Thanksgiving Weekend

   I want to start by apologizing for my lack of posts lately! Dustin has been working 10 hour days, 7 days a week and to top it off with holidays and my grandpa being sick. Yesterday was his 87th birthday, and he celebrated it in the hospital with the stomach flu, severe dehydration, and irregularly low heartbeat. So our Sunday will consist of enjoying this beautiful spring-like day as a family and visiting our grandpa at the hospital again.

   For his birthday, he said he wanted a banana cake. I love hearing his stories of his past birthdays. He told me that a few decades back, he made his own banana cake and all of the ladies would always ask him when he was going to bake another one for them ;)

   I wanted to make a nostalgic cake for him, so I did some Pinteresting and came upon this recipe which turned out beautifully! It certainly isn't paleo, but it's definitely delicious! Baking this cake made me really miss my old days of baking all the time. Unfortunately, my grandpa couldn't enjoy a slice of the cake (he's on a strict liquid diet), but I may or may not have slipped him just one "small" bite. Shhh!!

   Our thanksgiving was spent with family where I celebrated being done with our 28-day fall Nutrition Challenge at Crossfit Uncommon. I didn't cheat for one second of those 28 days, but I definitely dreamt of all of the things I'd be gettin' down on come Thanksgiving time! It was all I expected and so much more. I ate more than any man at the dinner table and didn't regret it for a second. 

Pre-turkey

Post-turkey

         I hope that ya'll have a beautiful Sunday! 

Gingerbread Protein Pancakes (Paleo)

   So as of lately, anytime that I have eggs for breakfast my stomach will be turning into knots for hours after. I have eaten eggs for just about every breakfast for over two years now! I figured maybe it's my way of my body telling me it's all egg-ed out. So I listened. I miss the days of eating pancakes, but don't want to put grains back into my diet so I came up with this recipe. It took me multiple tries to get them to look and taste just right and they get better every time I make them! Keep in mind when you're preparing them: that it's a small serving for one...I don't measure my spices or much of anything for that matter so if you like exact measurements, don't do this recipe. I'll be describing them with the annoying terms such as "dash", "scant", "pinch", etc.


Gingerbread Protein Paleo Pancakes

   A look at some of the ingredients:

Ingredients:

-about 1/2 cup almond meal
-1 egg
-1 scoop of protein powder of choice (I used chocolate, it's all I had. If you have gingerbread...that's even cooler)
-about 1/2 tbsp organic chia seeds (optional, adds texture and Omega 3's)
-handful-ish of organic unsweetened shredded coconut (optional, again-adds texture, flavor)
-pinch of coconut crystals (low glycemic alternative to sweeteners, nothing artificial about this one though :)
-dash of ginger, nutmeg, & clove
-super dash of cinnamon (optional on the "super" part...I just think you can never have too much cinnamon)
-almond milk (no set amount, just have it ready. Coconut milk is fine, too. Cow's milk is also fine, whatever you're into!)
-coconut oil


Get out a small bowl, add all of the dry ingredients (including the egg-not shown in this pic) into the bowl. Stir them together.

Now it's time for the milk. I literally just splash a very small amount into the bowl and mix.

If it is still dry & crumbly, then I will add another small splash. Keep adding the almond milk until it is thick and creamy.

Spoon batter onto medium-heated skillet (oiled with coconut oil) and let it cook until it bubbles and then flip it!

Top it off with nut butter, fruit, nuts, syrup. Whatever you would like!

Hope everyone enjoys this one! Happy Thanksgiving!

Mini Gingerbread "Snow" Covered Donuts

Today was the first day of snow around here and I was just too excited and in the Christmas spirit to not celebrate! I want my daughter to have the sweetest holiday memories. So I ran into her bedroom this morning to get her out of bed to show her the snow outside her window...only to find...a "reindeer"! We have 2 acres of unkept land where the deer love to nest this time of year. So seeing them in our yard is very entertaining. It was too perfect and cute to watch her reaction. Needless to say, it's been a magical day!  

Anyways, I'll cut to the chase. Here's the recipe to the donuts we made today...hope you enjoy as much as she did! Disclaimer: not everything I make is "clean eating" or paleo. Gotta let the kid taste the dirty stuff, too ;) 

Mini Gingerbread Snow Covered Donuts

Dry Ingredients:

-1 cup flour

-1 tsp baking powder

-1 cinnamon 

-1/2 tsp ginger

-1/8 tsp cloves

-1/8 tsp nutmeg

-1/4 tsp salt 

-1/4 cup brown sugar

Wet Ingredients: 

-1 egg

-3 tbsp maple syrup

-1/3 cup milk (I used almond milk)

-1 1/2 tsp vanilla

-3 tbsp melted butter (I used ghee, aka clarified butter) 

Frosting:

-1 cup powdered sugar

- 1tbsp hot water

-1/2 heaping tbsp almond milk (any milk is fine)

-splash of vanilla

-shredded unsweetened coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease donut pan with coconut oil (or whatever it is that you use). Combine dry ingredients and stir. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix until moistened. Pipe the batter into the pan, careful to not overload them. Bake for 8 min. As they're cooling, mix frosting ingredients in a small bowl. Pour shredded coconut into a separate small dish and set aside. Once the donuts are cooled, dip in the frosting and let excess drip off (or let your toddler spastically shake it, so frosting goes flying) and then gently dunk into bowl of shredded coconut. Lay on a pretty plate and enjoy!