Pancake MANIA!!!

Buckwheat Baby Cakes

I have a thing for pancakes. If you have been reading this blog for any length of time you will notice a flapjack recipe usually appears at least once monthly. I am a carb queen.

Add caption

 I love to start my day with sweet hot cakes. One of the down sides of this blog is I don't have one place with all my  recipes. I find it frustrating trying to locate old posts; "what was the name of that dish?" I decided I am going to be re-posting some of my recipes by category to make recipes easier to find. Click on the caption link under each pancake picture for the recipe.

Banana Blueberry Griddle Cakes

Salmon Burgers (gluten free)

5 Fish Facts & Me

1. Wild not farmed fish for me!
2. The first meal I made for Rich when we were dating was baked Salmon. He tried it with   much persuasion and now loves it!
3. I was once ordered a whole baked red snapper at a restaurant  I did not know whole meant the freaking fish eyeballs and all dead on your plate. The sight of the dead fish staring me in the eyes caused me to knock it over spilling dinner all over myself.
4.Fish make terrible pets. Once the poor creature comes into my possession their life span is cut severely short.
5. I detest frozen breaded fish sticks. I think they are below human consumption.

Banana Bread Pancakes (gluten free) & Happy Valentine's Day

I am so excited about this post. These pancakes are delicious, easy to make, and gluten free. I love this photo too! I took over 30 pictures for this post.  I have come a LONG way from my early blogging days only eight months ago and am looking forward to growing in my writing and my food photography.
I picked a few Gerber daisy flowers from my garden to use in my photo shots for this recipe. I am in Florida remember. I keep a garden in the winter. It is pouring down buckets of rain down here while its a frozen tundra in the North.
As I was snapping away I noticed some movement on the flower petals. Look at the little friend that made this a great shot today.

I am wishing you a very wonderful Valentine's Day. May you take time today to be with those you love and that love you. Love and be loved!

-Brooklynn

Skinny Mint Recovery Shake

I feel so deeply guilty dodging those cute little girl scouts guarding the entrance of my place of employment these last few weeks. I just want to say "I can't eat your poisonous cookies, but here's a $20 for your trouble." Even if I was not gluten sensitive I would stir clear of these health demoting time bombs.Have you ever taken a look at the ingredients in those things?! Before you get all up in arms about my anti-girl scout COOKIE antics.Know that I am pro-girl scout (go girl power!) There is more to the cookie program than just making money for camping trips. The cookie campaign teaches life skills to these young ladies. That is awesome and I applaud their mission I'm just not buying any darn cookies.

I used to be obsessed with enjoy thin mints. One of my best childhood friends, Erica, was a girl scout and got me hooked on samoas.

The Perfect Breakfast Muffin (gluten free & Paleo inspired)

 

My family consumes a truck load of eggs on a weekly basis. Rich and I were discussing this during the course of the past week. Our egg consumption has increased from a dozen over a few weeks to a few dozen over a week. This is in large part due to our gluten free diet and clean eating habits. Thank God eggs are not terribly expensive. These days the cost of all food has sky rocketed. I began thinking back to my childhood egg consumption. My mom or dad would make scrambled eggs maybe once a week on the weekends; otherwise it was cold cereal, toaster strudel, or a bagel and out the door I went to school. My diet now is a far cry from the convenient carb filled goodness of elementary school yesteryear. Despite the change of eating habits my love for baked morning goods has not left me.  I whipped these muffins up one morning spurred by the desire for something soft and slightly sweet to sink my teeth into. 

Unboxing the polar FT60 (Women's)

I had this Amazon gift card burning a hole in my pocket for the last two months (thanks Dad!) It is always a decision between kitchen accessories or workout equipment when I have extra cash to spend. I have been wanting to purchase a heart rate monitor that I could use doing any type of training and it would measure calorie burn. I am a numbers person. I like to see what I am achieving in my workouts. I used to rely on the inaccurate calorie and distance monitors on cardio equipment in the gym. I have spent so many years endlessly running on treadmills like a caged hamster I  rarely use cardio equipment these days. I prefer to perform pylometric or outdoor workouts.

Source

                           
I've used my new Polar FT60 several times this past week and I  LOVE it!

Rawmesan Collard Greens Chips

You've heard of kale chips, but have you heard of collard greens chips? Same concept different leafy green and equally delicious. These little chips curb my salty crunchy cravings without weighing me down or bloating me up.

Baked Stuffed Apple

Sometimes I just want something simple and sweet. No muss no fuss. Requiring little effort put forth to satisfy my sweet tooth. The sweet tooth that never goes away. Ever.  I indulge once maybe twice a week in my "treat of the week." I tweet my #treatoftheweek as proof of honoring my cravings and enjoyment of decadent treats. I don't believe in absolute deprivation. That is unbalanced and a bland way to live.
I invite you to tweet me your #treatoftheweek. What is your favorite treat to indulge in?

Baked Stuff Apples

4 apples washed and cored and intact
1/4 cup of blanched almond flour
2 TBS of coconut sugar
1 TBS of coconut oil
1/4 tsp of ground cinnamon
1/4 cup of raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a rimmed 8x8 baking dish with parchment paper. Place cored apples on top of parchment paper and set aside. In a medium sized mixing bowl combine almond flour,sugar, and cinnamon. Mix to combine. Stir in coconut oil and mix until crumb mixture forms then toss in raisins. Stuff the apples with almond flour mixture. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour  until apples are tender when pierced with a fork.  Serves 4.