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

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

Pumpkin Pancakes Part Deux (Paleo Inspired)

There have been a lot of breakfast posts lately on this blog. Rosemary & Maple Turkey Patties, Paleo Pancakes and the like. One would think that I consume breakfast for all three meals a day. I don't, but who doesn't love breakfast for dinner?! During finals week of my undergraduate years at Palm Beach Atlantic University the faculty and staff would host a "It is Midnight Somewhere Breakfast." The dinning hall would open around 9 pm to serve carb-craving, stressed out students delicious breakfast food. I remember piling my plate high with sausages, pancakes, and eggs all the while feverishly talking with my peers as to their predictions for the Microbiology final. Belly full I would then scurry back to  my dorm to study. The midnight breakfast was a chance to break from all the cramming and take comfort in my favorite breakfast foods.

This will be the second pumpkin pancake recipe on the Lean Gourmet Kitchen. I found a great deal for organic canned pumpkin on Vitacost last week and couldn't wait to cook with it.
 So eat up cause it is midnight somewhere.

Pumpkin Pancakes Part Deux (Paleo Inspired)

4 eggs beaten
1/2 cup of pureed pumpkin

5 TBS of coconut flour

1/4 cup of coconut milk

3 TBS of organic butter melted or coconut butter

2 TBS of raw honey

1 tsp of vanilla extract

1 tsp of cinnamon

1 tsp of pumpkin pie spice

1/4 tsp of baking powder

Heat griddle on medium low heat and melt 1 TBS of butter or coconut oil to coat griddle. Place eggs, pumpkin,coconut flour, milk, 2 TBS of melted butter or coconut oil, vanilla, cinnamon, pie spice, and baking powder into a blender and puree until batter is smooth. Pour batter into silver dollar sized circles and cook until the edges are set and pancake is bubbling. Flip pancakes and cook remaining side. Top with maple syrup, coconut butter, almond butter, or to your liking.

Make Mine Paleo Pancakes

I am not a registered dietitian nor am I dispensing medical advice in this post. I am merely disguising some dietary changes I am making in my own diet based on my own personal research and dietary needs. Please consult a medical professional before making any diet or medical changes of your own.

I ordered Practical Paleo from Amazon two weeks ago and have been gobbling it up. 

                                                       
          Practical Paleo: A Customized Approach to Health and a Whole-Foods Lifestyle (affiliate link)

If you have been following along my journey on this blog it is no secret that my recipes and foods I consume model the "eat clean diet" and are "whole foods" based. I really hate saying I follow any set diet or mantra when it comes to my eating; you may as well paste "groupie" on my forehead. Instead I strive to create recipes and eat foods that are minimally processed and natural.

Christmas Morning & German Apple Pancake (gluten free)

I have been off the grid all week. It has been a whirl wind around here since our trip to Pennsylvania to visit my family over Thanksgiving through Christmas. I am impressed I blogged at all, kept up with my workouts, and didn't get sick (until now.) I decided to look through some shots of Christmas morning. Here are some of my favorites of my family opening gifts.

Isabella LOVED her finger paint set!

Roxy's favorite gift was her squeaky duck ( God help us!)

Rich was excited about our new Blue Ray . We have sadly been using a n old play station to watch DVDs the first 5 years of our marriage; no more!

My favorite gift was a tossup between my new pull-up bar with bands and my new Dooney and Bourke purse. I was so excited I forgot to ask Rich to take a picture out of the blue bag!

I have been searching for a new Christmas morning breakfast tradition. Growing up my mom would make fluffy Belgian waffles with whipped cream and raspberries for breakfast on Christmas morning. I have been searching for a gluten free cinnamon roll recipe to make for my family on Christmas morning, but have yet to find one that suits my fancy. I did find this great recipe for a gluten free German Apple pancake.

The directions were hard to follow ( the #2 step is missing from this post?!)
First I prepared the batter as directed because it has to sit for 30 minutes. Next,
I peeled, cored, and slice two apples. I sauteed them in my buttered cast iron skillet with 1/2 tsp of cinnamon, 2 TBS of coconut sugar and a dash of fresh grated nutmeg. After the apples were caramelized I spread them evenly over the pan and gently poured the batter over the apples. I baked the pancake in the oven at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. We enjoyed this with some maple syrup and organic bacon.

What is your favorite Christmas breakfast?

Stay strong and carry on,

Brooklynn

Greek Yogurt Pancakes & FAKE protein "treats"

When I started on my health journey many moons ago I tried all kinds of funky "healthy" recipes. Typically in weight training magazines or on websites you are bound to come across recipes that require an addition of protein powder to baked goods like cookies, biscotti, and pancakes. If you have ever tried this type of recipe you may agree with me it activated your gag reflex. Am I the only one? I once made these diet oatmeal raisin cookies from a popular diet cook book. It was the summer of my sophomore year of college and  my high school friend, Garrett, was over visiting. He dubbed these nasty little creations as "cookie chunks." They were huge chunky balls of cardboard; a poor excuse for a cookie.
These days I avoid recipes of this nature. It is just not natural. Though I try to eat and bake in a healthy manner I demand my food taste good not just pack a nutritional punch. Who wants to eat a cardboard textured cookie chunk anyways?

Today's recipe is a crepe like pancake. It contains a cup of low-fat Greek yogurt. A cup of this yogurt contains 24 grams of protein. Be for-warned these are not Grandma's fluffy flapjacks the texture is "different."