Whole Wheat Pancakes & Healthy Chocolate Syrup

How can life get any better!?!  I mean, really!  Pancakes with chocolate syrup that you want your kids to eat!  Not to mention all of the Mom points I earned with the kids and Wife points from the husband for this meal ;)  Also, you might want to double the recipe depending on the size of your family since they go like hot cakes!  Yes, yes, I know.  I am also a comedian.

Whole Wheat Pancakes

 

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 Tablespoon Aluminum Free Baking Powder

2 Tablespoons Maple Syrup or Honey

2 Eggs

1 1/2 Cups Coconut Milk (or any other milk)

3 Tablespoons Coconut Oil

 

Whip the egg whites until stiff, set aside the yolks for later.  Mix flour, baking powder, syrup or honey, yolks & oil.  Fold in whipped egg whites.  Heat pan on Medium & butter it.  Pour thin pancakes and flip when you see bubbles popping through.

 

Chocolate Syrup

 

1/2 Cup Coconut Oil

 1/4 Cup Cocoa Powder

1 Tablespoon Maple Syrup

 

Heat all ingredients on low in a saucepan while you cook pancakes.  Mix together well and pour over your pancakes.  If you tend to lean to the sweeter side add extra maple syrup to your pancakes with the chocolate syrup.  *Do not boil*

 

Also, if you have any leftover syrup you can freeze it.  You can eat it frozen as a candy or toss it back into a pan to reheat as syrup!

Nuggets, 'Fries', Pina Coladas & Doo!

I am always looking for something that the kids will love and that we will love too.  This is always a challenge when I am in the mood to go for something with a little kick (the perfect compliment to a nice fattening Pina Colada).  I sat the kids down to play their favorite game Doggy Doo and starting making chicken nuggets and came up with my new favorite dinner!

Has anyone seen this game?  Tractor found it at the store and the kids LOVE it like no other game.  It keeps them laughing, entertained and in my opinion counts as science ;)  You just take the yellow putty, feed it to the dog and pump the leash (which is an air pump) the amount your dice roll allows.  Whoever is pumping the leash when the putty makes it's appearance out of the other end gets to put it on their shovel.  First to 3 wins.  This game gives me close to an hour of time to cook while they are entertained.

So my new favorite dinner is chicken nuggets and 'fries'!  But not just any nuggets and fries, green chili (no chili on the kids nuggets of course) chicken nuggets and green bean fries.  To make the kids nuggets just substitute a beaten egg for the green chili and Viola!  Dinner that makes everyone super happy!  The nuggets and the green beans can bake at the same time and will be done about the same time.  That makes this meal about 35 minutes in prep time (including the dessert drinks) and 20 minutes for baking.  The Pina Colada recipe came from a friend of the families that is Peurto Rican and boy can you tell by her island drinks!

Happy Family Chicken Nuggets

Prep time: 20 min   Bake Time: 20 min   Serves about 4

Ingredients:

1 lb chicken breast

1 egg beaten

3/4 cup green chili

2 1/2 cups seasoned bread crumbs (store bought or homemade)

1) Cut chicken into nugget sized chunks.

2) Puree green chili in blender or food processor.

3)Put egg in a small bowl, chili in a different small bowl and breadcrumbs on a plate.

4) Divide the chicken in half (half for kids, half for adults).  Dip kids chicken in egg and then breadcrumbs.  Place breaded nuggets on a greased glass baking dish.

5) dip the adult chicken in to the green chili and then breadcrumbs.  Place breaded chicken on a different greased glass baking pan and spray with olive oil to create a crispy outside.

6) Cook at 400 for about 20 minutes or until cooked through.

*Tips: Always do the kids first so that you don't get the chili out of the breadcrumbs on their chicken.  For dipping sauces the kids usually like ketchup and we usually use sour cream.  YUM!

Green Bean 'Fries'

Prep Time: 10 min  Bake Time: 20 Min  Serves about 4

Ingredients:

2 lbs fresh green beans

olive oil to coat

sea salt (we like them salty but you can add your own desired amount)

1) Wash, dry & trim the ends off.

2) Place in a single layer on a glass baking dish (or two if  needed) and drizzle with olive oil and salt.

3) Use your hands to move them around and make sure they are evenly coated.

4) Bake at 400 for about 20 minutes or until they have brown spots (not black) and are a little shriveled. 

5) If you have to, bribe your little ones with a virgin Pina Colada for dessert to eat their 'fries' but in our house there is no bribing necessary with these!

Pina Colada

Prep Time: 5 min  Serves about 4

Ingredients:

8 oz Coco Lopez coconut cream

8 oz pineapple juice

4 cups good vanilla ice cream

3 oz rum (or more if you are like me ;)

1) Blend first three ingredients and pour half for the kids virgin dessert pina coladas.

2) Add rum and blend again for the 'Mommy Drink' version :)

Goth Girl, Cart Boy & Zuchinni Breakfast Muffins

Today it is rainy outside with a cold front coming in with the storms so we went to the store to get baking ingredients.  I love to warm the house up and make it smell wonderful while it's rainy out.  We are going to make Breakfast Mini Muffins!

Going to the store solo with my 3 kidlums is always quite the adventure.  Even more on a rainy day.  Princess got my waterproof mascara out of my purse while I was picking out vitamins and applied it all over her eyebrows.  I tried hand soap and water in the bathroom but it wasn't coming off so she shopped at Sprouts with us sporting the Marilyn Manson look.  Which reminds me, as a mother I am not a fan of Sprout's shopping carts.  They are a little top heavy.  Tractor learned the laws of physics the hard way - which is a him lying between the floor and a Sprouts shopping cart a few weeks ago :/ 

So anyways, back to the muffins.  They are delicious and the kids think so too!  The best thing about them is that they have all 6 food groups (yes, even that seldom know dark chocolate group ;) with no sugar or other yucky stuff.  They have whole grain, fruit, veggies, calcium, protein and a tiny bit of dark chocolate.  A mom couldn't ask for more out of a muffin and the kids can't stop asking for them!  I like to freeze and pull them out as I need the night before.

Breakfast Mini Muffins

Prep Time: 20 min  Bake Time: 17 min  Yield: about 48 mini muffins

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup (give or take) of grated zucchini (I peel them and use my blender)

1 cup (give or take) smashed ripe bananas

6 Tbs raw honey

1 egg

1/4 cup applesauce

1 1/2 tsp coconut oil (be sure to use the good stuff)

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour or whole grain gluten free flour mix

1 cup oatmeal

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

6 Tbs hemp seeds

dark chocolate chips or just small pieces off a bar (I use the darkest I can find, usually 88%) 

Optional: 1/2 tsp ginger, nutmeg and/or allspice (it all depends on your personal tastes), can also add 1/4 cup vanilla protein powder accompanied with 1/4 cup extra applesauce to up the protein

1) Mix zucchini and bananas to make about 2 1/2 cups, a few banana lumps are ok & preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2) Add honey and egg.

3) Mix in applesauce, oil and vanilla.

4) In a separate bowl mix together all of the other ingredients except the chocolate and then add to the wet ingredients.

5) Sometimes the muffins stick a little to the muffin papers so butter or oil if you would like.  Fill the muffin papers 3/4 full and push a small piece of chocolate or one chip into the center of each muffin.

6) Cook for 17-20 minutes depending on your oven & preference. 

 

 Cool & Enjoy!