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Recipe: Banana Flaxjacks!

So, you all know how I love my 1-minute muffin and all it’s permutations, right?

Well, I got thinking about using a banana it to make more of a pancake batter and a little on the sweet side.  The result?

Grain free and gluten free.  Now there are a couple tricks with this recipe, so maybe be drinking a cup of coffee while you prep breakfast.

Serves 1.

Ingredients:

  • 1 ripe banana
  • 1 egg
  • 26 grams of ground flax meal (about 4 tablespoons, but please weigh)
  • 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder
  • cinnamon to taste.  I use about 1 teaspoon!
  • 1 tablespoon of water (optional)

First, a note about flax meal.  I have found there is a difference in flax meal between brands, therefore the water may not be needed.

Bob’s Red Mill brand seems to be a little less absorbent than the brand pictured, so you may not need the water if you use Bob’s Red Mill.

Preheat a nonstick skillet over medium heat while you assemble the ingredients.

Mash the banana really well in a small bowl.  When I say mash it, I mean mash it liquidy – like this.

If your banana is not super ripe, pop it in the microwave for 20 seconds or so and it will soften right up for mashing.

Add in the egg and cinnamon and mix well:

Now add the flax meal and baking powder:

Mix well.

Add the water if you need to make sure you have a loose batter. Now is the point you want to work quickly.  Flax will thicken up as it sits.

Give the pan a quick spray with nonstick spray. Pour the mixture into 3 relatively equal cakes (I seem to have problems with this).  Spread the batter a little to make the cakes thinner so they cook all the way through.

Keep the heat medium so that you cook the cakes throughout without burning them.  You may be tempted to raise the heat.  Don’t do it.  Check the bottom of the cakes with a spatula and flip them when lightly browned on the bottom.  Be gentle!

Cook for another couple minutes on this side until cooked through.

Plate up and enjoy!

These are moist and sweet and very banana tasting.  Top as you like.

Nutritional stats for 3 flaxjacks (the entire batch)
Calories: 245, 14 g of fat, 23 g of carbs, 11 g of fiber, 13 g of protein.

Note, there will be a bit of variation in calories depending on the size of your banana. (no jokes, please).

If you don’t want to bother with making pancakes, just spread the batter into a waffle iron!

Meatless Monday – “Meatless” Balls

I don’t normally follow Meatless Monday on purpose, but sometimes it happens that I do all vegetarian meals.  We were out yesterday for breakfast and there was Rachael Ray’s magazine there, so I was reading that. I have never read her magazine before and there sure are a lot of recipes in it! LOL.  Anyway, I saw this one and thought just the meatball portion would be good.  She calls for grinding almonds in a food processor and thought “Why not just use almond flour?”  Especially since I have a 5 pound bag of it!  :mrgreen:  I also left out the lemon zest.

These are gluten free and grain free! They came out good.  I had mine on GF pasta:

They were quite easy to make.

Ingredients:

  • 2 oz of almonds, ground fine in a food processor *or* 2 ounces of almond flour.
  • 1 can of chick peas (15 oz), drained and rinsed
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 oz of shredded mozzarella cheese (3/4 cup)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper

Preheat oven to 350 F.

In a bowl, mash together the eggs and chick peas with a potato masher until just some chunks remain.

It will be mostly liquid with small chunks of chickpeas.  Kind of like oatmeal, I guess?

Now add in the almond meal, cheese, salt and pepper:

Mix well.

Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment and spray with cooking spray.  Divide the mixture into 12 equal portions and form into balls.  I weighed out about 40 grams for each meatball.

Place onto baking sheet.

Mist lightly with cooking spray.  Then bake for 25 minutes.

The texture of these is very much like meatballs, especially when covered with sauce.  I liked these quite a bit.  Very mild in flavor and I think you could do some fun things like adding green chilies or sun-dried tomatoes.  2 meatballs makes a good and filling serving amount.

Nutritional Stats:

Makes 12 meatballs. Per meatball:  108 calories, 4.5 grams of fat, 4 grams of protein. 

Lifting and Lemon Curd

Off to the gym this morning! It was surprisingly warm in the 40s. We have had warm weather the last few days, but some snow is soon to come.

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Lying Leg Press 3 sets of 10 at 100# Lower Body
Straight Leg deadlift 3 sets of 10 with 70# bar Low back and hammies
Seated Lat Row 3 sets of 10 at 50# Back
Decline Situp 3 sets of 10 Core
Barbell Chest Press 3 sets of 10 with 55# bar Chest
Arnold Press 3 sets of 10 with 10# DBs  (20# total) Shoulders
Kickbacks 3 sets of 10 with 15# DBs (30# total) Triceps
Lower Back Extension 3 sets of 10 at 90# Low back

This was a tough workout as I reduced my rest time between sets. Then I hopped on the treadmill and walked for 1.5 miles.

I was hungry!! when I got home.  I made up protein pancakes instead of waffles for a change.

Note that I added more blueberries after this picture because my whole serving would not have made as pretty a picture  😀

So, here is the recipe for the lemon curd.  Only a few ingredients and super easy!

Fashion up your own double boiler.  I used a stainless steel bowl and a saucepan filled with a bit of water.  You just need a bowl a little bigger than the pan.

Turn the heat on to bring the water to a simmer.

Ingredients:

  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup of sugar
  • 1/2 cup of fresh squeezed lemon juice (2 large lemons)
  • 1/4 cup of butter, melted.

In the bowl, add the eggs and sugar and beat with a whisk.

Set over the double boiler and then add the butter and lemon juice.

Whisk constantly over the simmering water until thickened.  It took less than 10 minutes for this to happen.

How easy is that??  This is intensely flavored, so you don’t need much.

It filled up a 16 ounce jar:

This is approximately 50 calories per tablespoon.  Just  a bit more than jam.

Store in the fridge. I don’t know about the shelf life of this.  Guess we will find out!

I had a very productive work day today and finished up early and got my practicing done.  I am enjoying some tree time now:

Do you like the tippy top?  :mrgreen:  We need to bend that back. The nice thing about an artificial tree is that Pixie doesn’t care about climbing it.  She actually pretty much ignores it, although she likes to lay under it and throw her toys under there.

 

Once John is done with his things to do, he and I are off tonight to have a date/coffee night!

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thank you all so much for you kind words on my article blurb!  It was fun.  I actually liked that much better than the Shape Magazine article.

Anyhoo, we had some nice snow last night….not….

Heavy, heavy wet stuff, too.  At least the roads weren’t bad, but it kept us from Bagel Wednesday for breakfast at any rate.  So, I had some ricotta puffs.

Had the first meeting with my learner today.  John and I actually both went.  We are going to tag team with this learner a bit because he needs both math and literacy work.  I can do both, but it would be easier for me to not do both.  This will likely be a looooong partnership.

That meant we were out at lunchtime, so we stopped in to North Country Cafe and I had my missing bagel!   :mrgreen:

Egg bagel sammie for lunch.

It was a late lunch, so I didn’t miss latte time too much.  Espresso machine is on the way, but it won’t be here until next week.  Eeek!  😯

It’s busy time now.  Finishing up work for the week, plus getting our items ready for the Thanksgiving feast.

I shall file dinner under the category of  “What was I thinking?”

Turkey burger.  Why eat a turkey burger the day before Thanksgiving?  I really don’t know.

I am going to share with you the recipe for the best cranberry sauce ever!  Also known as Lori’s Cranberry Sauce.  It is so, so easy.  This is one of the things we are bringing to dinner tomorrow.

In a medium sauce pan, add 1 bag of cranberries.  Add 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup of orange juice,  1/2 cup of water, 1 cinnamon stick and half of a vanilla bean.

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer about 5 minutes until all the berries pop.  Mash with a potato masher to break up the berries some more.  Cool completely, then remove cinnamon stick and vanilla bean.


Eat.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving full of sharing, eating, family, fun and a little exercise in there!

 

Enjoy all you eat, but don’t eat so much you are stuffed.  Get out and walk and then catch some football!

I will see you all on the flip side of Thanksgiving with a meal recap!  Enjoy Black Friday and do the Shop Local!

Pumpkin Pie Bars – grain free!

How about a Monday recipe post for a change?  Seeing as you all don’t want to see me on a weekday without the espresso machine… One is on the way, though.

And….. my magazine article came out and I have not gotten a copy yet, so I will talk about that on Tuesday!!  Eeeee – I am nervous!

So, here are the pumpkin pie bars that I messed around with and made grain free.  They came out quite good!

Ingredients:

Crust:

  • 1-1/2 cups of almond flour (see note below if you don’t have almond flour)
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
  • 5 tablespoons of butter
Filling:
  • 1 cup of canned pumpkin puree
  • 1 egg
  • 7 oz (approx 3/4 cup) of lowfat vanilla yogurt
  • 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
  • pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Line a 9×9 baking dish with either a parchment or foil sling.  I didn’t do this and I think it will be easier if you do to get these out.

In a large bowl, mix together the almond flour, sugars, and cinnamon together.

Add the butter and using your hands, knead the butter in like you would a pastry dough.

It will look like this:

Reserve 3/4 cup of this crust mixture.  Press the rest into the bottom of the 9×9 pan firmly.

Crust and reserved crumbs:

In the same bowl as you mixed the crust in (saving dishes!!), mix the egg, pumpkin, yogurt, spices, and salt.

Pour over the crust.

Jiggle the pan to make sure the filling is even. Now evenly sprinkle the reserved crust over the top.

Bake at 375 for about 45 minutes.  The time may vary by 5 minutes or so depending on if your pumpkin came out of the fridge, which mine did.  You just want the center set like a pumpkin pie would be.

Cool completely and serve or refrigerate.  Slice into 16 pieces.  These are a little hard to get off the bottom of the baking dish, so I would recommend the sling.  It’s mostly the edge pieces that stick.  Eat with a fork!

I don’t have the nutritional info right now as I haven’t had time to do it.  They do have more fat due to the almond flour, but the pieces are small,and I certainly wouldn’t tell if you ate two.  😉

* if you don’t have almond flour, you can make these as a grain crust with 3/4 cup of flour and 1/2 cup of ground nuts (pecans or walnuts).

Recipe: Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Soup

Fall and winter are the time for warm soups!  I don’t care for canned soup very much, but I forget to make my own.  I do like the Pacific Foods soups and I tried a roasted red pepper and tomato one.  I wanted to make something similar that would be grain free that I could build into different soups.

Ingredients:

  • 2 tsp of oil (I used coconut)
  • 1/4 cup of chopped onion
  • 1/2 cup of roasted red peppers packed in water (about 4 peppers)
  • 1 can of diced tomatoes 15 oz, low sodium
  • 2 cups of  broth (I used veggie)
  • 2 tablespoons of light cream
  • salt and pepper

In a sauce pan, melt the coconut oil and add the onions (diced).

Saute for several minutes until onions are translucent.
Add the red peppers and cook for another minute or so.

Add the tomatoes with juice and the 2 cups of broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

Use an immersion blender to puree the soup or use a food processor in batches (please be careful!).

I like smooth soups, but you could make it as chunky as you like. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Remove from heat and stir in the cream.

And voila – soup!  This is a sweet tasting soup.  I did not add much in the way of spices or garlic because I wanted to change up the soup later on.

In this bowl, I added some cooked rice and cooked lentils for a quick meal that had extra protein and fiber:

I am thinking it would be really good with some ground beef, brown rice, and some cumin in there with a dollop of sour cream on top.

Stats:  

Serves 4.  Each approximately 1.5 cup serving is 82 calories, 5 grams of fat, 10 grams of carbs, 9.5 grams of protein.

 

What would you do with this soup base?

Recipe – almond flour biscuits

These turned out pretty good, so I thought I would share the recipe!

It’s kind of based on the 1-minute muffin recipe.  When going grain free, the biggest challenge is wanting baked goods.  You all know I love the coconut flour, but I wanted to try the almond flour as it is a little easier to work with.  Coconut flour soaks up moisture like a son of a gun!  Anyway, the best price I found on almond flour is from Honeyville Grain.

If you join their coupon club, they periodically send 10% off email vouchers, plus there is a flat shipping rate, which makes the 5# bag pretty economical and less than buying it in the store!

Anyway, back to the recipe.  This was designed for the toaster oven and to just make 2 biscuits.

Ingredients:

  • 1 egg
  • 42 grams of almond flour (approx 1/3 cup)
  • 1/2 tsp liquid oil
  • 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder *
  • pinch of salt
  • pinch of oregano and basil

In a small bowl, beat the egg.  Then add the rest of the ingredients.

Mix well to make a thick batter:

Line your toaster oven baking tray with a piece of parchment paper.

Divide the batter into 2 portions and spread out to make rounds about 1/4 inch thick or so.

Bake in the toaster oven at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

Remove to a cooling rack and enjoy!

The texture is nice on these.  Kind of biscuity and bread like with a nice crumb.

I recommend a bit more salt for them.  I also think that added a little shredded cheddar to the batter would be really, really good!

Nutritional stats:  Makes 2 biscuits.  Each biscuit is 177 calories, 15 grams of fat, 5 grams of carbs, 2.5 grams of fiber, 7.5 grams of protein

Keep in mind almond flour is fatty, so that is why the fat content is high on these.  I am not concerned about that, but then I am eating 1 and not 3 of these at a time.

I  could see using one of these for the base of a mini pizza, too.  I was hoping to be able to slice it in half and use as a bun, but it might be just a bit thin for that.  I will have to try it and see.

* I do realize that most baking powders have a bit of cornstarch in them, so if the miniscule amount matters to you, there are brands out there that are completely grain free.

Recipe – Oopsie Rolls

There are the Magic Rolls, which have gluten in them, but tasty.  Then there are the Oopsie Rolls, which are gluten and grain free!  These are an easy alternative for buns.  This is the recipe by Jamie of Your Lighter Side.

The nice part about this recipe? 3 ingredients.

Please head over to Jamie’s site for the exact recipe. 

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone liner.

You need 2 mixing bowls.  Separate the eggs, putting the egg whites in one bowl and the yolks in another.  Do not get any yolks in the whites or they won’t beat up.  Add the cream of tartar to the egg whites.

Using an electric mixer, whip the egg whites to stiff peaks:

In the other bowl with the egg yolks, add the cream cheese:

Using the same beaters (meaning no need to wash), beat this until the mixture is smooth.  It will take a few minutes.

Now comes the folding.  Kind of like a souffle, which is sort of what these are.  Add 1/3 of the whites to the yolks and stir in to lighten up the mixture a bit.

Now do 2 more installments of the whites, folding gently to incorporate to keep as much fluff as possible.
Now using a spatula – or an ice cream disher, which I like to use – dollop the mixture onto the lined baking sheets.  I used one disher scoop and got 8 piles.
The last few were a little runnier, but that seemed okay.  I think I could have made the egg whites stiffer.  If your batter is much stiffer, then smooth it out a little to make a disk.

Bake at 300 degrees for 25-30 minutes.  Do not over bake.

Remove to a wire rack to cool, which takes like 2 seconds LOL.  Let them sit a while before eating as they set up a little firmer with time.  They are very delicate at first.

Store in a single layer in the fridge.  Let them come up to room temperature before you use them to keep them from sticking.

My bun:

The verdict?  They are a little on the bland side, but that could be cured with adding some flavor to the batter (I would add it to the yolks).  I did not flavor these as I wanted some with peanut butter.

They are somewhat delicate in texture, a little foamy, if that makes sense.  Very light.  I have done these in the past with cocoa powder and a little stevia to make chocolate ones.  I think these would be awesome to make a tiramisu or trifle dessert.

Nutritional stats:

My batch made 8 rolls.  Each roll has 54 calories, 4 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of carbs, 0 grams of fiber, 3 grams of protein.

Basically just puffs LOL!  I definitely prefer my coconut flour biscuits, but these are a much lower calorie sub.

Lifting and liquor

I was up and ready to take my body that I love so much to the gym!  There actually was no one in the free weights section – Squeeee!!! Privacy!  I even took a picture.

To the left is what is called the cardio deck.  It is a raised area in the center of the gym with the treadmills, bikes and other cardio machines.  You can look down on everyone in the other 2 sections while you get your sweat on.

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Deadlift 3 sets of 10 with 65# bar Lower body
Dumbbell Pull Over 3 sets of 10 with 25# DB Back
Barbell Chest Press 3 sets of 10 with 55# bar Chest
Reverse Crunches 3 sets of 12 Core
Nosebreakers 3 sets of 10 with 25# bar Triceps
Good Mornings 3 sets of 10 with 55# bar Low back and hamstrings
Bent Lateral Raise 3 sets of 10 with 15# DBs (30# total) Shoulders
Standing Calf Raise 3 sets of 10 at 80# Calves

This workout took about 35 minutes.  I am surrounded by iron here!

It was very fall today with wind, bright colors and dark clouds. This was taken from my bank drive through on the way home 😀

I got home to cook up breakfast.  Pumpkin Brown Rice pudding:

In a pot, mix

  • 1 cup cooked brown rice
  • 1 cup 2% milk (or whatever milk)
  • 1 tablespoon of maple syrup
  • 1 tablespoon of butter (you can omit, not sure it added anything)
  • 1 tsp of cinnamon
  • pinch of salt
  • 2 tablespoons of Craisins
Cook over medium heat for about 15 minutes.  Then add 1/2 cup canned pumpkin.  Temper in an egg and cook for another couple minutes.  Divide between 2 bowls. Top each with 10 grams of toasted pecans.

 

This was very good, although I *really* don’t like waiting that long for breakfast.  I like 10 minutes tops for cooking.  It’s  easier to do pumpkin oats, but a nice change.

 

Busy work day.  It’s a nice steady time of year now until the holidays.

 

When it was time for lunch, I went with the standard on a dinner-out night:
Feta and broccoli omelet.

John made up lattes today, this one was 2% milk:
Which I paired with some dried pineapple.
I told myself no candy corn today.  Because I can quit any time, really I can.

So, this was the week John won the football picks.  My long streak finally ended.  His choice?  Moe’s.

I got a rice bowl with pork underneath all those jalapenos!
This bowl was minus the beans.  I also realize I had rice twice in one day.

Congratulations John.  May this be the first of many winning meals.  (Did I mention yet that it was National Sarcasm Month?)

After dinner, I got John his dessert at Panera Bread.  Where I might have picked up this cookie:

 I might have eaten it, too.  Just sayin’…

We also did a stock up of our liquor cabinet since it was payday and all.  We have been out of a few things.  We don’t drink a lot, but there are a couple things we like to have on hand.

Amarula is an unusual vanilla cream liqueur with hints of spice and fruit.  It’s good in coffee!  We also got bourbon because eggnog season is coming up.  And the pumpkin pie liqueur just sounded good because I am in pumpkin overload mode about now.  The honey whiskey? Trial bottle.  Good for what ails you 😀  This stuff will last us a couple years.

Pink item of the day was spotted at Panera Bread.  Very appropriate, I might add:

The Breast Cancer Site

Gluten Free Pumpkin Scones

Fall is all about the pumpkin n’est pas?  I am loaded for bear with pumpkin now.   I wanted to make my whole wheat pumpkin scones, but since I am limiting the wheat, I wanted to see how well making them gluten free would turn out.  Turns out pretty well, as a matter of fact!

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups of gluten-free flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill) *see note below
  • 1 tablespoon of baking powder
  • 1.5 teaspoons of xantham gum
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 stick of cold butter (4 tablespoons)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup of canned pumpkin
  • 1 tablespoon of milk.

Preheat the oven to 375 F.  In a large bowl, mix together the flour, xantham gum, both sugars, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin pie spice.

(yeah, I am totally stealing the photos from the wheat scone recipe, but the technique looks exactly the same!)

Dice the butter into small pieces.  Make sure it is very cold butter. Add the butter to the dry mixture.

You can use a pastry wire cutter to mix in the butter, but I find that clean hands are your best tool for this job as you get a much better mixing.  You want the mixture to look kind of sandy when finished:

Combine the eggs, pumpkin and milk together and mix well.

Add to the dry ingredients.

Mix until everything is just moistened and turn out onto a well- floured surface.  Keep some flour nearby for dusting, as the dough will be very sticky.  I used probably a couple extra tablespoons of the flour to keep the dough from sticking.  Use more flour than the below picture.

Press the dough into a rectangle about 1/2 an inch thick, flouring your hands or the dough surface if need be.

Cut this in half the long way. Cut each half into 3 equal pieces, then cut each of those squares on the diagonal so that you have 12 pieces (each half of the above dough will make 6 triangles).

 

Carefully move the scones using a spatula to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat.

 

Bake at 375 degrees F for 15 minutes.  Do not over bake.  These will not rise quite as high at the wheat scones. Remove to a wire rack to cool.

Then enjoy!  Top with whatever you choose.  Me, I am partial to glaze.

For a quick frosting for 1 scone, mix 1 tablespoon of reduced fat cream cheese or neufchatel (not fat free, ever) with 1 tablespoon of confectioners sugar with a about 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of milk to get a glaze consistency.

Nutritional stats:  Per scone (with no glaze). 156 calories, 5.5 grams of fat, 25 grams of carbs, 2.5 grams of fiber, 3 grams of protein.

If you add the above glaze, it will add 70 calories and 3 grams of fat per scone.

John was quite pleased with these scones.  He said if I hadn’t told him they were gluten free, he would not have guessed.  They are maybe a little more dense than wheat scones, but quite good.

** Note on the GF flour.  I used Bob’s Red Mill All purpose GF flour.  If you use another flour, make sure that it can be subbed 1:1 with regular flour in recipes. The package should state how much per cup of regular flour you need.