“Autumn…the year’s last, loveliest smile.”

Posted in Health by alex mcdonald

September has arrived, and as sad as it is to see summer go, who doesn’t love fall? The colours, the smells, the fall baking!? My dream climate would be a long summer, a long fall, about a month of snow for Christmas, New Years and hot chocolate drinking season, then a long spring and back to summer!

Since fall is here, we all know that means baking with pumpkin! I made the amazing wannabe Starbucks pumpkin scones the other day with my girlfriend Breanne, you can see them here with a link to the recipe we used. Ryan and I have been eating really clean to get ready for our trip to Paris but I really wanted a pumpkin pancake or waffle. So here we have Clean Pumpkin Protein Pancakes. They are so dead easy!

What you’ll need…

1 scoop vanilla protein powder (I used Kaizen Nautral Isolate)
3/4 of a cup of pure pumpkin
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp all spice
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 egg whites
1/2 cup oats
1/4 cup bran
2 tbsp water
1/2 tbsp splenda

I like mine pretty spicy, you can definitely tone down or up the cinnamon, all spice and nutmeg to your preference. Blend all your ingredients together in a food processor, this will help smooth out your oats. Using a non stick pan, pour out about a quarter cup amount and cook low and slow. These are more dense pancakes because of the pumpkin, you’ll find they take longer to cook through and you don’t want to have your heat too high or it will burn the outside and the inside won’t be done. So, cook them at medium low heat about 4 to 5 minutes a side. Top with all natural maple syrup and cinnamon, even a dollop of whip cream if that suits your fancy! Enjoy!

Quote is from William Cullen Bryant.

3Jun2014

Sugar Free Banana Cocoa Muffins

Posted in Health by alex mcdonald

We eat a lot of fruit in our house but for some reason we always over buy bananas. Which I actually like because it gives me a reason to bake once they have browned. One of my favourite banana bread recipes is the “Sweet Home Alabanana Bread” from the Eat, Shrink and Be Merry cook book. I didn’t have a lot of necessary ingredients so I just made up some banana muffins as I went along with things I already had in the house. Whenever I make sugar free muffins I usually use applesauce for sweetness, which I didn’t have so it ended up being a mash up of other ingredients and I think they’re really good!

What you’ll need

4 very ripe mashed bananas
2.5 cups quick cooking oats
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1.5 teaspoon baking powder
2.5 tablespoons all natural honey
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2.5 tablespoons cocoa (I used Fry’s)

First blend the eggs, oats, banana, baking powder and soda

Once those ingredients are well blended, add flour, cinnamon, cocoa, and honey. Preheat oven to 400.

This recipe made 12 smallish muffins, I always use cupcake liners, mostly because it makes for less clean up. These muffins don’t rise very high so you fill them 3/4 to almost the top of the liner.

Bake for 18 minutes, cool for 5-10 minutes. If you let cool closer to ten they won’t stick to the liner. These are so easy! If you have a sweet tooth that these don’t quite satisfy and you have applesauce on hand try adding a half cup and an additional 1/4 cup of flour. You could also try a few dark chocolate chips and crushed pecans, lots of room for experimentation with these. Enjoy!

17Feb2014

Chai Latte Pancakes!

Posted in Health by alex mcdonald

These pancakes were a little more of an undertaking then my usual blueberry or chocolate chip ones. I told our breakfast guests to be prepared for them not to work out and be having toast for dinner. I also served them with a maple cranberry compote, which is something I have never made before, but it was really good and now I’m inspired to make my own jam! I found the original recipe on The First Mess, a site with a lot of amazing recipes.

What you’ll need…

Compote

1 cup frozen cranberries
1/3 cup water (you may need to add a little more as you heat it)
1/3 cup maple syrup
3 tsp vanilla

Pancakes

1 1/3 cup vanilla soy milk
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup spelt flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp ground coffee
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp all spice
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp melted coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla

Combine your soy milk and apple cider vinegar, stir to mix and let sit for ten minutes, this will curdle your milk which is what you want!

While that ten minutes is passing you can work on the compote. Put cranberries, water and syrup in saucepan and boil, stirring frequently. You will need to mash up the cranberries as you go to get the jam texture, once you see the mix start to resemble a moist jam, stir in the vanilla and mix. I left the compote in the pan on the lowest heat to keep it warm for serving while I made the pancakes and stirred occasionally.

I strongly suggest you mix your dry ingredients and your wet ingredients separately. If you add the syrup and coconut oil directly to the dry ingredients it will clump up and not give you the texture you need. So, mix your flours, spices, coffee, baking powder and soda in one bowl, then your milk mixture, oil, syrup and vanilla in another.

Fold the wet ingredients into the dry and be careful not to over mix because these can easily get runny. You really have to keep an eye on them while frying because they’re not quite as thick as some pancakes and you don’t want them to burn. Flip them when you see some bubbling on top and browning on the sides.

Top with cranberry compote and additional maple syrup. I also served them with lean ham and fresh fruit. They really did end up having a spicy coffee taste and were a hit! Good luck!