Banana Pancakes

I woke up this morning and just didn't feel like having an omelet again.
I have been looking at paleo pancake recipes for a while now and of course, everybody has their own ideas as to which recipes are best. After looking through about a hundred different recipes, I decided to use the most common one to start. Then I could work my way through them to see if there were any I liked more.
This recipe has only two ingredients, you can't get more simple than this: 

Banana Pancakes:

Makes 2-3 small pancakes

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 banana*
• 2 eggs (organic)
• toppings of choice**

*Note: My banana was small; next time I would use a medium banana for better consistency.*

**Note: I put organic, unsweetened applesauce and walnuts between my pancakes and spread some organic peanut butter on top!**

Instructions:

1. Peel the banana and mash it up in a bowl.
2. Add 2 eggs and mix the ingredients together.
3. Oil/grease a small pan (I used organic butter) and place over low-medium heat.
4. Pour in 1/2 (or 1/3 depending on preference) of the banana and egg mixture.
5. Cook until about 1/2 an inch on the edges are cooked through (they become less translucent) then flip.***
6. Cook for another minute or so and remove from the pan.
7. Repeat until all of the mixture is gone.
8. Top pancakes with whatever toppings you want and enjoy!

***Note: Using a large spatula would be a good idea as the pancakes are a bit more fragile than normal pancakes.***

Here are my thoughts on this recipe:

• It is simple to make, and only requires normal household ingredients (normal for me anyways!).
• At this point I am not "allowed" to have any type of refined sugar, honey, or syrup. That being said, I was unable to eat these pancakes as I normally would: smothered with syrup (if any of you try them this way please let me know what you think)! Nevertheless, I found that these were very good with applesauce, walnuts, and peanut butter. I might try adding some cinnamon to the recipe too!
• Please remember that these are not going to taste like normal pancakes! If that is what you are looking for then you have the wrong recipe, keep searching (and tell me when you find one)! The pancakes taste sweeter then normal pancakes because of the bananas but you are still able to taste the eggs.
• Altogether I would give this recipe a positive review. I greatly enjoyed eating them!

****This is not my recipe, I do not claim the credit for it. I found it on multiple websites.****

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Baked Chicken Breast

 
I have this wonderful recipe that I have to share with you!

I have recently discovered for wonderful salads can be (sad that I never realized before, but better late than never). I love to make this recipe and then shred the chicken up for salad (just like in the picture)!

I modified a recipe from this blog so that I didn't need to use any oils for cooking, because at the time I was looking for a good chicken recipe I was not "allowed" to consume oils; I also wanted to add spices! Here it is:

Baked Chicken Breast:

Makes 2-3 Servings

Ingredients:

•  2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 tsp sea salt (himilayan)
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• 1-2 cups chicken broth

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 450° F
2. Line baking dish with foil and place chicken breasts in side.
3. Mix together all the spices and sprinkle half over chicken breasts. Rub spices in, flip chicken breasts over, and repeat.
4. Pour chicken broth into the baking dish and place in the oven.
5. Bake chicken for 30 minutes removing the chicken from the oven every 10 minutes to flip.
6. After 30 minutes remove chicken from the oven and check internal temperature (chicken needs to be cooked to an internal temperature of 165° F). If below 165° F flip the chicken over and place back in the oven for another 10 minutes (I always need to bake my chicken for 40 minutes to reach the proper temperature).
7. Once the chicken reaches 165° F, serve. 

For Salad:

1. Gather chicken together in the center of the dish. 
2. Take foil from both sides of the baking dish and wrap around the chicken to keep the moisture in.
3. Place in the fridge to cool.
4. Once the chicken has cooled, remove it from the fridge and shred it up into small pieces (leave them in the juices/broth in the bottom of the pan).**
5. Once all the chicken is shredded stir it around in the juice and serve over salad (or separate into portion sizes and store for later use).

*Note: I use all organic spices and the chicken broth is organic, low sodium.*

**Note: I usually make 8 chicken breasts at a time, so when I reach this stage I like to put on a movie or an episode of something and shred the chicken while I watch it.**

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Spicy Turkey Meatballs

I was at the store today (trader joe's, because they are amazing!) and I had this brilliant idea to make turkey meatballs! I decided I wanted something with a bit of a kick to it (thus the "spicy" part).

I am from an Italian/German family and the two things we have most in common when it comes to food:

1. We like a lot of different tastes (different cultural foods and spices, and a wide variety of them).
2. We like thinks spicy!

   I have lost some of this love of very spicy food since I married my husband, but I still have a pretty good tolerance for spice. So when I say that this really isn't that spicy... well Martin didn't quite agree. He wasn't chugging down milk or anything but he had a good burn.
   Now, I just kinda mashed a couple of good recipes together for this one and (if I do say so myself) it turned out wonderfully! Okay, on to the recipe:

Spicy Turkey Meatballs:

Makes approximately 34 Meatballs (feel free to make half a recipe)


Ingredients:

• 2 lbs of ground turkey
• 1 tbsp black pepper
• 1 tbsp sea salt (Himalayan)
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp chipotle chili powder
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp herbes de provence
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp lemon pepper (optional)
• 2 tbsp coconut aminos (Bragg's)
• 1/3 cup finely chopped onion
• 1/3 cup finely chopped red (or green) pepper

Instructions:

1. Combine and mix all the ingredients together.
2. Fill a deep saucepan with 1/2 inch of water (you could cook the meatballs in something else but I find that water works great with ceramic coated cookware) and place over medium heat. 
3. Separate turkey mixture into desired sized clumps, placing in the pan as you do so (unfortunately the turkey mixture is so soft you can't really "roll" it into balls).
4. Cook until meat is no longer pink, flipping over to get both sides (I cook mine for about 20 minutes or until the water in my saucepan is nearly gone).
5. Add sauce (from a jar if you aren't making your own) and simmer, or serve however you prefer.

I cooked some rice noodles for my husband to eat with the meatballs but I am not "allowed" to have any types of grain at the moment. So this is how I made mine:

Spicy Turkey Meatballs with Creamy Paleo Tomato Sauce:

Makes 1 serving

Ingredients:

• 1 Egg
• 1/4 Cup Spinach (shredded)
• 1/4 cup of onions (diced)
• 3-4 Spicy Turkey Meatballs
• 1/4 cup of Sauce (approximately)

Instructions:

1. Mix the Ingredients together in a small pan.
2. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until egg is fully cooked.
3. Serve.

The egg gives the sauce a creamy texture without needing any dairy (though I did sprinkle a little bit of cheese on top)!

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Printable Version of Creamy Paleo Tomato Sauce Recipe

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