May 14th 2011 I am not Talking to a Brick Wall and Salad can actually be Good!

Hey hey, long time no talky, its been a while.  I hope all my readers are well.  Things are good in our household, we have been perfecting our bike riding skills( my 4 year old is learning how to use her brakes), learning how to jump rope(you should see the little ones try and actually jump the rope:)) and have been fighting off the sniffles here.( I think they are finally gone....the sniffles that is)
   Great news here, Major breakthrough.....So, both my kiddos eat paleo and are ok with the fact that we don't eat what most of America eats.  They are o.k. with this because I tell them they are o.k. with this and that they will love appreciate me later in life for this.   But, every opportunity they get to stray from the paleo wagon you will find them sprinting and pushing aside the elderly to get to the chips, candy, bread, soda or whatever it may be that someone is offering.  I, being their mother expect nothing less,(except pushing over the elderly, because I like to think I raised them better than that.) for 1.   Nobody can stay on the wagon all the time. And for 2, They are only 4 and 6...of course they are gonna go for that stuff.  Its like a fun pastime for them.  Actually my oldest daughter said the other day, "  Mom, do you remember when we used to get suckers at the bank?   That was great when we used to do that."  Haha, but anyway back to my great news and major breakthrough....I think my kids are finally getting the big picture.  My youngest daughter like I said is the first to inhale a bag of chips if you let her but a few days ago we were on our way to preschool ( I work there, she attends)  and I realized I left her snacks and lunch on the counter at home.  ( they do serve snacks at lunch at preschool but it is all government food standard friendly which means: wheat, gluten, grains, starch and a cup of sugar on the side)  so I explain to Kaylie that I forgot her food and she gets to eat what her friends are eating today, thinking that she will jump for joy about this.   Instead I hear a blood curdling scream from the back seat and a very angry 4 year old screaming, " I can't eat that food, it's yucky for my body!!! Its not healthy!!!"  We get to school and her  teacher and I rounded up some paleo odds and ends that she could eat for the day.  After that experience...I don;t know......maybe I've over corrupted them....hehe:) and just when  I think my oldest isn't listening she blows me away as well...There was a function at school recently where parents were invited and snacks were served.  By snacks I mean frosted cookies, cupcakes, little bowls of candy kool-aid, and some fruit bowls.   Reygan is offered all these items and she takes one of each.  In my head I'm thinking, " Wow we are in for a rough night"   .....Wait, wait, pause the story.  Just so we are on the same page....They are not forbidden to eat these items.  I don;t have them in my house but if they are offered them some where else it is their choice to eat these items or not.   I'm hoping that by not forcing the healthy and  not forbidding the unhealthy that they will make the decision to go healthy.  I don't want to force it on them and then walk in to their house when they are older and all grown up and find nothing but cupboards full of tubs of frosting and bags of chips(ha...my worst nightmare)  But back to my point,,,I'm hoping they are listening to all my not healthy spiels and will listen to their bodies when they do eat the not so healthy stuff and learn from it.
   Back to my story...Reygan has a cupcake, bowl of fruit, frosted cookie, some candy and Kool-aid in front of her.   She eats 2 little pieces of candy(m&m style), takes 1 bite of her cookie then goes for the fruit( strawberries I believe).  She throws away everything else!!!I was  shocked!!!  She picked fruit out of all that???I guess she does listen when I talk.  AMAZING!!!  On the way out to the car she says" I didn't need all those sugars huh?"  I had perma- smile on my face for the rest of the day!  I love it when my good habits rub off on them!!!! MAJOR MAJOR NEWS!!!! 
   So I found a salad recipe the other day that was actually very good after tweaking it to my style and was far from the regular old standard salad.  The kids (and myself) are not too crazy about veggies, there was minimal complaining about having to eat veggies when the salad was served and after everyone tried it I think it was safe to say it was a hit.  :)

Its Actually Good Salad

• 6-8 oz. of spinach
• 1 carrot, grated
• 2 apples, diced
• 9 strips of bacon, cooked and diced
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon spicy brown mustard
• 1 tablespoon  dill
• Black pepper to taste
• 1 avocado, diced

Mix all ingredients together and enjoy!

April 29th 2011 Lifestyle vs. Diet and Fun Burgers that are actually Fun!

Quick question to anyone out there reading.....What is your definition of "diet"?  I'm tellin ya, if I hear one more person ask me why I have my children on a diet, I'm going to scream!!!!  I don't know how many times I've been asked, "so why are you and your children dieting?"  IT IS NOT A DIET!!! To me a diet is altering your eating habits to help you lose weight. To me a diet is not something you are willing to do the rest of your life, its a short term thing so that you can lose 15lbs to fit into that lil' summery dress thing you picked out for your awkward and slightly uncomfortable class reunion and more times than not they are usually unhealthy for you.  They cause short term quick weight loss but your usually (not always) sacrificing your health.  Sorry people but I don't wish that for my children.  Now I know that not everyone out there looks at the paleolithic lifestyle (notice it does not day diet) the same way I do but for my family that's exactly how we look at it.  A lifestyle.  We are not doing "the paleo thing" to lose weight,  we are not trying to and could actually care less about the lil summer dress for our class reunion and we certainly have no interest in being unhealthy.  My family and I have adopted the paleolithic lifestyle because we want a better quality of life, and not just  for the short term, we want to live long happy lives that do not consist of  itchy eczema(my older daughter used to have this before we ate paleo) heart disease, obesity, cancer or any arthritis due to the food we ate.  Please do not assume that you are invincible just because you eat paleo but you are by far way healthier and most people who have experienced the paleo experience are happier.  So just F.Y.I.....my children are not dieting!!!  

Now, on a lighter note, I have come up with my own fun burgers that are actually fun and do not make you cry at the end of the night. YAY!

Fun Cilantro Burgers that are Actually Fun
   
Ingredients:

• 3lbs of ground meat ( we like to use 1/2 ground beef and 1/2 ground turkey)
• seasonings of your choice...(whatever you normally use to season your burgers )
• 1 bunch of cilantro finely chopped
• 1/2 a green pepper
• 1/2 a red pepper
• 1 small zucchini
• 1 carrot
• a few slices of bacon  ( a few for each burger your making)
• coconut oil ( just enough to oil your pans)
• a few sliced avocados/ guacamole is good too
• 1 small onion sliced
• 1 or 2 large sweet potatoes 
• pickles ?
• condiments of your choice( again, whatever you normally out on your burger)

Fun instructions for your Fun Burgers

grate your zuccinni and carrot into a fairly large bowl.  Finely chop up your peppers and cilantro and add to your bowl.  Add your meat to the bowl and mix well.  Next add seasonings of your choice ( i usually add a lil garlic and onion power, chili power and salt and pepper). 
Peel sweet potatos and thinly slice into what is going to be something like chips.  A mandolin is perfect for this (as long as you don't get the cheap one from Target, almost lost my whole hand once.  It didn't have an actual blade on it but more of just a jagged edge....cheapos) if, like myself you have a hard time slicing things evenly.  Put some coconut oil  in a frying pan and turn on to med-high.  Once the pan is hot place your sweet potato slices  in the pan and turn down slightly.  You have to watch these closely.  When they start browning on the one side then you need to turn them over.  Do the same on the opposite side.  remove from pan once they reach your desired "chip-like" chippyness and place on a paper towel so some of the oil will drip off. Now cook your bacon.  Next go back to your hamburger mixture and make your pattys as you normally would.  Grill or pan fry just like you used to before you came across the paleo amazingness.  While those are cooking slice up your onion and avocado.  Once burgers are done we place them on a large leaf of lettuce(takes place of the bun) and add all the yummy fixins...you know, the onions avocado, bacon, condiments, pickles and the chips.( I usually put my chips on the side) Make it as tall or small as you like, remember they are fun burgers....so have fun.

April 15th 2011, Some Sweet Treats and a Lil Lesson in Eating Out Paleo

So, last weekend was quite an experience for me.  We were out of town wor the weekend and it was our first time eating paleo while out and about not bieng able to just go home and cook something or pre-prepare something to bring to wherever we may be going.  WOW is all I gotta say! Some of you will proboly have an easier time with this but like I've said before, I'm pretty sure I could get an award for having the pickiest kids on earth.  What one will eat, the other won't and eating out at restaurants for the weekend......Forget it! My kids know whats at restaurants(since we are all still fairly new to the paleo lifestyle we do still crave these items that are soooo not good for you).....french fries, soda, deep fried crap..ya know,.. the stuff we used to eat. Chips, salsa and sometimes they bring that yummy bread and butter right to your table as soon as you sit down.  I'm just sayin....it was quite a weekend.  I picked my battles...I won some, I lost some.  We didn't completely fall off the wagon, although there was a mac and cheese episode with the lil girls and at one point we did all have burritos but I am constantly reminding myself, " we are not Mary Poppins and we are not practically perfect in every way." 
Our weekend:
       Lunch~our first meal away from home.
At Qdobas- burritos
      Grilled chicken(we all asked for extra meat instead of rice and beans) 
      guacamole, salsa, cilantro with a side of applesauce
       Dinner~
At Black Eyed Pea- kiddos- Mac and cheese with a side of applesauce( they can't get enough applesauce)
     I had a bunless bacon cheeseburger wit sweet potato fries  
      Breakfast(day 2)~ 
Daybreak Cafe -scrambled eggs and bacon
      Lunch~
Food Court in the Mall- kiddos- Gluten free pizza
Hooters-adults- naked Parmesan and garlic wings, steamed shrimp and fried pickles(I still have no self control when it comes to fried pickles)  
All in all, not horrible but I'm glad to be home cooking my own food, and not being tempted with fries, breaded crunchiness or sugar coated, frosting covered, very short lived deliciousness (just f.y.i...I used to be a huge sucker for this stuff.  I am happy to announce....I HAVE OVERCOME THIS CRAVING...for the most part anyway:))  Obviously we cannot be home all the time, there will come a time when once again we will have to eat somewhere other than our humble paleo abode and I just keep telling myself to just do the bet I can when this time comes around again.  Because Mary Poppins is a fictional character and no one is perfect.


Since sugar coated frosting covered deliciousness came up....here are some fun yummy sweet recipes that I recently tried....
Paleo Nut Butter Cups
( I found the original recipe for this on www.paleoplan.com and tweaked it to my liking)
  Ingredients:

• 6-8 tbsp. of coconut oil
• 1/2 cup of carob powder or cocoa powder
• 2 to 2 1/2 tbsp. of honey
• almond butter
• mini muffin tin

Start by geasing the muffin tin with some coconut or olive oil. Melt the honey and oil in a saucepan over medium heat on the stove.  Next add the carob or cocoa powder, mix well...no lumps.  Fill muffin tins about 1/3 full of the chocolate honey mixture.  Place small amount of almond butter on top of your chocolate( small layer) fill the rest of the muffin tin up with chocolate. Place in freezer until frozen.  Eat and Enjoy!
  The second batch of these that I made I added coconut to the chocolate honey mess to make more of an Almond Joy type thing.

Sweet Apple Yum( A very dear friend of mine gave me this recipe, after she paleoized it. Thanks Hootie!)   (Not sure paleoized is a word, haha)    

•  3 Apples peeled and cored (don't go all the way through the apple, make like a bowl) 
• 3 tbs honey
• 3 tbs cinnamon
•  nutmeg
  mix honey and cinnamon together
  Place apples in a shallow pan
  Fill with 1 tbs each of honey and cinamonn
  top with a dash of nutmeg.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 35 mins or until apple is soft.
  Enjoy :)

April 4th 2011

Well hello hello, my apologies to anyone who may take interest in this blog and noticed that I failed to finish writing about the cooking marathon and  actually have not written in over a week.  I actually just started crossfitting  (not that that is any excuse) and have been kind of wrapped up with that.  So as I have already said, my deepest apologies goes out to Ashley(Hootie) and my lil sister Amanda because you are my two wonderful readers and followers. (thank you for humoring me, hahaha)  Anyway, like I said, I've been crossfitting my derriere right off and I'm loving every minute of it.  My wonderful boyfriend is a crossfit coach at High Altitude Crossfit here in Gypsum Colorado and I have an uncle that has a crossfit gym of his own in Tucson Arizona(Crossfit Full Throttle) and I thought it was about time I joined the gym and saw for myself what all this crossfit madness was all about.  For those of you that aren't familiar with crossfit it is a core strength and conditioning program built from functional movements, performed at high intensity and constantly varied.(check out www.crossfit.com for more info.)  It is my second week and I am very sore(in a good way;)) and am very excited to continue to crossfit my way to a healthier me.
          Like I said before my boyfriend Cassidy is a coach at High Altitude Crossfit and they recently had thier one year anniversary,  YAY!!! They had a potluck/barbecue for this wonderful anniversary, and I, being the (wonderful, beautiful, ect.) girlfriend of a HACF coach get to attend with him.  So as said earlier it was a potluck so I whipped up some grain free almond crackers and I dug up a wonderful hummus recipe.  I was extremely nervous to attend this event due to the fact that I knew no one, and for those of you that know me, believe it or not I am actually very shy until I get to know you.  I also had never actually made the hummus recipe before(time is never on my side).  The recipe its self sounded great but to take it to a party without having time to try the recipe out or even taste it before having to present it is a little nerve-wracking.  Thankfully it turned out a big fat freakin hit and I must say to all you High Altitude Crossfitters out there, I have never met a more positive bunch of people and am overly delighted to be apart of this.  You all are amazing!  But anyhow......back to the hummus and crackers.....Amazing, and totally worth tie time and effort put into them.

                 Red Pepper Hummus
       Needed Ingredients

• 2 Medium Zucchini, peeled and quartered
• 3/4 cup Tahini (ground up sesame seeds)
• 1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 2 medium/large cloves of minced garlic
• 1/2 tablespoon ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons kosher or sea salt
• Food Processor or High Speed Blender
• 1 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1/4 cup finely chopped red and green peppers
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• a little salt and pepper to taste

   Process

• Peel and chop zucchini and place in food processor.
• Add in Tahini, Olive Oil, and fresh lemon juice, and blend.
• Add garlic, cumin, and salt, and blend thoroughly.
• Saute chopped peppers and red pepper flakes in olive oil until tender and simply add to the hummus mixture, blend thoroughly.

YUMMY YUMMY HUMMUS!!!( found the original recipe on www.primalpalate,com )

Next....a side of crackers for dipping.

                    Almond Crackers

Ingredients:

•       1c. almond meal   (if almond meal is not readily available simply grind up raw almonds in a blender or food processor, I actually find this method easier and cheaper )
•      1 egg white

Process:

•   preheat oven to 350
• mix almond meal and egg whites together
• place a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet and place almond egg mixture on top of paper.
• Place a second sheet of parchment paper on top of mixture and roll mixture out with a rolling pin.  For those of you that need literal terms, (you know who you are...) the almond mixture should be IN BETWEEN the 2 pieces of parchment paper.
• Roll it out to about 1/4 of an inch thick.
• Remove the top piece of parchment and bake at 350 for 12 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

A quick tip:  If you've ever smelt burnt almonds you know its a horrid smell so DO NOT LET THESE BURN, you will want to keep an eye on this cookie sheet of ground up almonds because the edges of this flat almond mixture will cook faster than the middle.  As the edges nicely brown I just brake them off into little squares(or however shape they brake off) and remove them from the oven so the uncooked almond muck can continue to brown at its own pace.;)

Simple but purely amazing! Let me know what you all thought.  Thanks for reading:)

March 26th Cooking marathon round 1

So on today's agenda...pancakes(to be frozen and thawed as needed for breakfasts).  Same recipe as before and the kiddos had quite a time making these.  Alot of laughter going on here.  You should never cook with my kids and the tv on.  At one point Kaylie was randomly cracking eggs and instead of putting them in the bowl they were landing on the table. hehehe!!!! Too much fun.  We doubled the pancake batch, cooked them, individually wrapped them and packed them in a tupperware to freeze them.  Next we made Beanless Chili.  The kids kind of lost interest with this one so I was flyin solo here.


Beanless Chili with a hint of um.....somebody's garden
Necessary ingredients:

•  3lbs, of beef (preferably grassfed)
• 1c. pureed carrots
• 1c.pureed spinach
• 1 red pepper
• 1 green pepper
• 1 small onion
• 1 can of tomato sauce (the one I used was 14 oz.)
• your choice of chili seasoning.  I prefer to use the 2 alarm chili kit, you can purchase at your local grocery store, I simply withhold the masa and the red pepper.  The masa is simply flour which you should know is not paloe friendly and the red pepper seems to be to overwhelming once you add the fresh red and green peppers.

Brown the beef.  Drain the grease and put in a slow cooker/crock pot.  Add your freshly pureed and chopped veggies.(remember, you need not puree if you don;t have picky eaters.  It still comes out the same with just chopped veggies). Add your seasoning and turn on low.  Cook for 5 or 6 hours.

Spaghetti Sauced Meat Sauce
Next we started on Spaghetti sauced Meat.  I plan using this meat sauce to top some roasted/broiled green beans(a simple paleo version of spaghetti). I got this recipe from Robb Wolff's book "The Paleo Solution" and I simply added a few things in order to pack in as many veggies as possible.
 
 Nessesary Ingredients

• 3 lbs ground beef (grass-fed if possible), turkey, or chicken
• 1/2 cup chopped onions (about one small onion or 1/2 med onion)
• 2-3 cloves minced garlic
• 1 6 oz. can tomato paste
• 1 20 oz. can tomato sauce
• 2 tsp oregano
• 2 tsp basil
• 1 tsp tarragon
• 1cup pureed broccoli
• 1/2 butternut squash

First and foremost, cut squash in half lengthwise, place open sides down on a cookie sheet and add 1/4 c. water to the cookie sheet.  Cook squash at 400 for about 45 minutes.Once this is accomplished spoon out the mush and puree in a blender or magic bullet.  Next set mush aside and brown your meat of choice.  Once browned, add onions and garlic.  Sautee for 5 to 7 minutes then add tomato sauce and paste.  Pureed veggies come next then add your seasonings.  I tend to add a lil extra of some of these seasonings depending on how potent your broccoli and squash taste is.   Use your best judgment.;)
Now for todays purpose, I simply placed this in a tupperware and put it into the fridge.  But for those of you who may want to cook this all at once...I simply grab a few frozen green beans(about 1/4cup per serving) place on a cookie sheet, drizzle with olive oil and broil until slightly crispy.  Top with the meat sauce and Voila!!!!

I'm thinking that I made enough of these items to have 1 or two nights of leftovers.  so to end the day I whipped up some "crustless pizza casserole"( refer to March 17th recipe) and am calling it good for the night.  Until tomorrow....

BEANLESS CHILI

SPAGHETTI SAUCED MEAT

March 26th 2011 Taming the Chaos and a side of Muffins

Happy Saturday everyone! Goal this weekend....make our meals for the week in advance. During the week I don't get home until 6 or 6:30 have to prepare dinner, feed the ladies, make lunches for the next day(not as easy as you may think, I have picky children remember)and get everyone to bed at a decent hour,  As well as fit any homework, bath time and bedtime stories in in between all of the above said chaos.  By Wednesday I am usually burnt out and ready to throw in the towel and just order pizza.  Now obviously I can't give up and let that happen, paleolithic diet has way to many health benefits to just give up......I've experienced them, and seen them first hand through my kids.  There's no way I want to stop with all the healthyness;)(is that even a word??? healthyness?)  So I've decided I obviously need to think outside the box here, get creative and quit feeling sorry for myself.
      I've decided,  this paleo thing  effects the whole family so why not involve the whole family? During the week we are strapped for time so I am usually only one in the kitchen cooking and preparing meals, when the kids are helping it usually takes twice as long and who are we kidding? you saw how our weekday evenings go we don't have time to embrace the experience, we have time to hurry up and shove food down our throats.  So this weekend the kids and I are going to pre-prepare and cook our foods for the whole week.  In my head this benefits us in quite a few ways...for 1, we don't have to rush to get the meals cooked, we can take our time.  For 2, the kids can help prepare the meals because as said in point 1...we will have the time to do so.  For 3, with letting the lil' ladies help out in the kitchen we get to spend more quality time together and they will get to embrace the paleo cooking experience. And for 4, theoretically we should have more time during the week now so we won't feel like we are running a marathon every evening.  I see no downside to any part of my plan....Lets get cooking!!!!

And just  a quick sidenote....we made paleo pancakes this morning and in the pancake recipe I recently wrote about on March 20th I said to puree the sweet potato.  Turns out the cakes turn out way better if you just grate the sweet potato and add it to the batter instead of pureeing.


We started off the new cooking experience with apple and strawberry muffins.  The kids love these for breakfast with a side of eggs or ham, or just to have as a between meal snack.  I have this new thing of trying to sneak in any veggies in anything I make, due to the fact that my kids think veggies are..and I quote"yuck-a-roo!!!"  So I threw this one together and it went off without a hitch.  The kids had a great time helping!!

Apple Strawberry Muffins

Required Ingredients

• 3/4 c. coconut flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 7 eggs
• 1/4c. raw honey
• 5tbs. applesauce
• 1/3c. of coconut oil or butter
• 1tsp. vanilla
• 1 small butternut squash
• 3 or 4 frozen strawberries
• 1 apple

Before you get all pumped up to make and cook this you need to cook the quash and spoon it out of its shell.  Preaheat oven to 400, cut squash in half lengthwise.  Place squash face down on a cookie sheet and add about 1/4 c. of water to the cookie sheet.  Cook forabout 45 minutes.  Once its done, remove from oven and let cool a bit.  Spoon out the squashy mush and using either blender, magic bullet or food proceser puree the mixture until smooth, No chunks!!  Now the actual muffin makin can begin.  Leave oven on to 400 and in a small bowl combine dry ingredients (flour, salt and baking soda).  In a larger bowl, grate apple and strawberries.  Add squash, eggs honey applesauce, butter(melted), and vanilla to the apple and strawberries. stir to blend.  Once blended add the dry ingredients.  I always put the final batter mixture into the blender to make sure its properly mixed...I hate chunkies!  Place batter into paper lines tins and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until you stick it with a toothpick and it comes out clean. Enjoy!!!


Will post again soon regarding the events of this weekends cooking marathon!

March 20th 2011 Breakfast with a hint of Veggies

Sunday morning is always wonderful in our house.  Once we are all awake the kids love to help make breakfast.  Sunday is a great day for this because we actually have time to make and eat the breakfast as a family, its usually great fun.  This morning was no different than any other, the children are running around singing about pancakes, I am gathering ingredients for the usual coconut pancakes and I suddenly  stumbled upon a book I bought a few years back called "Deceptively Delicious", it's a cookbook written by Jessica Seinfeld and it focuses on getting your children to eat vegetables without even knowing that they are eating them.(amazing idea!!)  She basically purees veggies up puts them in with whatever she decides to cook that day and apparently you can't even taste that they are in whatever it is you may be eating.  So I'm looking at the cover of this book and I start thinking," why can't I do that?" Now if your reading this and you know my children or myself you will know that the three of us are the most pickiest vegetable eaters EVER! if you can get us to eat veggies at all. Knowing all this I start rummaging through the fridge looking for something that I may be able to add to the pancakes without anyone catching on.  I found a sweet potato, spinach, and a small butternut squash.  I decide the sweet potato is obviously slightly sweet , perfect for a pancake, and spinach....why not in eggs Jessica Seinfield does it why can't I. You should know...my kids love food coloring, they color their milk(coconut of course) thier yogurt, even their bath water if I let them.  So telling them that we are having green eggs for breakfast was quite the treat.It took a lil bit to soften the potato to puree the damn thing but it was well worth it, We all had green eggs, coconut/sweet potato pancakes, bacon and a few strawberries.  Breakfast Magnifique!


Coconut/Sweet Potato Pancakes

• 4 eggs
• 3 tablespoons of butter
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of cocnut milk
• 1 teaspoon of  honey
• 11/2 tsp of vanilla
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup of cocnut flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1/2cup-3/4 cup of water
• 1 small sweet potato

Whisk together eggs, butter, cocnut milk, honey, and vanilla.  Peel and cube sweet potato, put in a bowl add a lil water and microwave for 4 or 5 minutes or until soft. Once its soft, use a blender or magic bullet to puree the sweet mush.(I had to add a little water to the mush in order to puree smoothly)add the mush to the mix of pancake ingredients.  Stir dry ingredients together in a separate bowl.  Add wet ingredients to dry and whisk until smooth(I personally prefer to mix it all in the blender)  Add the water to thin out the batter until it is to your desired consistancy. If you have any desire to add fruit, cinnamon, or my kiddos personal fav, chocolate chips, now would be the time to throw them in and stir them up.  Once thats done in a well greased pan or griddle cook pancakes on both sides until browned(not burned but brown, simple mistake I am notorious for)

A few tips...once the pancake is cooked on the first side and right after you flip it over I let it cook for about a minute then i smoosh it down with a spatula so it isn't as fluffy.  By doing this they stay together better and don't fall apart as soon as someone touches them.
Also smaller ones are easier to flip and have less of a chance of falling apart.


SalsaVerde Eggs
This is just a simple kick to regular scrambled eggs.

• desired amount of eggs, 7 or 8 is usually enough for our family of four
• 4 or 5 tablespoons of salsa(depending on how much you like salsa)
• 1/2 cup of pureed spinach
• salt and pepper 

add eggs and salsa to a bowl.  Cut stems off of spinach put in a pan with a lil butter and saute til soft.  place spinach in blender or magic bullet add a bit of water(not to much) and puree til smooth.  Add spinach to eggs and whisk until mixed well. Add butter or oil(preferably coconut or olive) to a pan and cook scrambled eggs as you normally would.

Like I said , the eggs and pancakes went along with bacon and a few strawberries.  The kids ate this dish like it was goin outta style! No complaints here