Buttermilk Pancakes

 

It's a holiday! That means two glorious things: 1) Ben is home to help take care of my ever so active children and 2) I can actually make a fresh warm breakfast without the previously mentioned little rugrats clawing at my feet. So either I can celebrate our forefathers and the presidents of our wonderful nation or I can celebrate the afore mentioned benefits of a "holiday". How about let's just settle with celebrating both!

 

Braelyn used to LOVE helping me make pancakes. I would make an entire batch and we would eat a third, refrigerate a third and freeze a third. That's how much this girl likes her pancakes. The ones in the fridge were lucky to even last through the day, seeing as how she loves to snack on them plain as well.

 

After her celiac diagnosis she sadly asked if she could still eat pancakes. With those big brown eyes looking back at me, I just couldn't bear to say no. And so the hunt for a perfect gluten free buttermilk pancake began. I will say that in all honesty, these pancakes are even better than the regular old buttermilk pancakes that I have made before, in all their gluteny glory! Seriously, these pancakes are delicious. Fluffy. Light. Moist. Perfect.

 

So maybe I did still have two little rugrats clawing at my feet this holiday. But, it was all worth it to have two such happy helpers...if that's what you consider them. Maybe one day I'll actually let them do the honors of flipping the pancakes. Until then, that's mama's job!

 

Buttermilk Pancakes

Ingredients:

1/2 cup oat flour

1/2 cup brown rice flour

1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon arrowroot flour/starch

1 teaspoon xanthan gum

3 teaspoons baking powder

3 tablespoons sugar

3/4 teaspoons salt

4 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

2 tablespoons cooking oil

 

Directions:

1. In a small bowl mix together oat flour, rice flour, arrowroot flour, xanthan gum and baking powder.

2. In a larger mixing bowl, beat eggs. Whisk in sugar, salt, buttermilk and cooking oil.

3. Add flour mixture to egg mixture and stir until incorporated.

4. Heat skillet over medium low heat (dial 4 out of 10). Spray skillet with cooking spray. Scoop about 1/4 cup per pancake onto skillet. Let sit until outer edges loose their sheen and are slightly puffy. They should easily be lifted with spatula. This takes about 3 minutes of cooking.

5. Flip pancakes and let cook about 1 minute more. Continue making pancakes until batter is done, spraying with cooking spray between each batch. Serve immediately with your choice of toppings. Can be stored in the fridge for up to 5 days or in freezer for 3 months.

Makes about 16 pancakes



Banana Muffins

I have a love hate relationship with gluten free baking. I love the challenge and the accomplishment you feel when you finally create something worth eating. But, the challenge getting there is hair pulling, wall punching, top of your lungs screaming annoying! It's an annoying that it past the point of crying and straight into obsessive hysteria. Really. For two entire days all I did was bake cookies, cupcakes and muffins determined to find the hidden secret in each recipe. Ben almost commited me to a looney bin. I just couldn't let it go.

But I'll have to say, once you finally hit a homerun, it makes all the failure worth it. You feel on top of the world...like you could conquer anything. And seeing the look on Braelyn's face each time we add a new version of her past favorite cuisines to her "safe menu" is in one overused but perfectly accurate word...priceless.

This banana muffin far surpases any of those gluten free muffin mixes or gluten free all purpose flour blend muffin recipes out there. Instead of being wet and gritty or oppositely crumbly and dry, these muffins have a texture, flavor and density that a pleasant banana muffin should have.

I love making these mid sized muffins for on the go snacks for my kids. They are an easy fresh snack to cart around that are a much better option than any prepackaged goods out there. Plus they freeze well for later easy snacking. So get baking my gluten free fans!

 

Banana Muffins

 

Ingredients:

1/4 cup coconut flour

1/2 cup brown rice flour

1/4 cup potato starch

1 cup sweet white sorghum flour

3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

3 medium ripe bananas, mashed

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup milk (level, not domed over)

 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with paper liners. Sift all flours, potato starch, xanthan gum, baking soda and salt together. Set aside.

 

2. In a stand mixer cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and combine. Add half of the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Add milk and slowly mix. Add remaining dry ingredients until just combined. Stir in mashed bananas until incorporated into batter.

 

3. Fill muffin tins with batter until 2/3 full. Bake at 350 for 20-23 minutes, rotating after about 20 minutes. If tops are overly browning you can lay a sheet of foil over the tops for the last few minutes. Muffins should be stiff and spring back at the touch of your finger when done. Make sure to not underbake or muffins will be wet in the center.

 

Makes about 20 regular sized muffins



Bacon Spinach Feta Omelet

Marathon training is tough! Kudos to anyone out there who has ever done it before. You know what the two main shockers are when you start training to run 26.2 miles? (I know, I must be nuts!) It's how tired you are and how hungry you are! Again, I'm an avid cereal eater. But some days a bowl of cereal just doesn't cut it. Plus, I've been trying to add more protein to my diet.

What is a great source of protein that lots of people eat for breakfast? Eggs! Now there is nothing wrong with the 2-step easy peasy scrambled egg, but let's be adults here and eat an eggy breakfast made for the wiser of years. Haha! Okay, not true. My 1 1/2 year old Emry downed this breakfast and signed for more.

 

 

This is no boring omelet with predictable melted cheddar cheese in the middle. This omelet yields a salty tang due to the turkey bacon and crumbled feta packaged inside. And for some extra health benefits I threw in some chopped spinach. Of course an omelet is not an omelet in my books without some sliced avocado on top. Good morning and good day world!

 

 

Bacon Spinach Feta Omelet

 

Ingredients:

3 slices of turkey bacon (I used reduced sodium)

1 cup packed spinach leaves, chopped

2 eggs
salt
pepper
2 tablespoons crumbled feta cheese
1/4 sliced avocado

Directions:
1. Prepare ingredients by chopping bacon into1/4" squares. Finely chop spinach leaves. Whisk eggs together and sprinkle with some salt and pepper. Slice the avocado.

 

2. Spray a 9" round skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium heat. Cook bacon pieces for about 5 minutes until they begin to brown. Reserve 1 tablespoon and set aside on a paper towel.

 

3. Add chopped spinach and cook for an additional 2 minutes, constantly stirring so bacon doesn't burn.

 

4. Reduce heat to medium low and pour in eggs. Tilt pan to coat bottom evenly with the eggs. Put a lid on top and let cook for 2 minutes until barely set.

 

5. Remove pan from heat and sprinkle 1 1/2 tablespoons of feta on half of the egg. Fold the half without cheese over the other half.

 

6. Transfer to plate and top with sliced avocado, remaining feta cheese and reserved bacon pieces.

 

Serves 1



Lemon Berry Smoothie

I've been a breakfast person ever since I can remember. Usually I'm looking forward to breakfast by about 12:30 am when I am finally going to sleep for the night. Seriously, I dink around so long getting ready for bed that by the time I hit the sack, I'm hungry. Pure laziness overtakes the hunger and I just find myself laying there thinking about what I will eat for breakfast in the morning until I fall asleep. I guess it kinda has the same effect on me as counting sheep.

Needless to say, the first thing I do when I pop out of bed in the morning is grab a cold bowl of cereal and chow down. My baby girl Emry is right there with me. We have the same idea when we wake up: FOOD! Braelyn, on the other hand, gets so distracted by all the exciting things she can do in the day that breakfast is the last thing on her mind. She was up for two hours before she asked for something to eat today. Her tummy was feeling extra yucky today (we can't start her on gluten free until after her endoscopy on Thursday) so I asked her if she would like a smoothie. I never make smoothies. This girl was in heaven!

I felt a little sneaky making this because I slipped an entire cup of fresh spinach in the mix. Braelyn couldn't even tell. She grabbed a jacket, sat on the back porch and drank it like a milkshake. Hehehe!

 

Lemon Berry Smoothie

 

Ingredients:

1 cup packed fresh spinach leaves

1/2-3/4 cup skim milk

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 cup nonfat vanilla greek yogurt

1/2 small banana

1 cup blueberries

2 cups frozen strawberries (if you don't have frozen, reduce to 1 cup and add 1 cup of ice)

 

Directions:

1. Add ingredients into blender. I made the mistake of putting frozen strawberries on the bottom so it was hard to blend the whole thing. Make sure your frozen ingredients are at the top.

 

 

2. Blend ingredients until fully pureed. You may need to stir with a spoon and pulse mixture occasionally.

 

 

3. Serve immediately and garnish as desired.

 

Makes about 4 servings (8 oz. each)

 







Banana {health}Nut Pancakes

Mornings...what can I say? Mornings are tough for anyone I think. I don't care who out there claims to be a morning person, the moment you "wake up" whether it's to an alarm, a kid bounding into your bed or even just the sun peeking through your window...whose first thought isn't a swear word?! Haha! Seriously, on the record here, that is how I wake up every morning, and I'm one of those who claims to be a morning person. I just can't help it. It's probably more so the thought of everything I have to get done that day, rather than just the waking up part, but nonetheless the inner conversation going on in my head at 6:30 am is not "G" rated.

That being said, the last thing I want to do is cook breakfast. Poor Braelyn asks me all the time to make pancakes, but I just don't have it in me. Plus, I'm hungry the second I wake up. All I want is my bowl of plain shredded wheat cereal, soaked in ice cold milk with sliced bananas on top. Call me crazy, but it's one of my favorite things to eat.

Occasionally on weekends I will muster up the energy to make a nice breakfast, and this morning was one of those special times. Because breakfast is the most important meal of the day I like to make sure that our breakfasts are hearty, healthy and of course delicious. In fact, I have a sugar rule for breakfast since most people tend to pack their morning meals full of sugar. I won't buy any cereal unless there are 9 grams or less of sugar per serving, and that is even pushing it. That's why I love making these Banana {health}Nut Pancakes. These pancakes are made with 100% whole wheat and contain no sugar or oil. Plus they are made with skim milk. The bananas give them the mild sweetness they need and the peanut butter provides a protein punch. This breakfast will stay with you and your sweet kiddos until you can really wake up!

 

Banana {health}Nut Pancakes

 

Ingredients:

1 medium ripe banana, mashed (about 1/2 cup)

3 eggs, well beaten

1 cup skim milk

1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons peanut butter (I like crunchy for the extra texture, but can use creamy)

 

Directions:

1. Begin heating skillet on medium low heat.

2. In a large mixing bowl, beat by hand the mashed banana, eggs and milk. In a smaller separate bowl, mix together dry ingredients. Pour dry mixture into wet and mix with a spoon until incorporated. Add in peanut butter and mix until well combined.

3. Spray skillet with cooking spray to avoid sticking and pour about 1/4 cup batter for each pancake. Cook for about 3 minutes until you begin to see batter bubble from the top. Flip each pancake and cook 45 seconds to one minute more. Remove pancakes.

 

 

 

4. Serve warm with sliced bananas, chopped nuts and a touch of maple syrup. Enjoy waking up!

 

*Makes 12-18 pancakes

 

 

Oh, and somebody was a little excited this morning! Wink wink!