3 ingredient Pumpkin Pancakes

School started today, so I'm in the mood for fall. That means pumpkin season!! This little recipe is quick to whip up, minimal ingredients, and grain free! I hope it's a hit in your family, too!













Ingredients:
1/4 cup pumpkin purée (I used canned)

1/2 banana (mashed)

2 eggs

Optional:

1 tsp Pumpkin spice seasoning

1/2 tsp vanilla 

Chocolate chips

Whisk together all ingredients and pour on to a hot, greased, skillet or griddle, over medium heat. Flip when pancakes start to bubble on top. 

Enjoy!

Sunbutter Banana Chocolate chip muffins

My boys are creatures of habit. They want some type of chocolate chip muffin every.single.morning for breakfast. Their eczema is flaring, so I'm trying to cut out all wheat and dairy again to see if it improves. Since I have a ton of coconut flour in the pantry, I experimented a little to come up with a filling muffin that still has their coveted (demanded) chocolate chips in it. These turned out great, and are going into our on hand freezer rotation! (Did you know that you can freeze any of our muffin recipes, and just thaw or microwave for 30 seconds? Makes preparing lots of muffins at a time well worth it!) ~ C

Ingredients
Wet Ingredients
3 bananas

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup Sunbutter* (or any nut seed butter)

1/8 cup applesauce

2 eggs
Dry Ingredients

1/2 cup coconut flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp sea salt
Add Ins

1/2 cup Enjoy Life chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin tins with coconut oil.

• Preheat over to 350 degrees. Grease your muffin tin with coconut oil or use liners. 
• Mix all wet ingredients together in your mixer. Make sure the banana gets good and mashed up in the mixing process. 
• While your wet ingredients are in the mixer, put all your dry ingredients together in a separate bowl and mix together with a fork or spoon.
• Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in the mixer. Mix until well blended. 
• Add the "add ins" and mix by hand, or on the mixers lowest setting.
• Pour into muffin pan and cook for 25 to 30 minutes. Muffins are done when toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean. 

*Note: Sunbutter may take on a greenish hue in the baking process. Do NOT be alarmed. In fact, your kids may think it's pretty cool. If you want to teach your kids a science lesson, check out this science fair winner on the Sunbutter website!

Whole Wheat Blueberry Zucchini Muffins

Blueberries and Zucchini. The two things that we can't get enough of this time of year. Or, maybe I am getting too much and trying to get creative in how I use them? Either way, this recipe is another example of me hiding veggies in my kids foods. They get their muffins, and I get the satisfaction of knowing there is another veggie actually being ingested and NOT spit out. Once again, I am using bananas in place of honey, maple syrup or other sweeteners. Don't worry, your kids won't know the difference.
These are versatile, and can be a great addition to breakfast OR lunch. Enjoy! ~ C

Ingredients
Wet Ingredients
2 bananas, broken into 1 to 2 inch pieces.

1/2 cup applesauce

1/4 cup maple syrup

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract
Dry Ingredients

1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda
Add ins

1 cup shredded zucchini

1 cup fresh blueberries

• Preheat over to 350 degrees. Grease your muffin tin or use liners. (I love these reusable silicone ones sold by Amazon.)
• Mix all wet ingredients together in your mixer. Make sure the banana gets good and mashed up in the mixing process. 
• While your wet ingredients are in the mixer, put all your dry ingredients together in a separate bowl and mix together with a fork or spoon.
• Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in the mixer. Mix until well blended. 
• Add the "add ins" and mix by hand, or on the mixers lowest setting.
• Pour into muffin pan and cook for 25 to 30 minutes. Muffins are done when toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean. 

Easy Plantain Blender Pancakes (Grain free & Dairy Free)

If you're looking for a quick, easy fluffy, grain free pancake that tastes good, then you've found it! I've been experimenting with plantains as a flour substitute and so far I've been really happy with the results. Using green plantains does not add a plantain flavor, and the end result is a fluffy pancake with a flour like texture.

The great thing about this recipe, is all you need to do is dump the ingredients into a blender, then pour into the pan. Add any toppings as soon as you put in pan and you're all set! 

Depending on the type of blender you have, you may want to blend these at two separate times. First after the plantains and coconut oil, then after the remaining ingredients. 

Ingredients

2 green plantains, cut/broken into 1-2 inch pieces.

2 tbsp coconut oil

Blend

2 eggs

1 ripe banana*

1 tbsp coconut flour

1/4 tsp sea salt

Blend

Pour into frying pan, using coconut oil to coat the pan. I find they are easiest to flip sand dollar size.

Top with chocolate chips or blueberries (or other topping) as soon as you pour into pan. Let sit for a minute or two, to allow to firm on one side, before flipping. 

My kids and husband love these! Hope you enjoy them, too! ~ C

*I've been using a ripe banana in place of honey or maple syrup in my recipes and it's worked out great. No kid complaints here! 

Bringing in the New Year with a Tropical Green Smoothie

Welcome to 2015, everyone! Anyone else anxiously awaiting for a hovercraft to materialize on their front step?! Maybe a Back to the Future marathon is in order to see just how far off Michael J. Fox and the gang were in predicting what 2015 would be like. 

Instead, I'm settling for a Downton Abbey marathon accompanied by a cleansing green smoothie to help with the not so great food choices I made over the holidays. I'm going to share my favorite green smoothie recipe here, and I would love to hear yours in the comments. Happy New Year! 

Tropical Green Smoothie Recipe

Ingredients:
- 1 cup whole plain yogurt

- 1 cup spinach

- 1½ cups  frozen tropical fruit mix (mango, pineapple, and strawberries)

- 1 banana 

- ¼ cup water 

Directions: 

Add all ingredients into blender in the order listed. Blend using puree setting for ~1 minute or until desired consistency. Serve with a straw, and enjoy! 

Note: if you notice the greens are not blending well enough, try blending the yogurt and spinach first and then adding the next 3 ingredients.