Carrot Pancakes

Gluten-free cooking can be a crap-shoot. Substituting one flour for another, having to increase or decrease the bake time, sometimes it's too thick, sometimes it's too thin... Unless you buy a packaged "Gluten-Free Batter" mix, it can be tough. An ongoing experiment. Especially if you don't usually care enough to use measuring cups.... (just more dishes to clean!)

After many mornings of dry, crumbly, biscuit-like "pancakes", I think I've finally nailed this one down. It's chock full of carrots, raisins and nuts (because texture). Perfect if you're trying to sneak more vegetables into your kid's diet or just trying to justify your bimonthly pancake consumption. Either way, these are great!

**Recipe makes 4 decent sized pancakes. Double to feed a fam

Carrot Pancakes

2 large carrots (grated)

1 banana (mashed)

2 spoonfuls of flaxseed meal

2 spoonfuls of tapioca flour (or arrowroot, or almond flour)

1 egg

handful of raisins

handful of chopped pecans

sprinkle of cinnamon, cloves, and turmeric (health bonus!)

pinch of salt

• Mix everything together suuuuper well. Should be a thick batter. 
• Heat up a pan or griddle. Add your cooking fat (coconut oil, ghee, anything. Pro tip: I made two tiny sausage patties in the pan first (because protein) and just cooked the pancakes in the sausage fat)
• Once pan is hot (water sizzles if you flick it on there), add pancake-sized spoonfuls of batter. Should make 4 pancakes, but make them however large or small you want. I'll never know.
• Cook over medium heat til golden brown (2-3 minutes), flip and cook another 2-3 minutes. 
• Done!

I topped mine with cashew yogurt and blueberries. You do you :)

Verde Chicken Pasole

For me, Pasole = Christmas Eve.

My sisterfriend Durae (boyfriend's brother's wife sounds wayyy too impersonal) is whom I usually have the pleasure of cooking holiday dinners with. Outfitted with a mini farm in her backyard (maybe only 4 or 5 raised beds, but man they know how to produce a harvest!) and an exceptional grocery store down the street (Oliver's 😍), her fresh ingredients, creative taste and well-cultivated culinary skills result in many bowl-licking-good, heartwarming meals.

This year, it was her Pasole. Made on the 23rd of December, probably slow-cooked overnight with garden grown peppers and tomatillos, flavored with homemade hot sauce, her soup was oh-so-good. She served it for lunch on Christmas Eve, while we were both slaving away, starting to pick at the vegetables we were chopping, dipping our fingers in the batter we were making, tummy's rumbling, about to reach for that hour-too-early first glass of wine; everything about it was perfect! Savory, luscious and delectable with a piquant aroma that danced around the kitchen and coaxed you into a second serving. Her Pasole is now and forever a Christmas Eve tradition. As they say, "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" and girllll, I hope you're blushing. I was inspired!

And hungry for more Pasole December 28th. My spin on it below:

Verde Chicken Pasole
1.5 - 2 lbs of chicken (I used breasts, but do whatever!)
drizzle of oil/fat of some sort (olive oil is what I used)
1/2 onion (diced, either white or yellow will work)
1 lb of tomatillos (cut into quarters)
2 poblano peppers (diced)
2 jalepeños (de-seeded and diced)
6 smashed cloves of garlic (flattened with the side of the knife)
8 cups of water (or broth if you happen to have any)
1 small head of cauliflower (cut into florets) (paleo "hominy"!)
salt to taste
handful of shredded cabbage
handful of chopped cilantro
handful of thinly sliced radish
diced green onion
2 limes (cut into wedges)

• Add onion, tomatillos, all the peppers and garlic to instant pot (or large soup pot) 
• Drizzle oil and turn on heat (Sauté function for instant pot, medium heat if using stove)
• Stir well and cook until onions are starting to become translucent
• Add chicken and water
• For the Instant pot - pressure on high until chicken is cooked (12ish minutes)
• For stove top - bring mixture to boil, reduce to simmer and cook til chicken is done (14ish minutes)
• Once chicken is cooked through, remove it from whatever you're cooking in and set aside on a cutting board. 
• Remove one cup of the water(now broth. Magic!)/peppers/tomatillos/other stuff mixture
• Blend all the remaining vegetables and liquid til smoothish (immersion blender or regular blender)
• Add the cup of chunky stuff you took out back to the stuff you just blended (texture!)
• Add cauliflower florets (Instant pot steam for 2 minutes or simmer on stovetop)
• Shred chicken with two forks and add back to soup
• Cook together until cauliflower is tender
• Add salt if needed
• Done!
• Top with shredded cabbage, cilantro, radish, green onion and a squeeze of lime!

Took some shortcuts with this one. Definitely wasn't my sisterfriend's slow-cooked overnight, roasted tomatillos and pepper's amazing-ness.

But for less than an hour, this delicious soup 100% satisfied my Christmas  Eve cravings!

Fudgy Avocado Brownies

Episode 2 of I'm home alone and I make dessert for dinner. This time it's brownies!

While maybe not the best choice for supper, especially since I read my Health Coaching textbook as I eat (haha!), these are freaking amazing.

And refined sugar-free, gluten-free, vegan, paleo, blah blah blah.

*** As I found out the next day, these brownies are 500% better after sitting in the fridge overnight (or at least 4-6 hours). So unless you plan on eating all the batter straight out of the bowl (which is a valid and delicious option), I suggest chilling them completely before eating.

Fudgy Avocado Brownies 

3 big spoonfuls of almond butter (I used Dark Chocolate & Coconut Kalot Almond Butter - it's Whole 30 compliant and sweetened with dates 😍)

1 spoonful of coconut oil

1/3 of an avocado

2 hearty spoonfuls of unsweetened applesauce

a 2 second pour of maple syrup

3 heaping spoonfuls of tapioca flour (I imagine almond would work too)

2 spoonfuls of unsweetened cocoa powder

handful of raw cocoa nibs

handful of raw pecan pieces

sprinkle of sea salt 

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Grease a bread pan with coconut oil (if you need more fudge in your life, double the ingredients)
• Melt the almond butter and coconut oil together (microwave for 30ish seconds or use the stovetop)
• In a bowl, mix together the dry ingredients: tapioca flour, cocoa powder and salt.
• Add the softened almond butter and melted coconut oil to the bowl and mix til combined.
• MASH the F out of that avocado. Add to batter.
• Add maple syrup and applesauce. Stir everything together well. 
• Fold in cocoa nibs and pecan pieces. 
• Spread batter in bread pan and bake for 13-14 minutes (edges will look cooked, middle will still jiggle)
• Please exercise control and let chill completely in fridge before devouring :)

Because brownies "a la mode" are always better, I enjoyed these with Forager cashewgurt (unsweetened plain) and blueberries.