Pancakes with Warm Berry Compote

Ben and I are big breakfast people. Every weekend we eat a huge breakfast, drink hot coffee, and relax in each others company. Sometimes we go out for breakfast, but lately we have been staying home. When it comes to breakfast, I love something sweet. However, "normal" pancakes use flour, sugar, and more sugar. Not anymore!

My sister-in law, Erin, and brother, Josh, shared their almond flour pancake recipe with me. It is easy, delicious, and guilt-free. They make them often and even their 4 children approve. Today I made their pancakes, but added a few twists. I tossed in some toasted pecans and made a warm berry compote. Ben said, "they were better than a restaurant." I have to admit, I agree! Thank you Josh and Erin! :)


Need for Pancakes

2 c. almond flour
2 eggs
2 bananas
1 tspn. baking soda
1 tspn. baking powder
1 tspn. cinnamon
1 tspn. vanilla
4 tbspn. toasted raw pecans
Ghee or butter

Need for Compote

2 c. fresh berries (strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries)
1 tbspn. water
1 tbspn. honey

If you haven't ever toasted nuts before, you should start. It makes a huge difference in flavor! We buy raw pecans, toast them, and store them in a container to eat as a snack. To toast, simply put the pecans in a pan, set to medium low heat, and toast until you start to smell them. Flip the pecans, and toast for another 3 minutes.


To make the pancakes mix together the eggs, almond flour, bananas, cinnamon, vanilla, baking soda, and baking powder. Fold in the pecans. (The batter will be thick. Do not be alarmed.) Heat a griddle pan to medium-low heat and add 1 teaspoon of ghee to the pan. Once the ghee is melted, add a small spoon full of batter to the griddle. Because the batter is so thick, smash the pancakes down using your fingers. Set the griddle heat to low. The pancakes will cook very quickly. It will only take about 3 minutes each side. Remove the pancakes to a platter and repeat.










While your pancakes are cooking, put your berries and tablespoon of water and honey in a small sauce pan. Cook the berries down until they are soft and create a liquid. This process takes about 5-8 minutes. It depends on how chunky you want the compote.

We will be making these again!

Three is NOT a Crowd Chili

They say "three's a crowd." Well, it is most certainly not in my Le Creuset pot! Cold days always inspire me to make a big pot of chili. There are many reasons why I love chili, but the main reason is that you can put anything in chili! This time I omitted the beans, but I made up for it by adding three different kinds of meat: ground beef, ground Italian sausage, and chicken apple sausage. The chicken apple sausage makes it for me! If there is enough veggies and meat in a chili, I don't even miss the beans.

Need

1 lb. ground mild Italian sausage
1 lb. grass fed ground beef
1 package Aidells Chicken Apple Sausage
1.5 c butternut squash peeled and cubed (about 1 small squash)
1 c chopped onion (about 1 medium onion)
2 celery stalks chopped
1 yellow pepper chopped
1 red pepper chopped
1 green pepper chopped
1 jalapeno seeded and chopped
1 large can of fire roasted tomatoes (organic if possible)
1 large can of tomato sauce (organic if possible)
1 c. beef broth
1 can water
3 heaping tbspn chili powder
1.5 heaping tbspn cumin
1 heaping tbspn ancho chili powder
1 tspn garlic powder
1 tspn salt
1 tspn pepper
1 bouillon beef cube

Prepare

Start by browning the Italian sausage and ground beef on medium heat in a large pot. While the meat is cooking, prepare your vegetables. When the meat is brown, add the squash and onions. Throw in a few pinches of chili powder, salt, and pepper while this is cooking. This will really bring out the flavor! Once the onions are translucent in color, add all of the peppers and celery. Cook for another 4-5 minutes.


Add the tomato sauce, fire roasted tomatoes, and beef broth to the pot and set to medium-high. Fill up the tomato sauce can with water to gather the extra tomato flavor and add to the pot. Once this mixture comes to a boil, add the chili powder, cumin, ancho chili, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. If you like your chili spicy, throw in a few pinches of cayenne pepper.



Simmer the chili as long as you can or at least 4 hours. The longer it simmers the better it taste. I usually make it the day before to serve the following night. Because the chicken apple sausage is already cooked, add the sausage about 30 minutes before you plan to serve.


Not into meat? Take out the meat, use vegetable broth instead of beef, and add beans and more vegetables likes zucchini and carrots. The flavor will still be good. If I wasn't trying to get rock hard abs, I would probably add a bottle of beer instead of the water too.(Apparently beer doesn't make rock hard abs though) Enjoy!

Italian-Style Chicken with Fresh Tomatoes

Because we are on the Paleo diet train, we are trying to stay away from breads, pastas, and anything that is not, natural, raw, and eaten by cavemen. (Emphasis on trying for me, Ben is doing awesome) A few months ago I was making this same recipe, but I used Panko bread crumbs instead of almond flour. Today I used almond flour and I kid you not, Ben did not even know the difference! I created this Paleo approved meal without sacrificing flavor!

Need for Chicken

1.5 lb of chicken tenders
Olive oil
1 tspn dried parsley
1 tspn basil
1 tspn oregano
1 tspn black pepper
1 tspn garlic salt
1 c. almond flour
2 eggs

Need for Topping

3 fresh tomato chopped
3 leaves basil chopped
1 large garlic minced
1 tbspn olive oil
1 tspn sea salt
dash of fresh pepper

Prepare

To make the "bread crumbs" for the chicken, combine almond flour, garlic salt, basil, pepper, parsley, and oregano. Beat the two eggs in a shallow dish. Add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil to a pan, set to medium, and heat. Meanwhile, create a set up so that you have the chicken tenders, beaten eggs, and crumbs in a assembly line. Once the oil is hot, dip the chicken in the egg, then coat with the bread crumbs. When the chicken has a coating of bread crumbs, add the chicken to the hot oiled pan. Depending on how big your chicken tenders are, cook for 5 minutes each side. If the pan looks dry and the chicken starts to smoke, just add some more olive oil. If you're not sure if the chicken is done, use a meat thermometer to check. USDA guidelines recommend cooking your poultry to 165°F.

While the chicken is cooking, combine the tomato mixture. Feel free to add more basil or salt according to your taste. Place the tomato combination in the fridge until you are ready to serve the chicken.

Top the chicken with the fresh tomatoes and serve. Sometimes I serve some fresh Parmesan cheese on top, which makes it extra tasty! Tonight, I served the chicken with a side of roasted asparagus.

I will no longer be using Panko crumbs for this dish. Instead I will use the almond flour "bread crumbs" and be paleo-tastic and gluten free!

Homemade Lara Bars

Lara Bars are simply dates and nuts. That is all. Because they are pure raw ingredients, they run about $1.00-$2.00 a bar. I made 1 batch of Lara Bars for about $5.00. One batch makes 10 of the store servings and you can control what goes into them. Needless to say, this recipe will be a staple in our household for a while. They are very easy to make.

Need

1 c. nuts
I used 1/2 pecans, 1/2 cashew
1.5 c PITTED dates
Food Processor

Prepare

1. Add 1 c. nuts to food processor and pulse until the nuts are finely ground.

2. Place the chopped nuts in a mixing bowl.
3. Add the dates to food processor. Before adding the dates, make sure that they are all pitted. Even if they say pitted, double check! I found 2 pits in mine and it will wreck your food processor.
4. Mince the dates in the food processor until it becomes a paste. It only takes about 1 minute.

5. Add the dates to the bowl with the mixed nuts.
6.Add a small amount of oil to your hands and mix the nuts and dates together. (The mix will stick to your hands without the oil)
6. Using a dish, or pan press the mixture to form a square. I used a casserole dish, which worked just fine.
7. Allow the bars to refrigerate for 25 minutes.
I served mine with a side of berries for a terrific sweet treat!

The base of these bars are just nuts and dates. You can use any kind of nuts you would like. You can also play around with the ratio of dates to nuts. I have a sweet tooth, so I put a few extra dates in mine. Next time, I'm going to try adding cinnamon, dark chocolate, or unsweetened dried cranberries. Yum!

Purple Kale

Ben hates kale. Jill loves kale. Therefore, kale is a frequent side dish at our dinner table. This recipe is very easy and I could eat the entire bowl of kale myself!

Need

1 bunch organic purple kale
1 large head of minced garlic
2 tbspn cooking sherry
1 tspn ghee or butter
1 tbspn olive oil
2 tbspn water
Salt
Pepper

Prepare

Wash the kale and discard the kale stems. (You can actually eat the stems, but they take a lot longer to cook and can be bitter.) Saute the garlic, butter, and olive oil on medium heat for 3 minutes. Add half of the kale bunch and 1 tablespoon of sherry and 1 tablespoon of water to saute pan. Place the lid on the pan for about 2 minutes or until the kale becomes wilted. Add the remaining kale, sherry, water and repeat. Allow the kale to wilt down until it is soft, but not soggy. Salt and pepper to your taste!

Lemon Pepper Chicken Wings

Ain't no thing, but a chicken wing, and these chicken wings are delish!

Need

2 1/2 lbs chicken wings (drums and flats)
1 head of fresh minced garlic
Juice of 1 lemon
Zest of 1 lemon
1 tbspn olive oil
1 tbspn of melted ghee or butter
2 tspn of fresh ground pepper
dash of salt
1 tspn of dried parsley
Preheat oven 425

Prepare

I started by rendering off some of the fat on the chicken wings. I wanted to make sure they were crispy. That is really hard to do when baking and without drying the wings out. I borrowed Alton Brown's method of steaming the wings first. (click on picture to the right) I didn't have a steamer, so I just created one with a colander and stock pot. I boiled the water and set the colander with wings inside on top. I wrapped the entire creation in foil and let it get for 13 minutes. It got the job done!

1. Once the wings are steamed, dry them off.
2. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
3. Place a cooling rack on top of the cookie sheet and put the dried wings on top.
4. Refrigerate for one hour.
5. Place the cooling rack with cookie sheet in the oven for 20 minutes.
6. Turn the wings over and cook for another 20 minutes.

While the wings are cooking, make the sauce. Because ghee conceals quickly, I would make the sauce when the wings have about 5 minutes left. Combine all the lemon juice, melted ghee, pepper, lemon zest, salt, olive oil, and garlic in a large bowl and whisk. Toss the hot wings in the bowl until all the wings are coated. Plate the wings on a large platter and sprinkle with fresh ground pepper, lemon zest, and parsley. Feel free to add extra pepper and zest according to your taste.

Ben said, "make again," as he licked his fingers clean!

They are healthy and delicious!