Recipe: “Friday Is My Day Off Pancakes”

Pancakes are typically for Sundays, right?

Wrong–

this week pancakes are for Friday morning because Fridays are days off and pancakes are special.

I actually had plans to share a different but equally as yummy recipe with you all this week but so it goes, pancakes happened and I just couldn’t help myself.  I got to sleep in this morning and then one thing lead to another and all of a sudden it was 10 AM, I was eating Paleo pancakes on the love-seat in our living room, dressed fully in grey (head to toe sweats), all topped off with a cup of coffee and I didn’t even care that it was -10 degrees outside.

So clearly I was #winning this morning.

TRY THESE: THEY ARE TOO GOOD NOT TO!

-Dairy free

-Gluten (grain) free

-Refined Sugar free

you’re welcome.

(But ignore the picture quality…) everything was just happening so fast and I WAS HUNGRY OKAY?!

For the Pancakes

1/2 banana mashed

1/2 cup shredded zucchini

2 tbsp. almond meal

1 egg

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

1 tsp. organic blue agave nectar

[1 tsp. coconut oil for the pan]

For the Topping

1/2 banana sliced

1/2 tsp. chia seeds

1 tbsp. almonds (chopped)

1/2 tbsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. organic blue agave nectar

1/4 cup raspberries

1 tbsp. raisins

Do it like this….

Warm a large skillet pan on medium-high heat and add the coconut oil to the bottom of the pan until it is melted, covering the entire pan, and very hot.

In a small bowl mash together all of the ingredients from the For the Pancakes section of the ingredients list until there are minimal almond meal chunks and the spices are well-distributed throughout the mixture.

Using a measuring cup– portion out half of the banana-zucchini-egg-almond meal mixture onto one side of the heated pan and pour the rest of the batter onto the other side of the pan.  There should be just enough for two pancakes.

Cook the pancakes on the first side for 3 1/2 minutes and use a flat spatula to flip them.  It will be easiest to tell if the pancakes are ready to be flipped if you can slip the spatula under the pancake and move it side to side without the center of the pancake coming apart. 

Cook the pancakes on the second side for 2 1/2 more minutes– flip once more and let cook for another minute.  When the pancakes are fully cooked through to your liking, use the spatula to set them on the serving plate.

In a separate small bowl mix together the agave and cinnamon from the ‘for the toppings‘ section of the ingredients list and drizzle onto the pancakes like syrup.

Finally, in no particular order finish off the pancakes with the rest of the ingredients from the ‘for the toppings’ section.

Now, go have yourself a damn breakfast.  

Am I right? (Channeling my inner Thug Kitchen, duh 😉 )

Recipe: Spinach & Sweet Potato Hash with Runny Eggs

We are all well aware that breakfast is the greatest meal of the day and eggs are a food of the Gods…

Well.. at least, I am well aware of this.

Maybe you are not and this is why this recipe has just come into your life.  #youarewelcome

Seriously.. this combines like three of my favoritest (shhh) things all on one plate.

-BACON

-SWEET POTATOES

-EGGS

this means…

HAPPY HAPPY BELLY.

For the Everything:

1 small sweet potato (shredded)

¼ cup green onions (chopped)

1/8 cup roasted red peppers (chopped)

1 cup baby spinach

2 strips bacon

2 eggs

½ tsp. coconut oil

To Make:

Wash the sweet potato with water and peel the skin with a peeler.

Using a cheese grater, grate the entire sweet potato. Be careful not to grate your fingers as you get closer to the end of the sweet potato. 

Heat a medium sized cast iron (or non stick) pan on the stove on high heat for 90 seconds and add the bacon. Cook bacon for 2-3 minutes on the first side and flip over to finish. Remove the bacon from the pan and pat down with a paper towel.   The bacon should be cooked so that it is crispy enough to chop into bits.

Let the bacon cool for about a minute and then chop into small pieces.

Keeping the pan on medium heat, add the grated sweet potato to the pan and cover with a lid for 30 seconds. Remove lid and stir sweet potatoes. (Repeat for about 2 minutes.) After the sweet potatoes have been cooking for two minutes, add the onions, red peppers, bacon bits, and spinach. Mix together until well combined and then cover for another minute, cooking on low heat so that the spinach can wilt.

Once the hash is fully combined, heated, and cooked (about 2 minutes) remove from the pan onto serving plate and cover with the pan’s lid to keep warm.

In the same pan that the hash was just cooked in, add the coconut oil to coat the entire pan. Crack the two eggs into the pan and cook for two minutes on one side and flip to the other, finishing cooking for another minute. (These eggs are best with runny centers, so be extra careful not to crack them!)

Top the sweet potato and spinach hash with the runny eggs, season with salt and pepper, and EAT IT UP

Recipe: Lettuce Wrap Fish Tacos

As if tacos weren’t already great enough…

and as if fish tacos weren’t always a FABULOUS idea…

this nummie recipe for a rainbow dinner is also grain, dairy, and refined sugar free.

So…. yeah… these are basically super tacos and if you want your day to get even better than I know it already is, definitely try making these for dinner.

Lettuce Wrap Fish Tacos

(Serves 2)

Ingredients:

½ pound white fish (tilapia, cod, etc.)

4 large washed lettuce leaves

3/4 cup diced tomatoes

1 onion- sliced

Coconut oil

Salsa

Chipotle hot sauce

Seasoned salt (to taste)

Cilantro

Diced green onions (to taste)

How To:

Preheat a cast iron pan on high heat for a minute and a half, adding in 1 tsp. of coconut oil to cover the bottom of the pan.

Lay the fish filet face down on a plate and sprinkle seasoned salt over the top, flip over and do the same with the other side.

Once the fish is seasoned and the coconut oil in the pan is glassy from heat, place the fish into the pan and cook for 4-5 minutes on the first side. Flip the fish over in the pan and cook on the next side for just under a minute, remove from the pan using a spatula and let sit for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile…

Heat a separate cast iron pan on high heat for a minute and add ½ tsp. of coconut oil to cover the entire pan. Reduce heat on the pan to medium and add the sliced onions. Using a spatula caramalize the onions for about five minutes or until they are floppy and slightly browned. (Doesn’t that sound gross?  Good thing they’re fantastic 😉 )

Lay out two lettuce leaves on your plate, scoop side up so that they look like taco shells.

Place ¼ of the cooked fish into the leaf first, top with carmalized onions, tomatoes, green onions, salsa, cilantro, hot sauce and fresh squeezed lime juice. (In any order at all because it’s all going to one place. How lucky are your tastebuds?)

Fill each lettuce leaf wrap in the same way and gobble this deliciousness up!

nom nom nom nom nom nom forever

Raspberry & Beet Green Smoothie Bowl

Raspberry & Beet Greens Protein Smoothie Bowl

For the Smoothie:

– 1/2 banana

-3 tall beet green stalks (including the pink stem and green leaves)

– 3/4 heaping cup frozen raspberries

– 1 scoop chocolate protein powder (or vanilla, whatever tickles your fancy)

– 2/3 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk

-1 tsp. chia seeds

For the Topping:

– 6 toasted cashews

– 1 tsp. pumpkin seeds

– 1/2 tsp. unsweetened coconut chips

– 6 dried gojiberries

-1/4 banana thinly sliced

-1 walnut (halved)

– 1/8 tsp. chia seeds

How to:

Layer all of the ingredients from the ‘for the smoothie’ section of the recipe into your blender (I use a NutriBullet by MagicBullet for all of my blended creations).

It is best to have the beet greens in the bottom of the blender underneath all of the other ingredients so they get blended the most.  Nobody likes chunks… or in this case- stringy beet stalk. AKA: kind of a little bit gross to get stuck in your teeth.

Blend the ingredients together for about 2 minutes, or until smooth. Blend this one longer than you think you should because like I mentioned earlier- the beet stalk can be a little stringy if it isn’t blended adequately.

Once the smoothie is completely chunk and string free– pour into a bowl and top with desired toppings in no particular order or design.

Disclaimer: It’s going to taste like dessert no matter how you lay it out.  It’s THAT yummy.

 

Open Fitness Journal: October 11 & 12

#ACTIVERESTDAYS

Can anyone relate?

As athletes, we slam our muscles day in and day out.

On a good week- I can accumulate up to 20 hours in the gym and even more when you count the recovery runs I take in the mornings to get my blood flowing.  Weather these box hours be lifting weights, pushing myself through heart-pounding WOD’s, or working on my mobility all of these things add up.

When Saturday and Sunday come along I never want to acknowledge it but in order for me to get stronger, I need to rest.  YOU NEED TO REST.  Our muscles need this rest time to rebuild themselves so that next week we can get back at it and continue PR’ing the crap out of our lifts.

Yesterday- I took a four hour walk through the North and Southeast parts of Portland.  I have been living in the Northeast division so I took roads that I don’t usually walk on and found myself appreciating the fall scenery in the Laurelhurst Suburbs.

I saw everything from flowers with last night’s rain drops still hanging around to stoner street art (I’m always impressed.) to cute young families loving the sunshine to huge ice cream cones… that I might have eaten…

………..

………….

………………

okay…

A huge ice cream cone that I did eat. #TreatDay

Cinnamon Snickerdoodle (Cinnamon ice cream with chunks of snickerdoodle cookies) & Coconut with Salted Caramel Bars (Made with a coconut milk base this one was vegan!)

Let me clarify: Just because you are taking a rest day does not mean stay in bed all day and binge watch Netflix.

Get up and do something that is going to enrich your soul!

Need some ideas?

-Take your puppy for a walk in the woods and soak up the fall colors.

-Take a trip to your nearest weekend farmer’s market on Saturday and stock up on apples for the fresh Paleo Apple Pie (recipe coming soon!) that you’re going to bake on Sunday.

-Plan a pumpkin patch date with your man and spend the afternoon carving spooky faces (and baking delicious pumpkin seeds!)

-Take a walk to a new part of your city that you’ve never explored before (& eat a huge ice cream cone;)

One last thing!  Don’t forget to take pictures and Tweet Me! or Tag me on Instagram and add #ActiveRestDay so I can see what awesome things you’re doing this fall outside of the gym.

Recipe: Raspberry Chocolate Nice Cream

Raspberry & Chocolate Nice Cream 

For the Nice Cream:

-1/2 cup frozen raspberries

-1/4 banana

-1/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk

-1/3 scoop chocolate protein powder

-1/2 tsp. chia seeds

For the Topping:

-3 small, fresh basil (or mint) leaves

-1 cashew (or almond)

How To:

Blend all of the ingredients from the For the Nice Cream list in a blender for about 2 minutes, or until smooth. Unlike other blended recipes this one has less liquid than solid which leads to the ice cream-like texture. Because of this the blender may get stuck on the frozen fruits; it may be necessary to stop the blender every 10-15 seconds and stir the mixture before blending again.

Spoon the nice cream into your eating bowl and top with the ingredients in the For the Topping section.

And now- remind yourself before you eat this extremely nommy dessert, it’s grain, dairy, and refined sugar free.

FEEL GOOD ABOUT EATING DESSERT.

Recipe: Pumpkin Peach & Spinach Smoothie Bowl

Pumpkin Peach & Spinach Smoothie Bowl

For the Smoothie:

-3/4 cup canned pumpkin

-1/2 heaping cup frozen peaches

-1 heaping handful of spinach

-1 tsp. chia seeds

-3/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk

-1 tsp cinnamon & nutmeg (mixed together)

– > 1 tsp. organic blue agave nectar

For the Topping:

– > 1 tsp. dried gojiberries

– 1 tblsp. raw pumpkin seeds

-1/2 tsp chia seeds

How To: 

Layer all of the ingredients from the ‘for the smoothie’ section of the recipe into your blender (I use a NutriBullet by MagicBullet for all of my blended creations). And just in case this is your first green smoothie, I should remind you that it is best to have the spinach on the bottom so it gets blended the most.  No chunky smoothies allowed! (Isn’t that kind of an oxymoron, anyways?)

Blend the ingredients together for about 1 1/2 minutes, or until smooth.

Pour into a bowl and top with desired toppings.  (It’s fun to arrange them into a pattern on top of your smoothie bowl- but sometimes I think a jumble of things is just as pretty.)

In this smoothie I used the canned pumpkin in place of the banana that I typically use- this was simply because I didn’t have anymore bananas and pumpkin works just as well to give your yummy food a full body texture and add creaminess.

Add Protein Powder! For an awesome post-workout refuel or even just to add a boost to your breakfast in the morning– pour a scoop of vanilla protein powder into the blender with all of the other ingredients, blend together, and top the same way.  (Linked are my two favorite pre and post workout protein powders, just in case you’re new to the gainz game;)

**For a more pudding-like texture let the smoothie sit in the bowl for 5-30 minutes in the fridge to let the chia seeds set. As your smoothie sits the ground chia seeds expand and create a less-liquidy texture.