Cloverton Hallelujah

Banana Pancakes

We are back to clean eating here, and it feels GREAT. Like I remember, it is more work to prep things...cause we aren't opening boxes here people! But this week has been rewarding and I'm happier in a few ways. We received some great news this week that uplifted our family, I finally got a co-organist LOL(don't you love good news! one time I opened what I thought was a bill, and it was a REFUND OF 431$!!!), so I was glad that I chose this week to start back on the path of clean eating. Its seems to me that things are always easier when you start off the week strong.

Last night, my husband was away at a winter all night campout and at 8:00 when the kids were all tucked in their beds, I immediately took a long hot bath. yeah...I did....and it was AWESOME. I always have a really hard time doing anything for myself because there is always something to do, clean, cook, or organize....so doing something for myself is a huge thing for me. Then I pulled out my sewing machine because my youngest still doesn't have a christmas stocking that I make for all my kids. after thinking about this for a min, I immediately put it away and pulled out all my healthy cookbooks. (ps husband if you're reading this....I was SERIOUS when I put those 2 healthy cookbooks on my christmas list). I lined them up, grabbed my pen and paper and threw on the movie The Holiday. I watched and read and got ideas and just plain got motivated. I climbed into bed around 11:30 and passed out till my baby was up around 4:30.

Have you ever heard the Jack Johnson song "banana pancakes"? I ALWAYS wondered what they were....until last night when I found a recipe that I wanted to try. The recipe was from Gwenyth Paltrow 's cookbook and her recipe was Buckwheat flour banana pancakes. I wanted to try her way, but I didn't have any buckwheat on hand. What I did have was plenty of fresh ground whole wheat flour that I ground yesterday for my whole wheat bread...that was made yesterday. I don't like using vegetable oil, I don't even have it in my home, so there were a couple of changes I made, but the kids and I loved them! The bananas seem to get a little caramelized and super sweet. yum. Without further ado:


Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes
adapted from Gwenyth Paltrow's "It's all good" cookbook

1 1/4 C milk (I used cow because I had no almond on hand )
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp canola oil or melted coconut oil
1 Tbsp maple syrup+ more for serving
1 C whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1-2 thinly sliced bananas

Whisk together the milk, lemon juice, oil and syrup in a small bowl. In a slightly larger bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. (I like to let my mixture sit for 15 or so min...but it isn't necessary). Heat a large nonstick skillet or griddle over medium high heat.  Stick it with a bit of oil and ladle in as many pancakes as can fit comfortably. Place a few slices of banana on top of each pancake. Cook for about 2 min on the first side, or until the surface is covered with small bubbles and the underside is nicely browned. Flip and cook for about 1 min on the second side. Repeat the process until you run out of batter. Serve with maple syrup.



On a side note, this would be a great easy pancake (or waffle--just reduce the liquid to make the batter thicker) recipe all on its own, bananas omitted.

Enjoy!!

Niss

30 day smoothie challenge

I'm still alive...sorry.

But I'm hoping this new challenge will keep me (and you) coming back for more. If there is one thing I'm passionate about in this world its paper....which is funny since my blog is not on paper but in an electronic form...weird. Sorry, smoothies!! I'm passionate about smoothies! They are so flavorful, different and just delicious. Some have more sugar than others but on this blog, I refuse to add extra white or brown sugar to any smoothies. Mine are all flavored with maple syrup, honey, molasses, or just fruit juice. I know, sugar is sugar, but somehow I feel better not adding white or brown. 

My challenge for this month is a 30 smoothie challenge. I'm going to drink one smoothie a day for 30 days. This is not a hard challenge for me...I drink smoothies all the time. But for me, this time around, its more about making better food choices. 6 months ago, I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl...my 2nd girl, 3rd child. I'm 32 and even though this isn't old, I can feel my metabolism has slowed WAY WAY down...and its much harder for me to make good choices where food comes into play. I'm STARVING all the time because I'm nursing this little, and since I have 3 under 4, I'm running all day to put out fires. With these two combinations, I'm finding less and less time to eat good foods, and more and more time to eat convenient foods. BAD. VERY BAD. This smoothie challenge is just to get me back into the mode of good food choices. I encouraged facebook friends to do this with me...but you'd have thought I asked them to stop eating sugar for 3 years....eek. haha

ENJOY!

DAY 1

Peanut Butter Chocolate Smoothie (my 2nd personal favorite)

I cannot take credit for this smoothie...alas...but you're welcome. 

1/2 Cup milk (any) I prefer almond in this one

1 ripe banana

1 1/2 T natural peanut butter

1 T honey

1/2 T Cocoa

1 cup ice

Mix in a blender until smooth. Drink. 

Thanks Blendtec for the recipe!!

Chia Seed Pancakes

For those of you that don't know, I have a slight addiction to Chia Seeds. They have high nutrient value and they make food just look pretty...
I purchased 50 lbs of them about a year ago and have been using them like crazy and have barely put a dent in the container. Today I asked my 3 year old what she wanted for breakfast. Preparing myself for the standard answer of macaroni and cheese, I was surprised to hear her say "pancakes." I'm happy to usually make what my kids request in hopes of getting them to actually eat.

I surfed the pins on pinterest I had already pinned, and found a lemon poppy seed pancake recipe from PICKYCOOK.COM. I didn't love the ingredients, so because I can't leave something alone, I changed a lot of the ingredients...so much, so, that I'm sure if I published this, I wouldn't have a problem...haha.

Here is my attempt on chia seed pancakes....this family thought they were DELICIOUS.
*On a side note, I usually like to eat my meals with no white flour, and on a more clean pallet, however, since it was a new recipe, I just did half white, half wheat flour. Next time I will use all wheat.

1 Cup white unbleached flour
1 Cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 Cup of brown sugar
pinch of salt
2 Cups milk (I used 2% for fattening my kids up...well and this baby getting large in my gut....)
(almond milk or a milk substitute would also work in this as well)
2 eggs, beaten lightly
2 T melted butter
3 tsp lemon juice
2 Tbs honey
1/3 cup chia seeds

Combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, brown sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Stir to combine ingredients and break up any brown sugar clumps you might have. In another bowl, combine milk, eggs, butter, lemon juice, honey and chia seeds. Stir to combine ingredients. Combine wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir till just combined. Try to not over mix or you will have flat pancakes.

Heat skillet or pan with olive oil and add pancake mix. Flip when bubbles that will form on top of the pancakes are popping, then cook on the other side till there is a nice golden brown color on both sides.

This made plenty of pancakes for my family of 4.5, and I will have enough for freezer pancakes for a quick breakfast another day. I served these with an assortment of jams and syrups, but my little guy wanted them with just butter, and my little lady wanted them with butter and homemade strawberry jam. I followed suit and had strawberry jam. I didn't even eat these with a fork, I just picked them up like slice of pizza and consumed. In the words of Rachael Ray-- "YUMMO!"

much love,

Annisa

Crepes, oh I'm going there

Well, I guess I've found another breakfast that I'm liking. See, when you put your mind to something, you can accomplish anything. (or however that saying goes...)

I've always liked crepes. Really, I have. But I usually like them for dinner and I like to put things like eggs, or meats and cheeses etc in them. However, this morning when I was going through my wake up ritual of checking emails, Facebook etc, I found this recipe, and they gave me the great idea of yogurt as the "cream", and fresh fruit as the filling. I have tons of peaches left to can tomorrow, and bananas that are turning. The light went on!

These babies turned out great!!! You could taste the vanilla in them so it gave a sweet flavor without adding sugar to my fruit.

First thing though, get it through your mind that crepes are not hard to cook. Really! Stop rolling your eyes! Use a non stick pan, and add a tad bit of cooking spray (I use an olive oil pump so I don't add all those extra chemicals to my food) then pour a small amount in the middle of that already hot non stick pan. Swirl it around so it makes a circle and then just let it cook. You'll know when its getting done when the edges start pulling away from the pan. then using a silicone spatula, just flip! cook till it has color then its done...now just do that about 20 more times. I'm not going to lie, once you get to the bottom of the batter, you'll be praying there is no more batter left!

I got this recipe from Super Healthy Kids. For the most part I've been happy with what recipes I've tried from this group of fine folks. Without further ado:

Whole Wheat Crepes

3 Eggs
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup milk
3/4 cup water
1 T honey
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1 T butter

Put all ingredients in blender (I use my blendtec) and mix well. Let stand for 10 min, then blend again.

Spray a small non stick pan with cooking spray.

Angle pan and pour enough batter on one side to thinly and evenly cover the pan. Very quickly swirl the batter around to cover the pan in one thin layer.

Once the crepe is golden brown on one side, carefully flip it over without tearing the crepe.

Cook another minute on the other side until it is golden.

Serve with yogurt and berries, strawberries or a savory chicken filling.

Thats all there is to it! During the 10 min of waiting, I cut up my peaches and bananas. The kids didn't give me any guff about eating today. My oldest is always scared to try things she hasn't but after she tried a bite, she kept saying, "this is soo good!"

much love,

Annisa

Blueberry Bliss

I'm not in love with breakfast. There, I said it. Its never been high on my "to do" list. Its also not on any of my bucket lists...yes I have more than one bucket list. But I digress.....

I've been trying a few new breakfast options the last month or so, and I've come across three, yes three, that I'd make again. Today was one of those successes! I made what are called Blueberry Breakfast bars, although, "bars" is a loose term. This turned out more like a cake. (which is a bonus right?? I've always wanted an excuse to eat cake for breakfast.)

I found this recipe from Blendtec
ages ago and tucked it away in the abyss that I call my recipe box. Box meaning the literal term of BOX. I'm not talking about our mothers mothers recipe boxes, I'm talking about a box that I recycled from something I got in the mail. Although, I did go through it the other day and cleaned it all up and started copying recipes from paper to recipe cards...and now we are back to how I found this recipe. wow. don't ever have children, your brain goes all to them, and yet I'm still left wondering how they often choose the wrong choice if they are so darn smart from my brain....oh well....

This breakfast cake is pretty good. I really didn't change anything about the recipe which is hard for me. This is CLEAN, Blueberry-y, and has great stuff in it that you can't even taste...yeah, I just went there. Shall we get started??

1 ripe banana
2 large eggs
1/3 C greek yogurt (I used vanilla flavored)
1/2 C applesauce (I use no sugar added)
2 T coconut oil melted
2/3 C brown sugar packed
1 tsp vanilla

Mix in a blender or with hand beaters until smooth.

Add to above mixture:
1 1/4 C whole wheat flour
3/4 C oats
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon (I put more like 3/4 tsp just cause)
2/3 C pecans (thus the hidden items in this cake. I can't get my husband to eat really any kind of nut unless I hide it...it is perfectly hidden in this recipe)

Blend until incorporated. This is where my cake comes in. The picture of the recipe I took it from looked like a granola bar. I must have over ground mine cause mine was a batter. They said you could use this as a granola too, but they lied. There ain't no way you can get a granola from this.

After it is blended or mixed to your preference, fold in:
1 C fresh blueberries
(I didn't have fresh but I always have frozen. I let one cup frozen thaw in my fridge overnight and just used them and a tiny bit of juice the next morning. I found honestly no difference.

Put batter into a greased 9X13 pan. Add 1/4 cup granola to the top of the cake.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-35 min depending on your oven. A toothpick should come out clean when done.

Don't get me wrong, this isn't the kind of cake you'd want to serve for dessert unless you added some frosting or glaze or something...it is a breakfast item. I prepared the cake and popped it into the oven and showered while it baked. This is good warm or cooled off for a mid morning snack...which is how I ate mine. (you know, warm AND as a mid morning snack.)

Much love,

Annisa

Granola: as delicious and basic as you can get

I'm a huge granola fan...like huge. I've tried several ways, several oils (yeah, I know), and until about two and a half years ago, I wasn't able to find a "healthy" granola that I loved. A couple friends of mine have a great clean/vegan/dairy free/gluten free blog that I love, and this recipe (HONEY GRANOLA) came from them. The blog is called green shakes and giggles and I DARE you to try out their blog and then tell me they aren't funny and yummy recipes. I dare you.......

Anyway, I got this recipe from them and Its been my go to granola recipe since then. I usually add some craisins or chocolate chips depending on my mood. Its great in yogurt, which is how I eat it mostly, but add some chocolate chips and its great for hiking.

HOWEVER....the husband doesn't LOVE the recipe. He likes it, and eats it and tolerates it, but he says he can "taste all the health" in it....yeah, I don't know what that means either. haha So I've had to search and search to find another recipe without vegetable oil...and I'm happy to report, I FOUND ONE! Its delicious, and has only 5 ingredients. You all have these ingredients, I'm sure of it!

This recipe came from Shape magazine

Peanut Butter Granola

2 Tbs Peanut Butter
2 Tbs Honey
1/4 teasp vanilla
1/4 teasp cinnamon
1 C Oats
add ins:
chocolate chips

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees. Put Peanut Butter and Honey in microwave safe bowl. Warm long enough to combine honey and Peanut butter. Once combined, add in vanilla and cinnamon. Mix in the Oats and stir well to combine. Spread out on silicone mat and bake for 10 min. At the 10 min mark, stir granola. Bake for 10 more min. Take out of oven, and let sit till warm to the touch, then add chocolate chips or leave out if you don't want them in, then eat! I store mine in an airtight container.

Enjoy!!

much love,

Annisa