Eat: Pancake Breakfast

I was given a free sample of Pamela's Gluten Free Pancake Mix to try out.  I wanted to jazz up my pancakes because, well jazzed up pancakes are awesome, that's why.  :) Anyways I remember seeing on Pinterest someone making bacon pancakes and so that's what I decided to make.

I started by cooking up some Applegate Sunday Bacon until crispy.

I allowed it to sit on a paper towel to get rid of any excess grease.

I then mixed up the pancake mix according to the directions.

I placed the cooked bacon in the pan and covered each one with the pancake mix

It turned out delicious!  I'll have to remember to do this again some day.  The Pamela's mix was pretty good too.  It's very easy to mix up and the pancakes rose nicely.  I would definitely think about getting that mix in the future too.

Eat: Green

Today is Friday and unofficially Green day!  Why green day you ask?  Well, I am wearing a green shirt, I have on green glasses, and I'm drinking green juice!  Sounds like a green day to me!

So what's in my juice you ask?
- Kale
- Spinach
- Celery
- Cucumber
- Burdock Root
- Apple
- Ginger
- Young Living Lemon Essential Oil

It's delicious and full of vitamins, enzymes, minerals, and detoxing properties.  What are you drinking today?

Eat: Soupalicious

Nothing says Fall like soup.  I have recently made French Onion and Cheesy Bacon Potato and Leek Soup. Both were delicious and really got me in the Fall mood.  Another reason I like to make soup is that it's cheap, makes a lot, and freezes well.  I always try to make enough to freeze 2 containers for later.  It makes it an easy way to make an instant dinner for those times you just don't want to use a lot of effort.  Lately I have been going toward one of my favorite cookbooks, Super Natural Cooking Every Day by Heidi Swanson.  She's also the wonderful food goddess of 101 cookbooks.  She makes delicious vegetarian food and her recipes are always so easy to follow.

Tonight I decided Green Lentil Soup was just what we needed on the gray dreary day.  Of course me being me I substituted a few of the ingredients.  I used split peas (they are cheaper then lentils and it's what I had), I didn't make the brown butter but incorporated the curry in the soup itself, and instead of red pepper flake I added some cayenne pepper.

Voila!  It turned out fabulous!  It got rave reviews from the hubby.  I really recommend this recipe.  Here's a few other cookbooks I really recommend for super tasty cooking.

Preserving The Harvest: Carol Costenbader

This cookbook is great to learn how to preserve fruits and veggies in a variety easy to follow recipes

Super Natural Cooking: Heidi Swanson

This book is beautiful.  The pictures really bring the food to life and her explainations on ingredients and nutrition is very valuable.  It provides a great entry into vegetarian cooking.

Super Natural Cooking Every Day: Heidi Swanson

Another great book with wonderful pictures.  This one goes from breakfast to dinner drinks and everything in between.  Another great resource in vegetarian cooking.

Allergy Free Cookbook: Alice Sherwood

This one is a great book on how to cook with a variety of food allergies.  It provides subsitutions to turn any recipe into one you or your family can eat.  It is in the metric system so you may need a conversion chart.

Almost Vegetarian: Diana Shaw

This book is great for those who are vegetarian and those who want to eat a bit more plant based.  Offers lots of suggestions and has a ton of recipes!

Eat: Gluten-free Pumpkin Bars

I love fall.  I love the smells, sounds, and flavors of fall.  That smell of leaves on the ground, cinnamon, clove, and of course pumpkin.  I just happened to get a free pie pumpkin from work the other day and I knew I had to do something with it.  Lucky me when I got an e-mail from Elana's Pantry for her Paleo pumpkin bars.   Me being me, I of course had to do some substitutions.  I hate going to the store for only 1 thing so I used what I had in the cupboard.  Here's my interpretation of the recipe:

Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bars

• 1/2 cup gluten free flour mix
• 1/4 teaspoon celtic sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup fresh baked pumpkin or winter squash
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
• In a food processor, combine coconut flour, salt, baking soda and cinnamon
• Pulse in eggs, pumpkin, honey and oil until well combined
• Stir in the chocolate chips by hand
• Transfer batter to an 8x8 inch Pyrex baking dish
• Bake at 350° for 20-30 minutes
• Cool and serve
• * Note: I didn't use a food processor, I just put it all in a bowl and used a whisk... it worked out fine that way. *

• Here's a great link on how to roast winter squashes like pumpkin.  Oh and don't forget to roast the seeds too!
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