toward creating something I never knew I could create, rather than the final result of getting to eat it. A bonus to it all is making something that I know Bill will love, and his reaction to the food that I make is the icing on the cake. For this recipe, I knew we would create something beautiful, delicious, and I knew Bill would absolutely love it.

This is a simple recipe for waffles, or pancakes. The only difference in the two is that we added extra cinnamon to the waffles for a stronger cinnamon flavor. The topping for the waffles were simple sliced bananas sauteed in coconut oil, along with chopped pecans. The sweetness of the banana, along with the warm, sweet flavors of the pecans and maple syrup combined beautifully together. This was definitely a dessert breakfast, but for those of you missing the comfort of a warm waffle or pancake breakfast, this one is for you!


Waffles
Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 4 eggs
• 1 tbsp coconut milk
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 dropper of liquid stevia

Process:

1. In a medium sized mixing bowl, blend all ingredients with a hand mixer.
2. Heat waffle iron to 'waffle' setting (seriously!) - its medium high heat, typically.
3. Drop batter into center of waffle iron to cover about 3/4 of area. This batter does not expand the way traditional flour waffles do.
4. Waffles are done when they easily separate from the waffle iron, typically 3-5 minutes.
   

recipe above makes just over 1 cluster of 4 waffles (10x10 waffle iron)

[Printer friendly recipe - click here]

Pancakes
Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 4 eggs
• 1 tbsp coconut milk
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 dropper of liquid stevia
  

Process:

1. In a medium sized mixing bowl, blend all ingredients with a hand mixer.
2. Heat coconut oil in a non-stick frying pan or griddle to medium heat.
3. Pour 1/8 cup of batter into frying pan or griddle.
   
4. Cook for 2 minutes, flip, cook for 2 more minutes, repeat with the rest of the batter.

[Printer friendly recipe - click here]

Fried Banana and Toasted Pecan Topping
Ingredients:

• 1 tsp coconut oil
• 1 banana
• 1/4 cup pecans, chopped

Process:

1. Heat coconut oil in a non-stick frying pan on medium heat.
2. Slice banana and add to frying pan.
3. Sear banana slices until brown and crispy on the bottom side, then flip.
4. Add pecans to frying pan and lightly toast with the seared banana slices.
5. Top over waffles or pancakes and serve.

We topped the waffles and pancakes with a drizzle of pure maple syrup. These protein packed waffles would be a wonderful treat to bring as breakfast in bed to your loved one come Valentines day, or as a breakfast treat for your grain-free little one. Anyway you'd like to serve them, you wont be disappointed.

As always, enjoy!

Breakfast Buritto

We have had a fewpeople come to us asking for more breakfast options. Yes, our classic veggie scramble is delicious, hard boiled eggs are quick and easy, you can't go wrong with egg muffins, and who doesn't like classic bacon and eggs? With any way of eating, it is easy to get bored if you are eating the same thing over and over. One of our goals with this blog is to keep healthy eating fresh and exciting by offering many meal options to keep you all inspired to continue to make healthy choices with your eating.

The great thing about primal eating is that more often than not Bill and I don't even realize we are hungry until lunch time, so getting bored with the same breakfast doesn't happen often for us. However, we are constantly on the hunt for exciting breakfast ideas. After Bill made his delicious taco recipe the other night, I immediately had a breakfast idea that I thought would be fantastic. My thought was to make a crepe style egg tortilla, and fill it with our tasty taco ground turkey, top it with guacamole, wrap it all up in the egg tortilla, and drizzle some hot sauce on it. Mmmm delicious.
This was our first attempt at making a tortilla out of an egg. It was surprisingly very easy, and held up just fine for the meal. For this dish we used free range liquid egg whites from Trader Joe's, but feel free to use whole omega 3 eggs. Both options would be fantastic.

Ingredients:

Homestyle taco meat (Just the seasoned ground turkey. Grass fed beef is great too, if you prefer red meat.)

Guacamole (Brock's Guac')1/3 cup free range liquid egg white, or 2 whole omega 3 eggs whisked
Hot sauce - (Franks Red Hot is fine, or you can grab any organic hot sauce that your taste buds desire. Just be sure to check the ingredients, sometimes sugar sneaks in there.)
Process:
Brown ground turkey or beef in a skillet, and season with our homemade taco seasoning.
Grease a frying pan with cooking spray, or coconut oil.
Pour egg into frying pan on medium low heat, and allow egg to cook all the way through.
Carefully remove egg from frying pan and place on a plate.
Scoop ground taco meat onto egg tortilla, and top with Brock's Guac'.
Drizzle with hot sauce if desired. Wrap up the burrito and enjoy!

Sweet Potato, Bacon, and Egg Salad

So tasty for breakfast or lunch! Try and eat directly after preparing as the bacon and sweet potatoes will be fresh.
I make this times 4 and it eat when I need a quick something. Yum!

Ingredients
2/3 cup diced sweet potato 
2 eggs 
2 rashes of bacon, diced using meat only 
1tbs oil 
4tbs dill, finely chopped 
2tbs mayonnaise 
2tbs lemon juice 
Instructions
Boil eggs in water until cooked. Peel and dice. 
Boil sweet potato for 4-5 minutes 
Heat over skillet medium-high. Add olive oil and bacon and cook until slightly crunchy.
In a small bowl, mix dill, mayonnaise and lemon juice. 
Place eggs, sweet potato, bacon and mayonnaise sauce into a medium size serving bowl and combine well.

If you aren’t a dill fan it tastes great with thyme. 
Recipe is from www.paleoplan.com
They have a lot of great recipies.

Chicken Jalapeno Sausage and Red Onion Frittata

I don't need to tell anyone the benefits of eating a good paleo, protein filled breakfast. Even your mom knew it was most important meal of the day. But then Monday morning arrives in a harried fury and you find yourself 15 minutes late before your alarm has even gone off. In a post-shower mad rush with your wet hair, maybe in a panic you grab a banana, and tell yourself this is the last week you'll start unprepared. Out the door you go, inevitably forgetting something.


Eating paleo isn't hard if you're prepared, which is sometimes easier said than done, but with this easy recipe, you'll have breakfast every morning of the week with only a few extra minutes of work.



Frittata of the Week: Chicken Jalapeno Sausage and Red Onion


I got my sausage from a specialty market meat counter, it's a great way to get fresh sausage, and you can talk to the butcher about what ingredients it may have, as well as the flavors.


Brown sausage (about 1 lb, removed from casing) and 1 chopped red onion on a pan. Spray baking dish with olive oil/canola oil spray, and dump in onion/sausage mixture. Beat eggs - for this size dish I used 10 eggs, which feeds the husband for 5 days - with a pinch if salt and a couple tbs of water. Dump in the baking dish and grind some pepper on top.


Bake at 375 for about 15 minutes, or until the middle has set. Garnish with fresh chopped chives. Keep it covered in the fridge and cut yourself a square every morning - it's delicious hot or cold.